Jan 17, 2014

Mobile reporting platform frame evalution: The pre-evaluation

Judd Slivka Tools and Toys iOgrapher, iPad, iPad Mini, makayama, mobile, mobile journalism, Padcaster, testing

It’s evaluation time for the three platform frames. I’ve been looking forward to this, since it seems like there’s not a perfect product on the market.

Here’s a family picture of what’s getting evaluated:

The frames being evaluated (l-r): Makyama, Padcaster, iOgrapher

The first test environment will be a college men’s basketball game. Test machine will be an 16GB iPad3. I’ll shoot a quarter of stills and videos with each platform. Videos will be shot with FiLMiC Pro, photos with Camera+. I’ll shoot some combination of handheld, tripod and monopod.

Each pad will get one quarter of shooting, and then I’ll shoot one quarter with a Nikon D7000 DSLR for contrast and probably some iPhone5 shots taken with a monopod and a Joby GripTight mount.

Testing disclosure: Both iOgrapher and Padcaster sent frames to me, gratis, for evaluation.

1st quarter: DSLR + iPhone

2nd quarter: Makayama Movie Mount

Pre-eval impressions: It’s nice and lightweight, but it feels like cheap plastic and I’ve had a problem with tablets falling out of the frame before. We’ll see how that goes. Several cold shoes for mounting stuff. The full-size iPad frame has a sliding lens attachment so you can go back and forth more easily between the native lens and a 37mm lens (the mini does not have that capability).

Makayama Movie Mount and Mini Movie Mount

3rd quarter: Padcaster

Pre-eval impressions: The thing’s a tank. It’s aluminum and high-grade rubber. The iPad fits snugly inside and it has lots of holes for mounting stuff. It has no cold shoes. It comes with the Lenscaster lens adapter to use other lenses, but the adapter isn’t stepped-down to the common 37mm size used for mobile platforms.

The Padcaster with Lenscaster attachment

4th quarter: iOgrapher

Pre-eval impressions: Very light, but also feels like cheap plastic. Lots of cold shoes. The handles on the side are interesting. Has an integrated mount for a screw-in 37mm lens.

iOgrapher for the Mini and the full-size iPad

The new mobile journalism kit, by part

We’ll be doing a mobile journalism pilot here next semester (more on that in upcoming posts) and we’ve spent the last few months figuring out equipment to build mobile journalism reporting kits.

It all came in yesterday and there’s been some interest in seeing what our mobile journalism reporting kit looks like, so I thought I’d post a picture or two, along with descriptions and costs.

The key thing to remember: We’ve outfitted a fairly functional still/video unit for less than $700 (excluding app cost, but that’s another post). Will it create TV-video? No. But it will create HD video and stills that are good enough for the web. And the total cost is $628.69.

This particular kit is based around a 16GB iPad Mini ($329). We also have kits built on the 16GB iPad4 ($399).

It’s held in a Movie Mount by Mayakama ($69.95), which gives it a cold shoe for accessories, a threaded outlet for a 37mm lens and a screw to mount on a standard tripod.

The accessories, clockwise from the bottom:

Vivitar 2.2x telephoto lens ($29.95)

Albinar .45x wide-angle lens ($29.95)

50-watt equivalent LED light (~$29.95) I took these from existing kits we had, so no manufacturer

Joby GorillaTight ($19.95) snap mount for iPhones, which allow an iPhone to be mounted on a standard tripod.

Mikey Digital Mic ($89.95)

And who can forget that favorite tool, the Apple Lightning-to-30-pin adaptor ($29.99), which is pretty much required for any aftermarket piece at this time (it’s connecting the mic to the iPad in this shot.

Here it is all set up: