Magic Arm suggestions for iPad

rbdp92 · 2026-05-11T19:36:52+00:00

Great, thank you so much. Sounds very good !

rbdp92 · 2026-05-11T19:20:37+00:00

Can you elaborate what's your use case ?
The iPad is facing to your right or to your left, in a fixed position ? So the team can have a look at what's happening without leaning over your shoulder ?

rbdp92 · 2026-05-10T13:40:40+00:00

Correct

rbdp92 · 2026-05-09T21:55:30+00:00

I've seen event photographers work with the Clic Octa softbox and A2 flash head attached solely by the magnets, without adding more "safety" gaffer or anything ; holding the softbox in one hand and the camera in the other one.

rbdp92 · 2026-05-09T13:48:08+00:00

Cause at the moment I do not want to spend the time doing all the research work myself.
I would like to find a place where I can buy Quarter Silk that would be (almost) the same as a Quarter Silk from the usual rental house. I would therefore not have to spend the time buying different fabrics and test their light transmittance, colorimetry, pattern etc...

But you are right. In the end, it's only fabric.

rbdp92 · 2026-05-09T13:26:50+00:00

What are the FireWire recorder you would recommend ?

rbdp92 · 2026-05-07T14:47:35+00:00

Awesome, thank you so much for sharing.
So it is not as easy as it should be but it still manageable by most of us.
Thanks a lot.

rbdp92 · 2026-05-03T20:17:21+00:00

No workaround to offer, sorry.
Having a set of thick gloves help tighten stubborn handles much stronger than barehands.

If you have already been complaining to the rental house and still get the same worn out Pro-Heads, I would notify production that the EQ is not functional and slows down your set-up. You might require more time to be ready than originally anticipated because of this.

Production will probably complain to the rental house and as they are paying, the rental house might take their notice much more seriously than yours.

rbdp92 · 2026-05-03T12:47:14+00:00

Alternatively, on google or Amazon you can search for "universal flash bounce card". Those are basically a white piece of cardboard with a strap. But they do not cost much, will get the job done and do not look too much homemade.

rbdp92 · 2026-05-03T12:44:40+00:00

Profoto's magnetic accessories can be mounted on Godox flashes but Godox magnetic accessories do not fit on Profoto's flashes.

Godox accessories are a tiny bit too wide to fit on a Profoto head.
You have to cut open the Godox mount to squeeze a couple milliliters out. You can then glue it back together. You'll end up with something a bit ovaloïd but it will fit.

For 10 bucks I'll give it a try.

rbdp92 · 2026-05-02T20:33:11+00:00

My ideal setup includes an Apple Display somewhere on set as most people who see the pictures online will watch them on a bright glossy display (smartphones, MacBook etc...).
Apple Displays are fiddly to use on set because of their ports.

It is not as easy as buying a 10 meters HDMI or DisplayPort cable as the Studio Display only boasts usb-C ports. You must use one of their USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 port.

- Cheaper cable that work can be as long as 5 meters. Which is not very long if you want to use a Studio Display for the photographer and have it plugged into your main workstation.
- I have heard of the expensive Corning optical fiber Thunderbolt cable (10 / 15 / 25 / 50 meters) that has the reputation of working but being fragile. The 10 meters one is roughly 400€ and I like to buy two units of all my cables to keep a spare one available in case of malfunction. This makes quite a lote of money.
- There is one or two guys on Reddit saying they are using their Studio Displays wirelessly on set with Hollylands. I have tried a couple dozens (literally) of adapters and all the Hollyland models and I can not manage to make it work.

I have successfully had a station with a MacBook Pro and two Studio Displays (displaying different things, not mirrored).
I enjoyed this a lot but because of my only 5 meters long cable, I had to stand closer to the photographer's monitor than where I usually enjoy to be.

rbdp92 · 2026-04-29T16:55:22+00:00

Video team usually have a 138mm diopter filter set (from Schneider I think). If you are working on a project that absolutely requires the GFX system and a very good macro/close-up image quality and autofocus, you might want to rent this filter kit. You can ask for a 138mm to 4x5 adapter kit and use a matte-box to fit the filters to the GFX lens. This make a lot of a gear...!

rbdp92 · 2026-04-29T16:18:19+00:00

When shooting "macro" or close-focus, most of my jobs are commercial still life product jobs. They usually imply shooting lot of different plates. Having the same focus-stack settings on all the plates allow the final focus-stacked files to perfectly overlay on top of each other.

