Some time ago, Zacuto came out with an $295 iPhone 3GS mount intended to stabilize handheld video shooting, dubbed the Zgrip iPhone Pro. They followed that one up with a more indie-priced option, the $69 Zgrip iPhone Jr.

Well I just ran across another option online, called the OWLE Bubo. OWLE stands for “Optical Widget for Life Enhancement,” and the device is a combination camera mount, stabilizer, and off-iPhone mic. It also includes a built in 37mm (.45x) wide-angle lens (which I imagine helps hide some of that handheld shake). It’s constructed of anodized aluminum, and a plastic version is in the works. Price tag? $120 MSRP, but currently at $100 introductory pricing. It’s certainly and interesting option, I’d love to hear from any OWLE users.

 Cmotion Lens and Camera Controls [12:53m]: Download

At Cine Gear 2009, Cmotion gave us a very detailed demonstration of their full-featured camera and lens control systems. Far more than just a remote wireless focus solution, they offer a host of high-end options in a really well-integrated system. There’s even an autofocus solution for manual PL lenses.

Watch the attached video below and subscribe to our podcast feed. You can also conveniently watch our Cine Gear video coverage all in one playlist here.

 Garrett Brown on Steadicam, Transvideo 3D Monitors, and UniqOptics [7:42m]: Download

At the Steadicam booth at Cine Gear 2009, filmmaking legend Garrett Brown gave us a candid walkthrough of their stabilizer line, from the Clipper to the lightweight Pilot (flying none other than a 5D MKii DSLR). We also dropped by the Transvideo booth to get a demonstration of their unique LCD monitoring solution for 3D filmmaking. And finally, Kenji at UniqOptics gave us an update on their PL lens line.

Watch the attached video below and subscribe to our podcast feed. You can also conveniently watch our Cine Gear video coverage all in one playlist here.

Red shooter Richard Darge has posted 150MB of footage from an informal test of the new Red Digital Cinema Pro Prime lenses for the RED and PL-mount cameras. A lot of folks have shown interest in this sub-$20K set of 5 lenses, and it’s good to see footage of them in action.

“Lenses are more than solid. Smooth as butter focus/iris rings. Very sharp. They produce nice flares too! I shot the sun a lot as you will see from the video… My favorite lens was the 35mm. Everything POPS & is quite 3D looking with that lens. Least favorite was the 50 & 85mm to my eye. I favored the contrast in the 25 & 35mm more. Don’t know if that’s something that can be improved upon in this state or if it was a change in haze/lighting conditions. I need to do more testing with that..”

“I brought my Canon K-35 24mm PL Superspeed with me to contrast/compare. The K-35s are almost identical in look to the Zeiss Superspeeds, Canon’s being just a few hairs sharper fully open.”

Hit that link to download the QT mov of the test and check out the ensuing discussion. Personally, my impressions are that Red has benefitted from their Oakley optics roots, and created a solid set of lenses at an incredibly affordable price-point.

 Viewfactor Inclino NAB 2009 Video [7:19m]: Download

We’ve covered the Viewfactor Studios Inclino Remote Follow Focus unit in the past, and at NAB 2009 we learned that they are shipping the units out to reservation holders. Curt from Viewfactor spent some time with us, showing how the system operates, and demonstrating it’s featureset. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Letus NAB 2009 Video [7:29m]: Download

Letus was at the B&H booth at NAB, showing their 2/3″ and 1/2″ pro adapter mounts, as well as the Ultimate and their rod system. Philip Bloom walked us through the key updates to the system, and spoke from his experience as a Letus user. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 ASL Gear & UniQ Lenses NAB 2009 Video [13:11m]: Download

Air Sea Land was showing off their Rip Kit at NAB, a unique solution that solves connectivity and I/O issues with the Red One, and extends it’s capabilities with a remote breakout box for video and audio I/O. They also talked about their T-Bag splash bag. Very cool stuff. Also near the Air Sea Land booth at NAB was a company called UniQ that were showing off their brand new line of PL lenses. These hefty cinema lenses have been designed for digital cinema cameras, and come at an amazing price point…24K for a set of 6. It remains to be seen if they perform well in third-party testing, but based on what we saw at the show, color us impressed. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Cinemek G35 NAB 2009 Video [9:50m]: Download

Cinemek was at the Zacuto booth, showing off their G35 static ground-glass 35mm lens adapter. The HD version of the G35 has been in development for some time now, so here’s the latest update on where they stand with the unit. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

 Zeiss Compact Primes NAB 2009 Video [2:42m]: Download

At the Bandpro NAB booth, we got a look at the new Zeiss Compact PL Prime lenses, a relatively-affordable solution that utilizes ZF glass in a professional cine-style housing. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

In the days prior to NAB, Letus has quietly released their 1/2″ relay lens designed for the Sony PMW-EX3 camcorder, and other 1/2″ sensor cameras. The relay allows users to attach a Letus 35mm lens adapter system directly to the camera, bypassing the removeable stock lens.

