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Those Kessler plates/clamps are Arca-Swiss. As I mentioned above, I use off-brand Arca-Swiss plates/clamps, and they cost around US$3-US$8.

≧10 bit, 4:4:4 (and 4:2:2), global shutter, APS-C/super35 sensor, shallow lens mount (micro 4/3, Sony E, Canon M, etc.).

Your terror is justified. Avoid looping like the plague. It's not something you would ever want to do. If you do not record your audio live, you are in for a long slog through the mud in post. ADR was discussed in a similar thread last week. In this post, I embedded a video example of the proper way to setup each take in an ADR session to save time. If after watching that video you still think ADR is a cake walk, do a test -- try shooting one page of dialog with camera audio and then loop it. See how you feel about looping your entire project after doing that small test.

There are plenty of dovetail quick-release systems that allow the camera to be removed "from the top" -- without having to slide the plate out of the clamp. There are even small Manfrotto compatible plates that do so. However, don't know about specifically Manfrotto 501 compatible systems. There is nothing that would make impossible a 501 "top-release" clamp. I use Arca-Swiss plates for everything, except for the heavier medium-sized cameras or larger. Those clamps and plates are prolific and inexpensive. Just keep an Arca-Swiss clamp on each camera plate and rig.

@AaronChicago Thanks for answering the question on the room mic. By the way, when you white balance all of the cameras together, try to do so with the lighting at the subject's mark (where he/she will be standing).

Honestly, most big movies don't loop their dialogue, and the IA has no requirement for how many crew members (if any) are hired in a department. So, a producer isn't forced to hire any particular position (such as sound mixer, boom operator, etc.). However, on an IA signatory project, only IA members can be hired in departments covered by their locals.

Just before you shoot, put all of the cameras side-by-side, and do a custom white balance on each camera. Record audio with your mic from the back of the audience, and also tap into the house mixing board.

Shoot near the edge of the woods, using the fill from the more open side.

A few folks here have stated that this is a common practice, but that really is not the truth. Think about it: if productions (large and small) intended to loop dialog, then why would they hire a pro sound mixer (with a cart full of expensive gear) and a pro boom operator and why have the mixer also wire up the actors with lavs? Check BTS vids/articles of your favorite movie scenes with dialog -- I'll bet there is a pro mixer and boom operator. The only time that I ever was on a set in which the dialog was intentionally looped for the entire project was on an Indian feature back in the film days. They had to ADR as they commonly used a less expensive MOS camera (in this case Arri IIC that sounded sort of like a rice thresher). Looping is avoided like the plague.

@JazzBox You seem to be teetering between looping your entire series and recording live sound only on parts of the shoot. There are good reasons why 99.99% of narrative productions record sound on set, and why ADR is avoided like the plague. One might anticipate that ADR is fun and easy with a Mac and a mic and gizmos, but be assured that any anticipation/novelty regarding overdubbing will wear off rather quickly in the first 30 minutes of the first session. Looping is plodding, painstaking work. For example, if you want to avoid wasting time with actors repeatedly missing sync, you need to cue them with three beeps, as demonstrated in this video: You have to do that for each and every line that you loop. Even with the beep cues, there will be multiple takes. Imagine doing that for your entire series. It sounds like you have a nice Zoom recorder and also lav mics and a shot gun mic (you can use both at the same time). By the way, shotgun mics are used successfully outdoors all the time in all kinds of noisy, crowded and windy environments, which is why we have the Chewbacca cock: Again, audio is a full 1/2 of your production. Don't just hand the boom to your brother-in-law. If you are not familiar with audio on narrative productions, I implore you to hire/consult an experienced film sound professional.

Sorry to butt-in, but looping all of the dialog for your web series might not be such a great idea. You shouldn't really need to do so, unless there is some constant, uncontrollable, overbearing noise on set. It takes a lot more time and additional resources for all of that overdubbing than it does to merely get the audio right when shooting. If you are paying your actors, looping your entire show could add 25% in cast expenditure. Add to that the cost of time and kit rental (and recording booth) of the post sound person. Plus, your director has to work the entire ADR session. Furthermore, there will likely be moments at which the overdub will sound/look fake. With the the many excellent, inexpensive audio recorders out there, one can easily obtain nice, clean, genuine dialog sound on set. Your BM Video assist might make a nice audio recorder. In addition, using one of the recent NLE audio sync plug-ins makes it almost effortless to get that separate sound placed precisely on the timeline. Audio is 1/2 of your show. If you are not knowledgeable and experienced with audio, it might be wise to hire a separate audio professional to handle that department.

@Michael Coffee Can't read that file. I even tried to play it without the ".txt" extension. ~60 Mbps seems too low for that bitrate and all-I, if you are shooting a complex subject. Something might be wrong. Focus the camera on TV static and let it roll for at least 3 minutes. If the bitrate is set too high, the recording will shut off and/or will drop frames and/or show image tearing. In addition, if your camera is getting hot and/or using up the battery faster than normal, don't use the ML shooting screen -- use one of the Canon shooting screens (or turn off "global draw" in ML). By the way, did you install ML first -- before TL, or did you just install TL?

