Author Archives: S Mak
New at SYNC: Introducing the Dana Dolly!
The Dana Dolly Portable Dolly System Rental Kit with universal track ends is a heavy duty camera dolly platform that rides on 16 custom modified soft polyurethane wheels that resist flat spotting and use ABEC-7 rated precision bearings providing you with extremely smooth dolly shots. This kit is complete with 75, 100, and 150mm bowl adapters, and comes in a custom flight case. The wheel trucks swivel, allowing the dolly to ride on available straight or curved track, which you must source separately. The manufacturer recommends using standard speed rail or Schedule 80 aluminum pipe of compatible size. The dolly includes two universal track ends, which accept inch and a quarter pipe (standard speed rail) up to 1.9″ O.D., and fit into available standard Junior stand receivers or 5/8″ Baby pins. A center support is included for long track runs or when using heavy cameras.
The dolly platform is machined from aluminum and features a standard Mitchell mount including a 2.75″ center hole with a machined key way. The platform incorporates one 3/8″ through hole, one 1/4″-20 threaded hole, and one 3/8″-16 threaded hole on each side of the dolly platform for a total of 6 accessory mounting holes. The rental kit includes a monitor mount with a ball head adapter. The Dana dolly is designed and manufactured in the USA.
- Custom Machined Track Wheels
- The key to the Dana dolly’s smooth ride are the 16 custom machined track wheels.
- The wheels are custom made soft, then turned down to be round within 1/1000 of an inch to eliminate the “bounce” that normal skateboard wheels suffer from.
- You can park the dolly with 100 pounds of camera and accessories on the track at 100° F for an hour without the wheels flat spotting.
- Another benefit from the machining the wheels is reduced squeak during use.
- The wheels are custom modified 16 at a time on a special machine, providing uniformity.
Wheel Trucks
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- The wheel trucks can swivel on the dolly, which allows it to ride on straight and round track.
- A felt washer separates the dolly platform from the wheel trucks, helping to reduce noise.
- The included T-Tool features a 1/2, 9/16, and 3/8″ ends.
- It allows you to tighten the wheel trucks using the 9/16th end to suit your taste.
- Mitchell Mount
- The Mitchell mount features an elongated key way, allowing you to use non standard adapters.
- Track Supports
- Track supports fit into available standard Junior stand receivers or 5/8″ Baby pin, although Dana Dolly recommends the use of available beefy baby stands at a minimum and to avoid thin walled aluminum stands
Rent this entire kit from SYNC today for $120.00/Day
Gear Spotlight: SYNC’s Customized BJ Adapter
We know that your thinking, but no, this is not that kind of adapter. Though in some grip circles, this Matthews Studio Stand Adapter is known by an even more colorful name, the “butt plug”. (In even smaller circles, it is known as a turtle plug.)
This adapter slips into a standard 1 1/8″ Junior receptacle and terminates in a standard 5/8″ Baby Pin, helping you customize your stands to suit your needs.
Here, in this AWESOME video by Dave Donaldson of Grip Tips we see some interesting ways to use this adapter.
- Problem: You need to mount a light super low and you don’t have a low roller.
- Solution: Use the turtle base of a C-stand, pop this adapter in, mount your light and you’re in business
- Problem: You need to mount a light up super high and you only have a mombo combo
- Solution: Luckily, all mombo combos have a junior female receptacle so again, you just pop the adapter in, mount your light and raise it up!
What makes this useful piece of grip even MORE useful, is that SYNC has had the 5/8″ baby pin ground down on one side of some of our adpters. How is that useful, you ask? WELL, in certain situations, one may need to attach a head, frame, flag etc. and tilt or angle it. If your pin is completely round, that light, flag, etc. may have a tendency to slide. Having a flat surface on the one side provides extra grip for your mounting screws and this makes your set up more secure, safe and reliable! Just attach this adapter to your Mega Boom, mount your light and get shooting!
Got any other tips and tricks for this adapter? Comment below or drop us a line.
Call 323.285.5450 or email Office@today for an estimate. As always, SYNC gets you what you need, when and where you want it!
Jim Wright Photographs Blake Shelton for Latest Single
If you are a country music fan, chances are you are familiar with the work of longtime client and friend of SYNC Photo Rental, talented photographer Jim Wright. While Jim has an impressive and extensive portfolio of celebrities, lifestyle and fashion, he’s been sought after in the music business to shoot everyone from household names to emerging artists. His work has a real warmth and beauty that pays tribute to the sound of the country songs you love. Those qualities, combined with Jim’s use of modern technology and technique, bring to life some incredible images. He is a master of his craft and we are so happy to supply him with gear for his shoots.
This awesome shot was created for the cover art on Blake’s latest single “I’ll name the dogs”. Jim’s outdoor set up (seen below) is sure to inspire. It goes to show you that you don’t need a whole studio or an exotic location to get amazing images. You are only limited by your imagination!
New At SYNC: Manfrotto Skyhook Gaffer Clamps
New in the Grip Room at SYNC:
The Manfrotto 043 Sky Hook Adjustable Gaffer Clamp is a lightweight gaffer clamp, with adjustable jaws to handle tubes from 1″ to 2-1/2″. It features one fixed 5/8″ stud, and one 5/8″ socket with double-ended 3/8″ to 1/4″ spigot.
