My 1st NAB
Blackmagic contacted me asking if I would like to help out at this years NAB Convention in Las Vegas. They were interested in me being there to add an unbiased opinion to their products and any queries that clients might ask. As I didn't have shoots on it was hard to say no, straight away tickets were booked and off I went!
In order to fly direct I flew with British Airways .. kinda wish I flew Virgin Atlantic though as BA was very cramped, media screens were either hard to see or so glitchy that I was kicked out of the movie, making you find the movie again and find out where you left off. Despite that, the crew were very nice...just an old plane I guess.
The flight was filled with people going to NAB...I even did a little inflight vlog with Dan Chung from Newsshooter ... I geeked out little bit checking out his Blackmagic Micro Camera with a Zeiss 6m PL mount lens attached.
The SmallHD501 monitor was on top for viewing which also allowed you to view a variety of LUTS. Weird thing about this set up was...I filmed the vlog with my Sony a6300 and I had to boost it to 1250 ISO whilst the Micro Camera was doing fine at 800...I was shocked as I thought the a6300 would be better in lowlight. Micro Camera also looked way more filmic.
https://vimeo.com/163117304
By the time we landed, got the hire car and checked into the hotel, the first day was pretty much over.
Woke up Sunday, got my pass for NAB and then had to check in with the guys to go over scheduling and products, to make sure I knew about anything new.
Next on the agenda was a conference meeting for the BMD crew with Grant on the night. So we did as much as we could in the day before the meeting and checked out a few sites around Vegas.
https://vimeo.com/163201014
With NAB 2016 about to begin I have no clue what to expect as I've always watched online, catching up with Cinema5D and Newsshooter covering the show.
First day before doors open, a BMD conference going live about the products:
When doors open the madness began immediately, my schedule was 10am-6pm Monday, then 9am-6pm Tues & Wed. Last day on Thur was 9-2pm which was very quiet and mainly other companies getting the chance to check out the booths and catch up.
Due to the hectic schedule and this being my 1st NAB show, I was shattered. If I was just roaming around as a consumer I'd probably be fine but this was very new to me...everyone at BMD were very nice and I had a blast. I wanted to vlog more during the event but I literally didn't get a second to breathe.
Since Thur was quiet, I asked if I could go around NAB and see what was happening. It was ironic that my first NAB had no new cameras announced...from anyone!
The new UI with the Ursa Mini's is going to completely change the camera. 4.0 Firmware comes out for free in June.
Funny enough, the RED booth was right next door taunting me, haha
I also went to the Adobe booth to find out why they don't support BMD Raw files, since its their codec, haha. Davinci Resolve is great but we shouldn't be limited to only adjusting the RAW files in resolve...what about Premiere Pro....hell even FCPX should allow it too. So if you're an Adobe user, please politely bug them to allow RAW workflow in PP....tweet them, email etc. I did my best while at their booth but we need to push further.
I then had to pee so used the restrooms in Central Hall, they had some pretty cool mirror set ups haha ;)
I also use Gtech drives all the time for my media storage so I went to see what they had to offer. The RED Media drive they have is cool and soon they will also have one for CFast 2.0 Cards.
Then I went to see Wooden Camera and F&V but got distracted at the Arri booth, showing off the amazing Carl Zeiss 180mm Anamorphic Lens on the Alexa.
So I wondered around to see other Lens companies...Carl Zeiss & Schneider Optics had the best offerings.
Then I went to say hi to the Newsshooter team at the Teradek booth, but they were caught up working.
So all in all, had an amazing time. Grant Petty, CEO of Blackmagic was very nice and funny. He also worked hard on the floor all day, did interviews and even broke down the booth with the team when it was all over.
I met some amazing people and it was also overwhelming at times as a lot of people knew who I was, follow me on social media and mentioned how much I've helped them out regarding cameras and gear.
I did my best to get around NAB when I could...ventured around and outside Vegas when possible. Vegas has definitely changed though...6th time in Vegas and you could say its lost its appeal...or maybe I'm just getting older.
Here are some more things I got up to :)
https://vimeo.com/164073058