It is amazing that the camera doesn't shut down at that bitrate with all-I. Have you tried to test its stability by shooting a complex, moving subject (such as static on an old TV set)?

This is the best advice yet, in regards to the camera aspect of product photography. If you are seriously doing a lot of tabletop shooting, you really should have some Scheimpflug ability. A shallow-mount APS-C camera with a tilt-shift (or tilt-swing) adapter and full frame lenses works perfectly in this regard. As @Nikkor mentioned, an inexpensive/used NEX camera with a Kipon tilt-* adapter would cost around US$300-US$500. You could also get a Canon EOSM with a Kipon Tilt-* adapter for Nikkor lenses, and that combo would cost around US$250-US$450. You might also consider getting a few primes (for APS-C shooting): 20mm; 28mm; and 35mm.

Wow! Didn't know that it was possible to have audio with all-I/boosted-bitrate! It might be a good idea to carefully scan the footage for image tearing and/or dropped frames.

On Ebay, EOSM bodies are selling for as low as US$135. That's a nice little inexpensive backup camera! In addition, it is very versatile in regards to lenses and adapters. I have a focal reducer, a tilt-swing adapter and a couple of adapters (one dummy Nikkor and one smart Canon EF). The ability to do tilt-swing on APS-C with full frame lenses in amazing, and the focal reducer effectively makes the APS-C a full frame sensor! If you just want to boost the h264 bitrate, you are probably better off going with ML, rather than TL. TL is older and probably less stable (although it seems that the most recent ML builds write odd colors to the Canon menus on the EOSM). Consider using TL for getting all-I frames in h264 (along with boosted bitrate), but you can compile ML to offer all-I frames on the EOSM.

There are plenty more than just two ways to make egg crates. For instance, my Light Tools egg crates are made with mating side slits with no sewing except for that on the outer perimeter. I've also see slats with alternating glue points, which gives cells of a sort of diamond shape. Plume used to offer louvres which were one ribbon threaded around posts on the edge of a rectangular aluminum frame. Don't remember how the egg crates from the Cinegear rag houses were made, but they seemed rugged. Then, of course, there are the metal, plastic and rubber egg crates, which can additionally be made by extrusion, welding, stretching, casting, injection molding, 3D printing, etc. By the way, Chimera uses Light Tools egg crates.

Light Tools is the most expensive fabric egg crates. There are others. The Rag Place sells and rents egg crates in standard sizes, and will also custom design. There was another fabric manufacturer at at the recent Cinegear show that also had egg crates. Both manufacturers offered "pop-out" frames for their smaller sizes. For awhile, there were a couple of grip manufacturers who had egg crates for their standard frames. Also, there were companies in the late 1970s and 1980s selling large sheets of black aluminum honey-comb egg crates. Don't know what happened to all of those items. Can't help you with availability in Europe, but most of the egg crate manufacturing techniques are simple (yet labor intensive). You could probably make your own, if you had the gumption.

Ouch! Doesn't look like a genuine Steadicam model.

I did a quick web search, and it appears that now there are a few theatrical/DJ LED strobes that have adjustable flash duration and which are DMX controllable. The "Elation" brand looks interesting, but there have to be others. Not sure exactly what you want, but it sounds like a flash unit with adjustable duration and DMX control should work for you, provided that there is no premature/uneven output peaking over the duration of the flash. You can double-up heads if you need more output.

The lighting angle in the original shot is is higher, and there is (consequently) a little more contrast in the original. Also, it looks like the original might have a tad bit more fall-off.

Single-use flashbulbs are still used for their longer flash duration, and DIY flashgun/trigger-boards can be built/rigged cheaply. Also, I think that there is a flicker box that approximates the effect. Additionally, one can use spinning mirrors when shooting a small area with a tight lens. Combine any of these techniques with NLE strobe plug-ins and the effect should be fakeable. A single-head effects unit might not make a convincing paparazzi flash barrage, because the flash only comes from one angle. If you don't need any readable detail between the flashes (as is apparently the case in your example), you can just use a cold, undiffused and overexposed constant light source, and merely replace the in-between frames with black slugs.

Those exterior light sources are ballasted, so their output frequency could anything (not necessarily 60hz in US nor 50hz elsewhere). Don't know what you can do with your existing flickering footage, other than using some deflicker plugin: As others have suggested when shooting again with such lighting, try changing the shutter speed: Also, if possible, try dialing your frame rate incrementally up and or down.

@andy lee The new project looks great, too! Do you think that jelly/rolling-shutter on the G7 will be a problem handheld? Also, why are you recording the G7s internally, instead of using external recorders?

Actually, if the X1D lacks a digital shutter function, it would probably preclude using/adapting many other medium format lenses for still shooting. So, you might be on to something.