Talented photographer and SYNC client Jim Wimberg (who’s work can be found here) has this to say about them:
“I love the Manfrotto Sky Hook Gaffer clamp. It is an extremely versatile piece of grip equipment. Mostly I use them to hold bounce cards or cutters for my table-top product and still life work. You can attach them into a C-stand arm and articulate the bounce card to ANY angle. They are very strong. I also use them to hold heavy glass objects to modify my tungsten lights. Again, I can position my “low-tech” modifier to any angle and get beautiful patterns on set with this combination. And they are adjustible. You can increase the opening and use them to hold a drape on a large diameter cross bar for a background sweep. They’re very handy and I always have a few with me on set. Great product!”
Jim used the technique he described to achieve this gorgeous editorial shot.
Rent these clamps at SYNC today and try something new!
New at SYNC: Profoto D2 1000 Watt Monolight!
Introducing the Profoto D2 1000 Watt Monolight! New in the Grip Room at SYNC Photo Rental.
From the Profoto Website:
“You’re always up to speed with the D2. The versatile and super-fast D2 monolight with TTL and HSS is up to any challenge. With the ability to freeze action at up to 1/63,000 of a second, shoot bursts of 20 images per second and sync with camera shutter speeds as fast as 1/8,000 of a second, the D2 is redefining the definition of speed in monolights.”
Pretty incredible, right? Now you can look no further than SYNC for all of your D2 needs!
1-DAY Rental: $65
3-DAY Week Rental: $195
D2 SPECS:
Flash
- Max energy
- 1000 Ws
- Energy range
- 10 f-stops (2-1000 Ws)
- Energy control increments
- 1/10 or full f-stops
- Recycling time
- 0.03-1.2s
- Flash duration t0.5
- 1/1600 s (1,000 Ws) – 1/11,000 s (2 Ws)
- Energy stability
- ±1/20 f-stop
- Color temp stability
- ±150 K over range. ±20 K flash to flash
- F-stop @ 2m / 100 ISO
- 64 8/10
- TTL
- Yes
- HSS
- Yes
Modeling light
- Max power
- 300 W
- Lamp type
- Halogen
Measurements
- Width
- 13cm/5.1in
- Length
- 31cm/12.2in
- Height
- 18cm/7.1in
- Weight
- 3.4kg/7.5lbs
Introducing SYNC’s New Rewards Program!
SYNC has always been committed to satisfying our clients and now is the time to go the extra mile! We’ve developed a new SYNC Rewards program to thank our clients for their support and dedication to SYNC. Clients can now earn rewards on their rental orders and new client referrals.
Call or email us for details and sign up!
NEW CLIENT PROMOTION EXTENDED!
SYNC has extended our New Client Promotion through June!
Be sure to mention coupon code SYNCNC2017 to get 50% off your first rental day!
You don’t want to miss this!
Let us be your first call when you need gear in LA.
Promotion Runs through June 30, 2017!
Thinking INSIDE the Box: Gear Spotlight
Here we have a Profoto ProFresnel Spot! This lighting tool is most often used to create gorgeous movie light or utilized in beauty and product photography, that are uploaded after to photography and art websites, for people who like photography to enjoy, since there are many websites online for all type of content from art to adult websites that offer different services as Zoom Escorts.
With all of its amazing features, our client Rene Russo frequently chooses this as his main light source. However, he needed to have it shipped to Utah. After many calls looking for the perfect shipping solution (case), we found out that this Profoto ProFresnel Spot has an unfortunate Achilles’ heel: an 11″ lens that is prone to breaking during transport. No one in town would ship it anymore! Bringing this to Rene’s attention, “NO” wasn’t an option and we continued to seek a solution. Looking at our case inventory, we found the Pelican 0370 Cube case!
Originally purchased for transporting beauty dishes, this case provided serious protection from the weather and rough handling. This case was a critical element that helped this light shaping tool make the safe trip from the SYNC warehouse in Los Angeles to Utah and back!
We send our Thanks to Profoto for their commitment to creating great gear and to Pelican for creating cases consistently prove their worth and reputation.
We love being able to satisfy our clients and SYNC is prepared to go the distance to make sure their needs are met!
More info from the Profoto website:
The ProFresnel Spot is a huge Fresnel lens that can be mounted directly onto any Profoto head. Being a Fresnel, it creates what you might describe as your typical movie light with a directed, almost horizontal light spread that is perfect for fashion and product photography.
- Creates a typical movie light.
- Comes with a huge Fresnel lens (300 mm/11”).
- Optional BarnDoors available for even more precise light shaping.
- Features Profoto’s unique zoom function – shape the light by simply head in and out of the tool.
- Designed to withstand years of professional use.
Bachelorettes, Babies and…SYNC?!
Those words together might seem a strange fit, but context is everything! What’s the context? Another beautiful SYNC job hit newsstands last week! Photographed by Jana Cruder, bachelorettes (from various seasons of the enormously popular show) and their happy, healthy babies graced the cover of People Magazine’s May Issue.
Photographer Jana Cruder tells us a little bit about the shoot:
“I ended up building two sets and shot multiple cover options back to back. We also staged and lit two additional sets for inside spread options and singles.
To give People and Jana exactly what they needed to make this shoot go smoothly, SYNC provided a fully loaded sprinter, production supplies and 2 of our Key Assistants. A super high energy crew, wonderful talent and a great location set the scene for this beautiful editorial. The SYNC team is so grateful to have clients like People Magazine and Jana Cruder. Their knowledge and experience combined with our gear make magic time and time again!
*All photos used are Property of People Magazine/Jana Cruder*