Filmtools

Your first day on set as a 1st AC can be intimidating, but showing up prepared, organized, and ready to solve problems will make everyone’s life easier. Here are five tips (and a few pieces of gear) to help you look like you’ve done this before:

🎯 Think of your follow focus like the wheel of a car. When the actor moves farther away, drive the tire forward. When they move closer, drive it back toward you. It’s a simple mental trick that helps you stop thinking about left and right, and start thinking about where your focus needs to go.

🔧 Keep a SmallRig Camera Screw & Hex Key Set nearby. It has just about everything you’ll need for quick on-camera adjustments, or replacing the one screw the rental house somehow forgot to include.

🔦 The Kondor Blue Firefly D-Tap Light plugs into any D-Tap battery and gives you just enough light to see your focus marks, organize your cart, or dig through a Pelican case without blasting light across the entire set.

🎥 Before removing a lens, open the aperture all the way. This helps take tension off the iris mechanism so the lens gear isn’t sitting under load while the lens is being handled or packed away.

🧰 We also love keeping an extra Pelican 1060 in the kit. It’s perfect for media cards, readers, cables, batteries, adapters, screws, and all the other tiny things you absolutely cannot afford to lose or crush.

What advice would you give someone working their first day as a 1st AC? Drop it below 👇

You probably saw the incredible spinning-phone rig from Elise Schatz and Gurvir Riar. We loved the build and results, but wanted to see if we could recreate the effect for less.

Gurvir’s original rig costs around $430 if you were to buy all the parts. For our version, we stripped the concept down to the essentials.

Our finished rig weighs less than five pounds, gives us a smooth rotation, and costs around $200 before tax, less than half the estimated price of the original. We were stoked with the results.

But we had to ask the dangerous question: could we put an actual camera on it?

For the FX3 version, we kept our original base but built the rig out pretty substantially. We can’t lie: this version costs around $350, and it’s heavy, clunky, and awkward to spin without hitting your arm. But we’re glad we tried it, and we’re pretty happy with the footage. Now it’s YOUR turn to take a crack at it. If you build either version, tag Filmtools and send us the results.

Here’s our top 5 new products from IBC 2026

🎧 If your first day on a film set is coming up, don’t forget your surveillance earpiece.

Production will usually provide the radio, but the headset is on you. And yes, assistant directors can clock an inexperienced crew member pretty quickly when they show up without one. Even if you remember it, choosing the cheapest option can leave your ear sore before lunch.

These days, my go-to is the On Set Headsets FilmPro. It works with the radios you’ll commonly encounter on set, delivers clear sound, and most importantly, stays comfortable throughout a long production day. When you’re constantly listening for cues, comfort and clarity matter more than you might expect. A reliable surveillance setup keeps communication discreet and lets you focus on the job instead of whatever’s digging into your ear.

The FilmPro also comes with different cord options, including black and camo, so your headset can stay low-profile and blend into your wardrobe.

But the upgrade I didn’t expect to care so much about was the tube itself.

Replacing a standard silicone acoustic tube with a fabric Tubeez cover made a surprisingly big difference: less moisture, less irritation, and much more comfort over the course of the day. Tubeez also come in more than 25 colorways, giving you a rare opportunity to show a little personality while wearing show blacks.

This isn’t about flexing gear. It’s about showing up prepared, taking care of yourself, and making those long days on set a little easier.

You’re going to kill it on set, just don’t forget your surveillance. 🎬

Shop On Set Headsets FilmPro and Tubeez at Filmtools.

🎙️ What if you could record a whisper and an explosion in the same take, without constantly riding your gain?

That’s the advantage of 32-bit float audio.

If you’re familiar with dynamic range in cameras, the basic idea is similar. A camera with greater dynamic range retains more detail across deep shadows and bright highlights. In sound recording, 32-bit float provides an enormous amount of headroom, allowing you to capture extremely quiet and extremely loud sounds in the same recording.

Traditional 16-bit and 24-bit workflows require careful gain staging to keep the signal above the noise floor without clipping sudden peaks. With a properly designed 32-bit float recorder, you have far more flexibility: audio that appears too quiet or clipped on the waveform can often be recovered simply by adjusting its level in post.
That can be a lifesaver on unpredictable productions. Imagine recording a scene that moves from whispered dialogue to shouting, a slammed door, or a sudden practical effect. Instead of constantly anticipating every change in volume, the sound mixer can concentrate more fully on microphone placement, performance, environmental noise, and the rest of the mix.

There is one important caveat: 32-bit float isn’t magic. A microphone capsule, wireless transmitter, preamp, or another part of the signal chain can still overload. Good mic placement and sound technique remain essential. But when the entire recording path is designed to take advantage of it, 32-bit float can dramatically reduce the risk of losing a take to improper recording levels.

Some excellent 32-bit float options include:
🎚️ Sound Devices MixPre-6 II and MixPre-10 II
🎚️ Zoom F8n Pro, F6, and F3
🎚️ Tascam Portacapture X8 and DR-10L Pro
🎚️ Deity PR-2

These recorders cover everything from compact personal setups and plant microphones to professional multichannel location-sound rigs. Check them out at Filmtools

Kodak is bringing the thrill of ripping packs to filmmakers. 📸

You’ve probably seen the Kodak Charmera everywhere recently. These tiny cameras combine three product trends that are having a moment right now: disposable-camera aesthetics, imperfect early-digital/DV-style imagery, and the dopamine hit of collectible blind boxes.

But the reason we were excited to carry them at Filmtools goes a little deeper than the trend: Kodak actually pulled from its own history for the design.

The Charmera takes a lot of inspiration from the Kodak Fling, a tiny 110 film camera Kodak introduced in the late ’80s following the arrival of Fujifilm’s QuickSnap.

Because the Fling used 110 film instead of 35mm, Kodak could make the camera ridiculously compact, small enough to disappear into the pocket of 80’s kid’s acid-washed mom jeans.

Fast-forward nearly 40 years and the idea is back, only now it’s digital.

For about $35, the Charmera gives you a 1.6MP sensor, fixed 35mm-equivalent f/2.4 lens, built-in retro filters, MicroSD recording and USB-C charging, all packed into a genuinely tiny reusable camera with a clip.

Everything is basically automatic. There are no serious exposure controls, no RAW files and definitely no LOG profile hiding in the menu.

And the pictures?

They look… bad.

But we mean that affectionately.

In a world where computational photography can turn almost any smartphone photo into a technically perfect image, and AI can generate something that never existed at all, there’s something strangely refreshing about a camera that gives you a tiny, crunchy, unpredictable JPEG and tells you to live with it.

There’s also the blind-box element. Different designs are hidden inside each package, including a much rarer translucent version.

At this point, just about everyone around the Filmtools office has bought one and tried their luck.

Nobody has pulled the translucent one yet.

So statistically speaking*… your odds have never been better.

Come by Filmtools, rip a pack and see what you get. 🎞️📸

*We are a camera store, not statisticians.

The right size. Every time. 🎬

The Matthews Grip Rail is a telescoping grid pipe system designed for faster, more flexible rigging… without hauling multiple lengths of pipe or cutting new pieces on set.

Extend it, lock it down, and use it vertically or horizontally to rig lights, cameras, backdrops, rag frames, and more. It’s compatible with standard pipe fittings, grid clamps, scaff clamps, and Matthellinis, and features a rotating 1-1/8” Junior Receiver for secure mounting.

Available in multiple sizes covering approximately 26” to 72”, Grip Rails can also be joined end to end when you need more reach.

Stop cutting. Start rigging.

Check out the Matthews Grip Rail at Filmtools. Shop online or visit us in Burbank!

Matthews Studio Equipment, Inc

4+ miles of tape. Seriously. 🎞️

Our tape wall might be one of the most colorful parts of the store, but every roll up there has a purpose.

Gaff tape, paper tape, fluorescent tape, dance floor tape, chroma tape, glow-in-the-dark tape, double-sided tape, electrical tape, painter’s tape… and a whole bunch of specialty tapes you probably didn’t even know existed.

Whether you’re securing cables, marking actors, matching a green screen, laying down a dance floor, labeling gear, marking hazards, or just need something that’ll survive a long day on set… there’s probably a tape for it.

And yes, we have duct tape too…

…It’s just tucked away in the corner where the film students can’t find it. 😂

Come check out the wall and find the right tape for your next production. 🎬

Pro Tapes

The Tilta Zombie Rig is built for sound mixers who do it all. 🎥🧟

When the camera needs to move with the action, this rig gives operators a whole new way to get dynamic, low-angle, high-energy shots while keeping control of the setup.

Designed around speed, mobility, and creative freedom, the Zombie Rig lets you put the camera in positions that would be difficult, or downright exhausting, to achieve with a traditional handheld build.

Get low.

Move fast.

Stay close to the action.

And capture perspectives that immediately make a shot feel more immersive.

Whether you’re tracking talent, moving through a tight location, shooting action sequences, or just looking for a more aggressive handheld perspective, this is the kind of rig that opens up possibilities on set.

The support system helps redistribute the weight of your camera build while still giving you the freedom to operate naturally.

That means you can focus less on fighting the camera and more on framing, movement, and getting the shot.
For DPs and camera operators, that extra freedom can make a huge difference during long takes or physically demanding setups.

And like any good piece of filmmaking gear, the real value isn’t just what the rig does on paper.

It’s what it allows you to do creatively.

More movement.

More angles.

More ways to put the audience right in the middle of the scene.

The Tilta Zombie Rig is available at Filmtools.
Come check it out and see what you can build. 🎬

The Sony FX5 is built for moments like this. 🌇

One day. One city. One camera.

Here’s our cinematic love letter to Los Angeles.

🎥 Full video and review on YouTube. 🔗 in bio.