Jay: What do you get when you cross a Beachtek with an ALEXA Mini?
Lars: Do I have to know the answer to this?
Jay: Don't estimate alone.
Don't stand out in the cold all by yourself, trying to put together an estimate.
Go to theslantedlens.com/estimating.
I've got a digital download that will teach you everything you need to know.
You don't have to be alone any longer.
Jay: Hi, this is Jay P. Morgan.
Lars: And I'm Lars Lindstrom.
Jay: And today we're out here in Bombay, California.
Lars: Pull up your Google Maps.
Jay: Yes, not Bombay, India.
Bombay, California.
Lars: California, don't get confused.
Jay: Yep.
We're at a great little establishment here called the Ski Inn.
Lars: Ski Inn.
Not Sky Inn, Ski Inn.
Jay: Covered with one dollar bills.
Well actually bills from all over the world.
Fabulous little place and Wendell and Jane have invited us to come let us do an interview
with them, but what we really wanna do is test the new Beachtek.
It's a device that'll let you lay the sound back to the ALEXA Mini.
Lars: Specifically designed for the ALEXA Mini, right?
So we've all seen Beachtek preamps that maybe sit on the bottom of a DSLR, or maybe in conjunction
with some of these other cameras, but this one was really designed specifically...even
the carbon fiber casing...
Jay: It looks like it belongs on the side of that ALEXA.
Lars: Right, so you've got your ALEXA Mini, which is carbon fiber to keep that four and
a half pound camera right.
And then this Beachtek audio, the casing is also carbon fiber, that same consistency as
the ALEXA Mini so it looks really cool side by side.
Jay: The reason you would use this kind of a device is because it really turns the ALEXA
Mini into a run-and-gun, one camera operator setup.
I mean, it's really difficult.
I mean, otherwise you have two different setups here.
It's not a camera we usually think of as a run-and-gun camera.
Lars: Right.
So RE came out with the Emira a few years ago, and that was kind of their answer to
a run-and-gun, single operator camera, but you've got a lot of ALEXA Mini owners that
are, you know, that own these cameras, they love how light they can be.
You can put 'em in a little suitcase and travel with them, but there's not decent audio.
And so that's what this does, is provides, I mean, you've got built-in phantom power,
single XLR five pin to five pin Lemo connector for the ALEXA Mini.
Jay: You have two XLR cables, so you can run it in two laws [SP], or two whatever, boom
and a law.
Lars: Yep.
You've got your headphone preamp on the Beachtek.
Yeah, single operator, throw some cans on, and you've got your volume control, and you're
good to go.
Jay: Let's talk about the light.
How do we light this thing?
Lars: Okay.
Well we had a window over on this side that was giving us a nice little kickback, a little
three-quarter edge light, and then we wanted to keep things pretty simple, so we have a
Rosco 210 LED light as our key light.
We're not pushing it through any diffusion.
We're kinda letting our light bounce off the ceiling a little bit, creating some of this
fill on the shadow side.
And, yeah, the window light's lighting our background here with some of our...looks like
we've got some either LED or incandescent lights in the bar.
It's just fun, just a really fun warm look back there.
Jay: Worked out really well for this little interview, so.
Jane: I'm Jane Southworth, my husband, Wendell Southworth.
Wendell: And we own and operate the Ski Inn.
Jane: We been here now for...well since 1990, permanently.
Wendell: We was in the trucking business, we sold it and retired and already had a place
paid for out here, so we moved out here.
Bought this place in 1994, and here we are, just still here.
Jay: So with this camera, it's just amazing, this dynamic range, because we're looking
at the window, we're seeing in the dark shadows on the wall.
It's pretty amazing.
Lars: It just holds it all.
And we're even shooting...you know, because we're running and gunning a little bit, we
didn't wanna shoot [inaudible 00:03:43] and then have to spend a lotta time color grading.
So we're actually shooting with the Rec. 709 LUT baked into the image, and that's even...I
mean, we're retaining information on both sides of the latitude with a baked in LUT,
so that's pretty impressive.
We're pretty happy with the look.
Jay: Now we sound like we're ALEXA fanboys, but.
Lars: Oh, yeah.
Well we are.
I am.
Are you not an ALEXA fanboy?
Jay: Yes, I am, it's an amazing camera.
No doubt about it.
Hi, This is Jay P. Morgan from the future.
Yesterday when we were out shooting, we did not have time to do a test of the H6 compared
to the Beachtek going into that ALEXA Mini.
So, we're gonna do that now.
Yesterday we were at Bombay Beach.
At Bombay Beach, we had a great opportunity to interview Wendell and Jane, who are running
the Ski Inn, a little restaurant out there that we had hamburgers below sea level at.
So we had a great experience there.
We did our interview there.
They had some interesting things to say about the sea, and the facts that it's drying up,
and it's affecting the economy and the people.
It was just a very fun interview and a great place to work, and to be able to listen to
them, and their story, and their experiences.
They'd come to the end of an era as they're trying to sell their restaurant and they don't
know what they're gonna do.
So I'm glad that we did that little test because that Beachtek has great audio and it sounds
exactly the same as the Zoom.
It was extremely simple to setup, we just have two cables you plug in, you're ready
to go.
So it has a great little bracket comes with it that allows you to mount it to the side
in several different configurations.
You can monitor the audio through the ALEXA, and see those levels on the ALEXA.
You have the ability to just change the audio levels on the Beachtek.
You can toggle between stereo and mono.
It also has phantom power, to be able to use through the Beachtek.
So now back to past Lars and Jay P., who will wrap up their interview, where they didn't
have time to talk about specs.
Yeah, make sure you check out our affiliate links if you're purchasing your Beachtek.
If you're purchasing your ALEXA Mini, do it through Amazon, or B&H, through our site.
Lars: Please do it through B&H.
Jay: Please.
Lars: Through our affiliate link site, please.
Jay: Please.
Lars: That would probably fund...
Jay: Make our month.
Lars: Make our month, yeah.
Jay: Yes, it would.
Well the Beachtek makes a great companion to that camera, and a way to be able to bring
that audio in to either work on your own or to just monitor and give you a scratch track.
So, fabulous piece of equipment.
So check it out.
Keep those cameras rolling.
Lars: Keep on clicking.
Jay: You know, after working in this business for 25 plus years, I really understand the
things that photographers and videographers face.
I know the industry, I know what you need to overcome, the problems you face.
Sit down with me in a mentoring session, I'll help you overcome the problems that you're
facing.
Sometimes you just hit a wall and you need some help.
I can definitely do that for you.
So go to theslantedlens.com, click on the mentoring button, and set up a time when we
can Skype together, and I can help you solve your problems.
So it's important to subscribe to The Slanted Lens because Jane and Wendell subscribe to
The Slanted Lens.
Do you guys subscribe to The Slanted Lens, Jane?
Wendell: [inaudible 00:06:35].
Lars: Yeah.
Jay.
Okay.
Lars: Was it Wacko?
Wacko: Yes.
Lars: Wacko subscribed.
Jay: Get a shot of Wacko there, because he subscribes to The Slanted Lens, and that's
the guy you need to follow, because he subscribes to Slanted Lens.
Wacko, I'm holding you to this now.