Nikon, the company who started the DSLR revolution pipping the acclaimed 5DmkII to the post with the D90 have finally rejoined the DSLR party with two very capable cameras.  The killer selling point of its two new light weight shooters are clean HDMI output.  Clean output, why do I care about that I hear you say.  Well you can now connect external recorders such as the Atomos Ninja, Sound Devices PIX240 or the low cost Hyperdeck shuttle and record pure ProRes or DNxHD goodness.  Although few people have got their hands on the new D800 we do know a little, it's price for instance is in the reigion of £2399 inc VAT body only.  Check out Vimeo for Nikons short, Joyride and making of Joyride to see what this camera can do!  Nikon D800 website.

Redrock Micro, the company who kick started the shallow depth of field revolution with such innovations as the M2 DoF adapter are busy churning out new and exciting products.  To capatalise on the sucess of the Panasonic AF101 Redrock Micro have manufactured the Live Lens adapter allowing the use of Canon EF Lenses on micro four third cameras.  The adapter powers EF lenses allowing the adjustment of the aperture, Redrock have the following to say:  "Canon EF lenses require power and electronic controls in order to adjust the lens’ aperture. Without power and control electronics, The aperture of the EF lenses are stuck wide open, severely limiting the usefulness of the lens. The Redrock LiveLens mft active lens adapter solves this problem by providing power to the EF lens and a control pad to adjust the lens aperture. With LiveLens mft you can set the EF lens' aperture to any stop in increments as small as 1/3 stop,"

Genustech, manufacturers of a wide range of camera accessories including sunshades, matteboxes, follow focus, video and DSLR shoulder rigs as well as innovative rod support systems have recently introduced a brand new mattebox capable of accepting Panavision sized (4x5.650") filters.  The new Genus Elite will fit lenses with a outer diameter ranging from 80mm to 121mm.  The Elite has a wide range of accessories including rod support adapters, french flag, side wings and is compatible with existing genus rod supports.  The Elite is ideal for larger cameras including and of course not limited to the likes of the PMW-F3 and AF101.  Offering a 114mm clamp ring makes the Elite compatible with all Zeiss Compact Primes with the exception of the larger 50mm macro.

Since it was first released I have looked upon the Hyperdeck shuttle longingly, wishing that Blackmagic Design had given us just that little bit more.  The Shuttle for those in the dark is a very inexpensive external recorder for your SDI or HDMI equipped camcorder.  What makes the Shuttle so interesting is the price, in the UK the Shuttle sells for around £200 ex VAT.  When first released the Shuttle recorded pure 10 bit uncompressed goodness direct to SSD drives, a 64GB SSD costing around £80 would give you, wait for it, around 6-8 minutes of video.  Now, thanks to the addition of AVID DNxHD support the same 64GB drive offers you around 40 minutes of 220mb/s DNxHD recording.  The files recorded are wrapped as MXF not MOV files, much to my disappointment as a Final Cut Pro user.  Avid users should however rejoice and look forward to a smoother workflow.  The UK distributor has told us that the new firmware offering DNxHD support only works with the Shuttle Version 2.