Shipments for LetusDirect.com customers are scheduled to go out in May, on a first-come first-served basis. Pricing is $4,199 USD. We’ll be stopping by the Letus display at NAB to check this one out for sure!

Over at PVC Adam Wilt has the scoop on the new relatively-affordable Zeiss Compact Prime lenses, as well as the new Sony SRW-9000 camera.

Cinevate has shown off a sneak peek of their new B4 Relay Lens for 2/3″ cameras. The relay has been in development for literally years now, and appears to be close to release. The unit has been billed as the world’s first multi-format relay, and comes with an estimated price tag of $2500-$2700 USD. The multi-format distinction refers to the relay’s ability to zoom and adjust the image frame for lenses that offer varying frame sizes (for instance, good PL glass vs SLR glass). Here’s an excerpt from Cinevate’s announcement:

“The only question you might have right now is will it work with Brand X adapter? The answer is about 95% likely a yes, assuming you’re using our flip module. The relay lens uses several types of low dispersion glass, exotic coatings and yes, has 100% internal focusing, zooming, and back focus operations. This means it does not breath physically an iota, regardless of whether you’re in SLR (or Vistavision) mode or cine mode. The video should answer any questions and explains also illustrates the nearly 50% loss of FOV that happens with any other relay system when using SLR or Vistavision format lenses.”

Watch the announcement video at Cinevate’s site for all the juicy details. There’s also an announcement thread at Scarletuser with some Q&A for future Red Scarlet shooters.

Redrock Micro has announced the long-anticipated upgrade to their flagship product, the M2 Cinema Lens Adapter. With the new M2 Encore, Redrock claims just a 1/2 stop light loss, new image flip unit, collimating lens mount, completely redesigned interior and optics for edge sharpness, and an improved spinning ground glass allowing shutter speeds upwards of 1/500 without grain.

These are significant improvements to the venerable M2 system. For starters, light loss…a half-stop of loss is currently the market standard, so this was a necessary improvement. The collimating lens mount will also allow users to swap lens mounts without opening up the unit. The latest batch of HD camcorders has introduced optics issues for adapter makers, and the M2e’s improved internals are said to address this as well as improve sharpness overall. The new M2 Encore will start at $995, with complete packages running $1995.

In addition to the new M2e, Redrock has also officially announced their improved microFollowFocus V2 unit with the 19mm rod adapter option, new camera cage kits, and an active lens mount for Canon EF lenses called Live Lens. Previously, 35mm adapter users could not fully utilize Canon EF lenses due to the fact that aperture functions are controlled electronically. Live Lens mates to Canon glass and provides the necessary controls to adjust the aperture on these lenses, using hard buttons and a built-in LCD screen. An upgrade port is also included on the unit, to facilitate future features and updates. So maybe we’ll eventually see autofocus on a 35mm adapter rig?

I’ve been told that the microFollowFocus v2 will be the same price @ $545, and they will also offer an upgrade for existing v1 users at just $295. The 19mm rod adapter option is $245, or buy 15mm and 19mm together for $775. Pricing on the other new products including the LiveLens is forthcoming. We’ll keep you updated.

Today Letus officially launches their 2/3″ B4 relay mount options for the Letus35 line of lens adapters. Letus states they are 1/2 stop more light efficient than the P+S relay, and can be used to mate an Extreme, Elite, or Ultimate adapter directly to the camera body.

This option now allows you to use the adapter as a lens, instead of shooting through the stock camera lens (obviously you’ll need a camcorder that has a removable lens). It should shorten up camera rigs, reduce weight, and simplify configuration. I imagine that some image quality improvement will be seen as well. The removable-lens capable $8,300 XDCAM EX3 should perform nicely with this configuration (when the 1/2″ version is released, see comments).

There are two relay lens modules available, a 12-lens group Pro Relay option listing at $5999 USD, and a $3499 9-lens group Compact Relay version. Both are pictured above for comparison. I’ve been told that Letus is in full production and are ready for orders. We look forward to hearing the first user reports from the field!

UPDATE: The Letus 2/3 B4 adapter is now available for preorder at Zacuto’s online store. And given that they are the pros in the know on gear like this, I’m sure they’d be happy to answer pre-sales support questions.

Here at FreshDV we talk a lot about using 35mm lens adapters and the “film style” workflow in your digital productions. Daniel Boswell of DVArtistry is a wedding videographer that has adopted using the Letus adapters in his wedding films for quite some time now. When the Extreme hit the market, he snapped one right up. He’s now shooting with the LEX + Sony EX1 combo and discusses it in the current issue of EventDV. You can read it online here.