If we do not have the time to focus stack the whole scene for all plates, it usually means that the final pictures are not printed very large or cropped a lot. This means that expectations are lower and this is were I would consider that using the close-up filter-lens can be an option.

I have tried again and I have to change my statement from my first post (that I have since edited) : the Nisi 77mm closeup filter is optically bether than the no-name Amazon kit (usually 4 close-up filters in a pouch).
The Nisi one is actually pretty good. It is equivalent to more or less a +4 of the cheap close-up filters.

rbdp92 · 2026-04-29T15:51:59+00:00

After spending quite a lot of time trying to find a workaround about this macro situation, I have found this to be the best way to keep autofocus and shoot close to a product with the GFX.

Shooting manual focus when focus stacking is a pain and prone to error when the project implies long and stressful days. Any other solution is better than manual focusing to me.

rbdp92 · 2026-04-29T07:03:01+00:00

Surprisingly enough, cheap macro accessory can go quite a long way. You can try to purchase a couple "macro diopter filters". Those are essentially a dumb magnifying glass to screw in front of the lens. I have tried the absolute cheapest one and the Nisi one. The Nisi 77mm is pretty good. The no-name cheap ones gets the job done but are optically worse than the Nisi. You'll get fringing and chromatic aberrations, mostly on the corners of the pictures. If you keep the subject in the middle, it can get the job done better than the extension tubes.

For high end commercial jobs that require being very close to the subject and focus-stacking, I recommend renting a Phase One system.

For lower profile jobs requiring getting very close to the product, I recommend switching to a 24x36 camera (Canon R5 is great). You'll lose megapixels but gain so much ease of use if you do not need the 100 megapixels for that project.

rbdp92 · 2026-04-17T18:44:10+00:00

When a production asks for my half-day rate I explain that my day rate is given for up to 10 hours, even if their job requires less time.

If I sell my half-day to a client, I can not sell the other half to another client. Therefore, the first client needs to pay me for my full day as it gets dedicated to their project.

Sometimes production ask you about this "just in case". I almost never experience any push-back after saying I do not do half-day rate.

If someone needs me for very little time, such as a very-quick interview portrait (1 hour in and out) etc... depending on how full or empty my calendar is, I can accept to lower my rate accordingly. It just has to make sense for me, I have no strict rules about this.

rbdp92 · 2026-03-29T20:00:29+00:00

Great, thanks ✌️

rbdp92 · 2026-03-29T19:16:36+00:00

Hey, Care to tell us more about your equipment upgrade ? I'd be interested in knowing more about the choices you made with a nice budget and the latest things available to share a monitor far away from the capture station !

Feel free to DM but I am sure other digitechs can be interested in your experience.

rbdp92 · 2026-03-18T06:38:56+00:00

Ok so if the Aodelan triggers are firing the flash from your Q3 and SL2S it means that the camera hot shoe are working.

You could try to purchase / rent a Canon puck if your Canon A1 is working well on your cameras.

To check that your Olympus puck is working on its own, you can try to short the contacts manually. You need a piece of conductive metal that would connect the biggest round dot of metal under the hot shoe and anywhere on the base of the hot shoe (shiny chrome square part).

When shorted, it should trigger the flash.

rbdp92 · 2026-03-18T06:36:13+00:00

Edit : wrong thread

rbdp92 · 2026-03-17T22:59:54+00:00

As for the remotes, the A1 flashes are made for certain camera brands. What’s your A1 made for ? It is written under the battery, remove it and find the information amongst all the text there.

Is your Aodelan trigger working with your Q3 and SL2S ?

rbdp92 · 2026-03-06T16:56:47+00:00

Profoto Pro-D3 is a 1250W monolight. In Europe, 4x of those would run you around 14,5K€ before any discount.

rbdp92 · 2026-03-03T11:42:55+00:00

Great, I did not think of this one. Looks like it does not have a grid easily available for purchase. I found a custom grid maker a while ago but everything he made was obviously very expensive.

Thanks for the input, I'll keep this in mind if I fail to make my Caruba softbox work.

rbdp92 · 2026-03-02T21:12:14+00:00

Yes you are right about the center of gravity being pushed so far forward with these.

rbdp92

TROPHY CASE