Burbank, CA: July 3, 2012 – Mike “Mikey Jibs” Milia is set to increase his stock of accessories from OConnor to support his rental company, NYC Jibs. Milia has been a strong supporter of OConnor, part of Videocom, a Vitec Group company, since he opened NYC Jibs (www.nycjibs.com) in 2003. He also chooses OConnor when he works as a camera operator, where his credits include live broadcasts such as “Good Morning, America”, reality shows like “Celebrity Apprentice”, music videos for Mos Def and Method Man, as well as commercials and feature films.
“OConnor makes the industry standard fluid heads,” he says. “I’ve had to use others – and it wasn’t pleasant. Last year, OConnor brought their new Accessory line to my attention, and I was blown away with the build quality, adaptability and value of the equipment. I immediately put in an order for the whole line and have been using them on almost every job since.”
“The O-Box Matte box is amazing,” he says. “There are a lot of matte boxes available in this price range but they aren’t even close. I remember having to use one from another brand and the minute I opened the box, I knew it was going to break. Later that week, it did from the very first drop. You don’t get that impression when you’re holding the O-Box. The material that makes up the bulk of it is incredibly solid. It’s great for a matte box manufacturer to have enough confidence with the build quality to put mounting points on their products. There are mounting points on all four sides of the O-Box, which work perfectly with the O-Grips. And, I’ve mounted lights, monitors, and microphones off of the O-Box as well.
“The O-Focus DM lets me easily work with photo lenses, which in the past have been the bane of my existence,” says Mike. This is because the O-Focus DM Photo Set has a gear ratio of 1:0.75 so that 360 degrees of input results in 270 degrees of output, a unique ratio that provides greater accuracy for limited barrel rotation still photo lenses. “It comes with a rubber tension gear just in case you don’t have the gear ring,” he adds. “I still don’t believe how well this works! I haven’t had it slip on me yet!”
Another key feature of the O-Focus is its ability to adapt between cine and still photo lenses with a simple manual swap of the handwheel. “Recently, we did a music video shoot with the Epic,” he adds. “We were shooting with Cooke S4s and about halfway through the shoot we realized we didn’t have the telephoto lens we needed. I saw the guy doing the behind-the-scenes stills out of the corner of my eye using a 70-200mm Canon zoom lens. Luckily, we had the Canon mount for the Epic, so we swapped the lens using the same camera, and all we had to do was change the handwheel on the O-Focus DM and the reduction ring on the O-Box. In less than five minutes we were able to completely swap lens standards using the same camera and accessories.”
Milia doesn’t stop there with his praise for the support OConnor gives him. “My favorite piece is the new 1030D Ultimate fluid head,” he says enthusiastically. “It is the fluid head I always wanted, but never had. It’s like OConnor waved a magic wand over the 2065 Ultimate Fluid Head package to make a compact, yet still durable and versatile system to accommodate our lightweight 5K cinema packages.” This fluid head offers the same features of the larger OConnor heads, including the stepless, ultra-smooth pan and tilt fluid drag specifically enhanced to provide ultimate control and stability for digital cinematography. The Counterbalance system provides true, accurate balance at any point in the tilt range, down to zero pounds, a handy advantage for lighter weight cameras.
“For jobs with heavier camera and lens packages, such as the ALEXA and the Optimo 24-290 zoom lens, the 2065 system suits our needs perfectly,” he continues. “However, for jobs that use smaller cameras such as the RED Epic and the lightweight PL zooms, the 1030D meets all our expectations of OConnor performance.”
For more information on OConnor, a Vitec Group brand, visit www.www.ocon.com, emailinfo(at)www.ocon.com, become a fan on Facebook, follow the company on Twitter; or contact OConnor, 2701 N. Ontario St, Burbank, CA 91504, Phone: 818-847-8666, Fax: 818-847-1205.