KitPlus | Articles

An Argument for the Z Cam

Z Cam first dipped their toes into the cinema camera market back at NAB 2018 with the release of the E2 and since then they have proven themselves as one of the go-to camera manufacturers for affordable and unique camera solutions. Their family of cinema cameras has since evolved into a set of 6. Their entry-level E2C is a Micro Four Thirds camera...

Submitted by Jake Ratcliffe

Published 26 March 2020

Gearing up for The Americas with Simon Reeve

For several years, it has been my honour to collaborate as director of photography with Simon Reeve, the well-known British author, adventurer, and TV presenter. Our latest partnership, the popular BBC Two program “The Americas With Simon Reeve,” is our most ambitious project yet, tracing Simon’s journey from the top to the toe of two continents. S...

Submitted by Jonathan Joung

Published 27 January 2020

Get Your KitPlus On - The KitPlus Show MediaCityUK 2019

A record number exhibitors, ready to demonstrate leading products, services, and technologies from more than 100 brands – many for the first time - will be on hand at the ninth annual KitPlus Show Manchester, taking place at MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, on 5 November. Recognising that people are increasingly less willing or able to travel long dista...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 03 November 2019

IBC 2019 A Whistle Stop Rundown

I’ve been to IBC once before, taking to the floor with Simon, Matt, Jon and the rest of the KitPlus team to assist with the filming of interviews. This was a lot of fun, but it was hard to find the time to look at the kit I wanted to see. This year with the demise of BVE and unable to make it to the Media Production Show I decided to fork out for a...

Submitted by Ben Sherriff

Published 03 November 2019

The University of the Third Age

Here's a cliché - "We all get to be old one day - if we're lucky". There comes a point when things like ".... mastered in Dolby Vision Domestic and SDR Rec 709.....\" become just a touch unimportant (and actually I never really understood that stuff in the first place). I retired for the third time last year - BBC producer, and before that camerama...

Submitted by Bernard Newnham

Published 10 September 2019

REVIEW Canon UJ111x8_3B UHD Lens

Shooting in ultra high definition and high dynamic range has become the preferred option for all television productions with a potentially long commercial life. The hir-ing charge and indeed the outright purchase cost of cameras of this standard are not significantly greater than those of high definition standard dynamic range models. With half the...

Submitted by Andy McKenzie

Published 10 September 2019

NAB 2019 Highlights

The NAB Show in Las Vegas never loses its capacity to surprise. With NHK already transmitting in 8K and the Tokyo Olympics just a year away, this might have been the year that 8K equipment prices descended from the stratosphere to just plain expensive. The main trends at NAB 2019 were an increasing focus on HD-HDR, Media-over-IP and 4K. 8K was pret...

Submitted by Paul MacKenzie

Published 04 June 2019

Canon EOS C300 MkII Camera Review

Canon described the EOS C300 Mark II at its launch as 'a game-changer for creative film-making'. What interested me was whether the camera's impressive feature set, compact size and very aggressive price point matched the needs of the video production market. Key features At the front end of the camera is a Super 35mm CMOS sensor capturing Full HD...

Submitted by Andy McKenzie

Published 04 June 2019

BSC Expo 2019 Report

BSC Expo returned to the Battersea Evolution on Friday February 1st and Saturday 2nd. It is a busy and friendly event though this year in need of some temperature control: exhibitors around the entrance area were uncomfortably aware of the wintry conditions outside and the main hall was in need of cooling. BenQ showed examples from its range of mon...

Submitted by Paul MacKenzie

Published 21 March 2019

Streaming - Shut up and Sit Down

Twilight Imperium is a board game all about strategy and backstabbing. Known for its length of gameplay, the team behind Shut Up and Sit Down decided to deliver a mammoth 10-hour live broadcast, streamed to Twitch. Matt Lees is here to tell us how it went down. Having recently begun streaming live to Twitch, our audience naturally asked us to play...

Submitted by Matt Lees

Published 21 March 2019

The making of The Heist

Shine TV has never been one to shy away from a challenge, be that in terms of using new technologies, filming ideas or overall formats: we pride ourselves on being ambitious and risk-takers. We make Hunted and The Island with Bear Grylls for Channel 4 and we’ve just made The Heist, this time working with Sky One. These are all huge, ambitiously for...

Submitted by Tom Hutchings

Published 25 January 2019

The Brutal Kit Environment of Education

The customerMiddlesex University is a highly successful and progressive University with a modern campus. Ranked No.1 in London overall for career prospects in Film Production and Photography, its portfolio also includes animation, journalism, graphic design and digital media, amongst others. The setupSpeaking to Daniel Sosnowski, Faculty Technical...

Submitted by Peter Savage 2

Published 24 January 2019

Bringing creative ideas to life

While the start of a new year is all about looking forward to the new possibilities and exciting opportunities ahead, indulge me for a moment in looking back to this time last year. CVP had just completed a management buyout and were planning how to take the company forward. We had an excellent foundation, a great team with the right skillsets and...

Submitted by Jon Fry

Published 24 January 2019

State of the Nation - November 2018

There is an interesting seminar called Size Matters at the KitPlus Show – organised by the publishers of this fine magazine – at MediaCityUK in Salford on 6 November. It’s a talk by cinematographer Alistair Chapman on the way that camera technology is changing, and in particular the size of the electronic device which creates the image is growing....

Submitted by Dick Hobbs - new

Published 09 November 2018

DJI Ronin-S Review

Any self respecting filmmaker starts their edits with their best shots, so let me try to do the same in my writing:My top tip when buying a DJI product is to buy from a local and reputable dealer rather than direct from DJI; sending any faulty item back to Holland at your own expense can be costly. That’s not to say much has gone wrong over the yea...

Submitted by Tim Bearder

Published 08 September 2018