The Storm & Shelter Christmas List

Sometimes you don’t get any of it, especially if you come from a working class background and ask for a McLaren F1 every year from 7-years-old upwards (damn it, Dad), but maybe, just maybe, Christmas isn’t about financially jeopardising everyone close you. Maybe the best part of Christmas is in the making of the list itself — having the courage to poke your nose over the horizon and gaze upon what could be…

Here at S&S we’re always on the lookout for new equipment to drool over (figuratively speaking of course, we’d never intentionally drool over equipment) and the festive season is no exception. Here is a handpicked selection of what we’d like to find under the tree this year, from each of us at Storm & Shelter.

Gruff isn’t much of a Christmas person. He’d much rather it didn’t exist at all, frankly. No Santa, no tinsel, and definitely no smiling. However, as soon as Sony’s latest offering was unleashed upon the earth, there was suddenly a reason to get festive…

Gruff’s contribution to our Xmas list is the Sony PXW-FS5.

RAW recording (albeit externally), an electronic variable ND and a small form factor are all reasons why we’re excited about this bad-boy. Weighing in at just 1lb 13.2oz (x1400 lighter than a McLaren F1) and with a second generation smart grip to die for, the FS5 has firmly established itself amongst the FS range.

We were lucky enough to get our hands on an early model of the camera courtesy of Visual Impact earlier in the year, and it was immediately clear that for the work we do, especially behind the scenes and band tour content, this would fit in amongst our arsenal perfectly.

If it wasn’t clear enough that Sony are becoming masters of squashing great things into small packages (ahem), the RX100 IV has made damn sure we don’t forget anytime soon.

Yes, we admit that if you show up to a professional shoot with one of these rigged to a shoulder mount, you may be asked to leave, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good camera, and something to be excited about.

Imagine being at a party where someone decides to try and headbutt their way through a coffee table, and ask yourself: “Why wouldn’t I want to shoot this in 960fps?” With the RX100, all you’d have to do was fish it out of your pocket and WHAM — plenty of useful evidence to show the lovely A&E surgeon.

It also shoots 4k video, stills at a shutter rate of up to 1/32000, and has the world’s first memory-attached 1.0-type stacked CMOS sensor. We aren’t quite sure what that means either, but it’s a world first, so it must be good.

At a price point of £815 it’s not exactly an “oh look some spare change I’ll nip to John Lewis and grab one” kinda camera, but for a camera that packs so much punch, it’s not bad.

Learn more about the RX100 IV here.

Anamorphic Zoom. Two words, which when grouped together, make my willy tingle.

Cooke, who are already legends in the film industry for their flawless anamorphic primes, recently announced that they would be producing a 35–140mm anamorphic zoom. *pauses to slow heart beat and regain composure*

With it’s 2x squeeze, huge focal length range and exquisite build quality, it’s hard to imagine why this lens wouldn’t feature on any DoP’s internet history — I’ve certainly bookmarked it for later.

While it’s yet to be officially announced, the lens is rumoured to be F/2.0, which is quite frankly ludicrous, and if true, could see the McLaren F1 unprecedentedly pushed into 2nd place on my list in future years.

Josh loves wood. The look, the feel, the smell…

At an expo earlier in the year, I watched him fall head over heels in love with the hugely flawed AJA Cion* for no other reason than it’s wooden shoulderpad and handle. It’s no surprise then, that his entry to this goodie list is of a similar texture.

Whether it’s Lightroom, Photoshop, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, or just for the love of twiddling knobs, The Palette (by Palette Gear) is an interchangeable, customisable, personal user interface that gives you tangible control over your effects. This is perfect if you are a lover of all things analogue, or if you are one of those “I learn by doing” kinds.

We can see this being a genuinely useful tool for anyone interested in colour grading (which should be anyone reading this, I mean, who doesn’t like colour grading). Starting at $199 dollars and ranging up to $899 for the full, wooden professional kit, this may be one of the more expensive items small enough to fit in your stockings, however you can of course buy individual bolt-on modules from only $29 dollars.

* Opinions of the AJA Cion are our own. Sorry AJA.

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So There You Have It.
Jingle bells.