Accessory Roundup: Clever Lightstands and Major Upgrades Revealed

Images: Zoom, Cutasunda, BlackMagic, 3 Legged Thing

Happy weekend, everyone. We're deep into camera news season, but the accessory makers haven't been slacking at all. Today, we'll be taking a look at a big update to a solid audio recorder, a new take on the light stand and a host of other accessories – but first, the deals.

Canon deals

Photo: Dale Baskin

Canon's mid-range full-frame camera, the EOS R6 II , is currently on sale for $200 off. When we tested it, we were very impressed with how well-rounded it is, combining excellent autofocus, great ergonomics and solid performance.

Buy now:

$2099 at Amazon.com Buy at Adorama Buy at B&H Photo

Photo: Richard Butler

Speaking of cameras we were impressed with, the EOS R5 II is also on sale for $300 off its MSRP. It takes everything that's good about the EOS R6II and turns it up to 11, with a higher-resolution sensor, faster burst rates and more.

Buy now:

$3999 at Amazon.com Buy at Adorama Buy at B&H Photo

Not merely a simple light stand

Image: 3 Legged Thing

3 Legged Thing is venturing into the light stand market. At first glance, their new offering appears to be a notable addition. the Luna It appears to be typical gripping gear at first glance, yet upon closer inspection, you’ll see it’s constructed from carbon fiber. According to the manufacturer, this material ensures it is lightweight, sturdy, and easily compacted for storage. Its peak extendable height reaches 2 meters (79 inches).

It has another feature too: you can remove the central column from the legs and use it as a boom pole for capturing audio or positioning your camera near difficult spots. The head comes with a 3/8"-16 screw, typical for lights and mics, but this one is cleverly designed—it’s retractable. Pressing down the exterior cover exposes a 1/4"-20 thread, allowing you to attach numerous add-ons easily.

$149 from 3 Legged Thing

Even more grip

The Impact 3-stage Baby Folder Roller is merely one item within the newly introduced KeyGrip line of products.

Image: Impact

Should you lean towards classic light stands, Impact has got your back with their recently launched KeyGrip collection. They claim these models offer robust and adaptable builds without breaking the bank. This range encompasses compact, durable supports for camera sliders all the way up to multi-section units mounted on wheels capable of reaching heights of up to 3.35 meters (11 feet).

Buy at B&H

Video Performance Guaranteed

Image: Nextorage

If you’re a videographer using Sony cameras and require assurance that your storage devices can handle every resolution, codec, or frame rate without issue, there’s now an additional choice available. The company Nextorage has introduced its NX-A2Pro line of CFexpress Type A memory cards. According to them, these are the first such cards to meet the stringent VPG 800 specification. This guarantees that they can sustain continuous writes at speeds of up to 800MB per second.

Certainly, the maximum write speeds of these cards are significantly faster, reaching up to 1900 MBps. Nonetheless, both speeds comfortably exceed your current requirements. The guide for Sony's top-of-the-line A1 II model indicates that even at the camera's maximum bit-rate settings, you'll still need a memory card with a Video Performance Class of VPG200 or better. Nextorage says The NX-A2Pro is crafted with the aim of targeting "the premium camera sector of tomorrow."

If you aren’t seeking long-lasting storage solutions, the firm also introduced its NX-A2AE series, boasting a VPG400 rating. These cards will hit the market beginning in late April.

NX-A2Pro:

Buy at B&H

NX-A2AE:

Buy at B&H

A fresh school approach to classic shooting

Image: Cutasunda

Although capturing images with film offers an entirely analog experience, if you’re using this method in 2025, you will likely want to convert your pictures into digital format eventually. The various film holders made by Cutasunda, for instance, could be particularly helpful. a shout-out from PetaPixel this week Promises to simplify this process. The device includes a diffusion panel for uniform back lighting of your film and features a top panel designed to keep your film perfectly flat, despite potential warping after being stored curled in a canister. Additionally, it comes equipped with adjustable film guides compatible with various formats ranging from 110 to 6x9, ensuring compatibility with almost all types of film you might use.

This isn’t a comprehensive solution – you’ll still require a good backlight to position behind it, a camera equipped with a macro lens, and a tripod – yet it serves as a crucial component in transitioning your film from the analog realm to the digital domain.

Buy at Cutasunda

A legend improved

Photo: Zoom

Zoom’s portable recorders, particularly the H4 and H5 series, have long been favored by videographers due to their versatility in capturing sound anytime, anywhere. The latest update brings us the H5studio, featuring an improved stereo mic capsule along with enhanced capabilities such as recording in 32-bit float format. This feature ensures that audio distortion from clipping becomes virtually non-existent.

Similar to the standard H5 model, the H5studio includes a "capsule" system enabling attachment of different types of microphones and input devices. This device ships equipped with a stereo XY capsule boasting "the biggest mics yet" among the Handy Recorder series, capable of capturing approximately 130 dB of sound dynamics. Additionally, the main unit offers two combined XLR/TRS ports for inputs, along with output jacks for lines and headphones, plus USB-C connectivity. By changing capsules, extra options become available such as adding two additional XLR inputs or incorporating either a dual-channel wireless receiver or a shotgun mic. With this setup, the H5studio supports recording up to six audio channels simultaneously; these can be monitored through an integrated LCD display.

Buy at B&H Buy at Amazon

A wave of software updates

Finally, say goodbye to copying and pasting color boards or relying on compound clips.

This week, Apple rolled out an update for its Final Cut Pro video-editing tool. Available as a complimentary 11.1 upgrade, this release brings several small enhancements along with integration of one of the firm’s latest artificial intelligence functions. However, the most significant feature added is called Adjustment Clips. For those who have worked with Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve before, this will sound quite familiar—it involves placing a single overlay across various other segments so you can uniformly apply effects or transitions throughout these clips. This proves particularly handy when doing color correction since, instead of adjusting every individual segment manually, you just modify the corresponding adjustment clip covering your footage.

Although this is significant, it is overshadowed by BlackMagic's developments. The firm recently announced updated edition of its Resolve editing program This includes an AI feature for generating animated captions, a specialized keyframe editor, and an improved, more accessible audio mixer.

Photo: BlackMagic

The highly anticipated release from Blackmagic Design is the Blackmagic Camera 9.5 Update, presently in beta testing phase. This significant enhancement focuses primarily on improving the autofocus capabilities of their Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K model. Initially released, this camera featured only basic one-time autofocus functionality; once focused, it couldn’t adjust dynamically if subjects shifted position. However, the latest software update introduces advanced features such as continuous autofocus, ensuring that designated focal points remain crisp regardless of movement within the frame. Additionally, it includes sophisticated modes like tracking autofocus designed to maintain focus lock onto specific objects—even when they move around—alongside facial recognition-based auto-focus support. Such enhancements aim to significantly boost usability particularly for independent filmmakers or solo operators lacking specialized crew members responsible for adjusting focus manually. Blackmagic has confirmed plans to roll out these improvements across all high-end models equipped with larger sensors in their lineup moving forward.

Read last week's roundup