NAB 2011 Wrap Up

It was a wild and crazy four days but we think it’s safe to say that NAB 2011 was an absolute Zuccess!  NAB had close to 93,000 attendees this year and sometimes it felt like every single one of them was in our booth at one point or another.

“The Zacuto booth was the epicenter of the show” says, Commercial Director, Paul Schnieder.

We had so much new stuff to show you guys this year and we were really happy to see all of your smiling faces.  Our good friend, Edi Schneider, was gracious enough to shoot a few videos documenting this year’s NAB experience.  Check them out!

The Single Chip Camera Evaluations (SCCE) screenings were way more popular than we expected.  We went from 14 to 24 screenings and still had a huge waiting list.  We apologize to anyone that couldn’t get a seat but don’t worry, we are planning screenings in New York and Los Angeles so keep your eyes on the Zacuto website for details.  You can also see the final version of the tests in the Great Camera Shootout 2011 scheduled to hit the web in June.

“Zacuto is mostly known as being a gear manufacturer (and their stuff is bulletproof), but others know them for their wonderful web series about the craft.  Zacuto’s 2011 Single Chip Camera Shootout is particularly awesome because they’re spending a huge amount of money to produce a test that helps everyone, not just Zacuto. Steve made a point to note almost no Zacuto gear is featured in the shootout, as this was about the cameras and how they perform. I’m excited to see this piece when it drops in June,” said Paul Antico of NeedCreative.net.

Zacuto introduced 17 new products this year, including our highly anticipated EVF.  We are happy to announce that our EVF Flip won a Black Diamond Award for outstanding achievement in the advancement of the art and science of video technology.  That made us extremely happy considering that there were 1535 exhibitors at the show and only 17 awards.  Everybody was dropping by to see the EVF.  Bruce Logan ASC, the man who not only blew up the death star, but also shot Tron and worked on 2001, stopped by our booth at the end of the day to watch the SCCE.  We gave him a private screening.  We had appearances by Lan and Vu Bui, Jared Abrams, Philip Bloom, Paul Schneider, Vincent Laforet (with his FrankenRig + Z-Finder EVF underslung version), Tom “The Guilmetty” Guilmette (TomGuilmette.com), Sebastian Wiegartner, Tej Babra, Garrett Brown (inventor of the Stedicam), Denny Clairmont, Stephen Lighthill ASC, Jon Fauer ASC, Matt Siegel, Rodney Charters ASC (TV Series: 24), Curt von Badinski, Stu Maschwitz, Bill Bennett ASC, Howard Preston (of Preston Controller fame), Bradley Davis, Tom Fletcher, Mitch from Planet 5D, Sebastian from Cinema5D, Tom Lowe, the Jehu and Misa Garcia, Michael Bravin, James Allred, Brian Lane, Neb Solomon, Robert Primes ASC, Nino Leitner, Mick Jones, James Mathers and his sidekick Simon from the Digital Cinema Society, Matthew Jeppsen and Kendal Miller of Fresh DV and Steve Weiss’ good friends from Venezuela, Tuki and Braulo to name a few.

A couple guys, namely Philip Bloom and Robin Schmidt (AKA El Skid), also the had the unfortunate experience of facing the wrath of Steve Weiss’s awesome wrestling moves, but it’s all in good fun.  One of the best things about NAB is getting to know new friends and reconnecting with old.  Speaking of new friends, Zacuto would like to give a big thanks to Eric Kessler and Kessler Crane for sharing booth space with us.  You can see all this and a whole lot more in Edi Schneider’s video below.

Of course no trip to Las Vegas is complete without a hike through the majestic Red Rock Mountains.  Steve and Edi wanted to take Zacuto’s new Scorpion rig and EVF out into the field for some test shooting so they rented a car and headed out into the Nevada desert.   Steve showed Edi around some of the functions of the EVF and they got some seriously gorgeous shots.  See what their adventure was like here:

More than ever NAB is becoming more of a social event and an opportunity to see friends.  Some friends we know on the web and some friends we know in real life.  So far we have only talked about the show itself but there are always tons of parties and events going on after the show ends.  On Monday night, Zacuto sponsored a table in the All-In Film Poker Tournament.  On Tuesday night, Eric Kessler threw an amazing who’s who in the indie film community party.  Everyone was there.  Even Rodney Charters showed up a little later on.  On Wednesday, we had a family Zacuto dinner with a few special friends and on Thursday, a bunch of us indie guys got together for some dinner and gambling.  Needless to say, this NAB was pretty awesome.

Watch Zacuto Interviews:

Jens with Film-tv-video.de Discusses the Scorpion & EVF
Zacuto gives Cinema5d a First Look at the new Scorpion Rig
Filmtools.com & Jens Check Out All the New Items at NAB 
Steve Weiss Talks Content & Products with NextWaveDV.com