Vortex Media’s Field Guides ensure that the critical information you need about your camcorder will always be at your fingertips.

These Field Guides are written from an operator's perspective to help you master your camera and maximize its performance.  With up to 320 pages of essential information, you won’t find a single important topic left out. Each book is packed with detailed explanations, tutorials, photographs, checklists, menu trees, parts diagrams, suggested settings, tips, tricks, and page after page of practical advice.

In the no-nonsense style for which Doug Jensen is known, he cuts through the clutter of confusing, misunderstood, and often overlooked features.  He explains each camera function and provides real-world examples and step-by-step instructions for how to use them. 


Vortex Media’s Field Guides and Instructional DVDs are the best accessories you can buy for your camera.

The new WarmCards 3.0 White Balance Reference System is a sophisticated set of white balance cards that make it easy to get a warmer (or cooler) white balance, and then to keep the modified white balance consistent throughout the shoot -- with precision. WarmCards are the fastest, easiest, and most consistent way of manipulating your camera's white balance.

What's new with WarmCards version 3.0?

• Now made of rugged TerraPoly Plastic
• 3 new Warm shades
• 2 new Cool shades
• White, Gray, and Minus Green cards
• 40% more target area on large cards
• 100% more target area on small cards
• Waterproof and virtually indestructible
• Two kits to choose from

Storm Jacket Camera Covers are the fastest and easiest way to protect professional SLR cameras and lenses from inclement weather conditions such as snow, sleet, wind, rain, dust, and harmful UV Rays. They can be put on or taken off in about 5 seconds -- and then stored in its own pocket-sized zippered case. The cover and case together only weigh about 2 ounces,.

Because Storm Jacket Camera Covers are the most compact and portable camera protection you can carry with you everywhere you go . . . so you won't hesitate to use it anytime the camera is going to get wet or dirty. Storm Jackets are available in several models and colors to accommodate and protect most SLRs, cameras.

Vortex Media’s “PMW-F3 S-LOG & EXTERNAL RECORDERS TEST DRIVE” is the most efficient way for you to compare picture quality, playback performance, workflow steps, storage requirements, and color grading capabilities of 36 different combinations of settings in four different shooting setups.

This is your best chance to test drive the
S-LOG upgrade and several external recorders before investing thousands of dollars!

126 clips; 50GB; S-LOG; Cinegammas; 4:4:4:, 4:2:2; 4:2:0; ProRes; DNxHD; DPX; MOV; Recorded with Cinedeck EX, Gemini 4:4:4, Pix 240, Ki Pro Mini, NanoFlash, and SxS cards.

One of the most powerful features of Sony’s PDW-700 and PDW-F800 XDCAM camcorders is the ability to create your own custom USER MENU. A well-designed USER MENU will make using the camera faster and easier. But because it can take hours of valuable time to plan and create a USER MENU from scratch -- most F800/700 owners will never make the effort.

VORTEX EFP is a custom USER MENU that can be easily installed like a software plug-in for your camera.  All you have to do is order it, transfer it to a Memory Stick and import the file into your camera. VORTEX EFP eliminates all but two of the camera’s original 18 USER MENU pages and replaces them with a new 17 page USER MENU (15 pages for the PDW-700) that actually makes sense.

Adaptimax lens adapter rings allow you to mount ordinary Nikon SLR lenses on many popular camcorders. Including: The PMW-EX3, HVR-Z7U, HVR-S270, JVC GY-HD 100 and 200, Panasonic HPX300, and JVC GY-HM700.

The Adaptimax provides a "magnification factor" of 5.4x or 7x, which makes these adapters perfect for shooting wildlife, sports, news, or macro.

For example,when mounted on the EX3, a 300mm Nikon lens is the equivalent of 1600mm lens.

Now you can get shots that were previously impossible with the limited telephoto range of your camcorder's stock lens.

New models for most 1/3" bayonet camcorders.

MediaFiler is a professional database program designed for the video production industry. It's the easiest way to catalog, track, label, and organize your whole library of tapes and disks.

MediaFiler is the easiest way to get your tape library organized and will bring order to the chaos and clutter of your videotapes, computer disks, hard drives, and more. Through MediaFiler's powerful, yet simple to use interface, keeping track of your media assets couldn't be easier.

And with detailed information about your tapes/disks always at your finger tips, you'll save countless hours of wasted time searching for footage or files.

There's nothing else like MediaFiler, so don't confuse it with off-the-shelf database programs or simple labeling software used for mass-duplications. MediaFiler has been specially designed for cataloging, locating, labeling, and tracking "one-of-a-kind" tapes -- like masters and raw footage.

Successful professionals know that slating is an essential production element for scene identification, production notes, or matching shots to a script in post-production. Making it a habit to slate and log your shots while shooting will save you hours in the edit suite.

The EasySLATE system is the fastest, easiest, and most convenient way to incorporate slating into your production workflow. EasySLATE comes complete with three slates designed to meet all of your shooting needs and includes a handy back focus chart.

EasySLATE consists of two 6” X 9” dry erase slate style templates that can be easily written on with dry erase markers. The surface of EasySLATE is made with state of the art polymers that can be wiped clean with the eraser end of the dry erase markers included, or with a soft cloth. Regular maintenance cleaning is quick and easy with alcohol swabs also included in the starter kit.

The EasySlate system comes packaged in a custom
10.5” X 7.5” compact, black, nylon bag with loop handle complete with individual slate dividers and pockets for markers, swabs, and cleaning cloth.

Are you thinking of buying a Sony EX1 or EX3 camcorder? Are you wondering how the XDCAM EX clips will affect your workflow? Would you like to test drive the actual workflow on your own computer and evaluate four dozen full-resolution native EX clips before you buy a camera? Then Vortex Media's SxS Simulation Disc is just what you need.

This DVD-ROM will perform almost exactly like an XDCAM SxS memory card. You simply put the disc in your PC or Mac and it behaves just as if you had inserted an SxS card - thus allowing you to test the EX workflow with 48 original, untouched, unedited, pristine, native EX clips representing every possible recording mode the camera offers -- including both NTSC and PAL formats. (Does not include the new SD formats found on the EX1R and PMW-350 camcorders).

Each clip averages 18 seconds giving you a total of 15 minutes of footage to try out. Most clips include plenty of motion like waterfalls, ocean waves, people, traffic, pans, and tilts. Nothing has been done to these clips - not even trimming. They are exactly what the camera shot.

What do you need to test drive the clips? Just a free software program called Clip Browser from Sony. Vortex Media's SxS Simulation Disc comes complete with detailed step-by-step instructions and tutorials for testing the footage on your computer.

Power your new PMW-EX1 or PMW-EX3 camera with your existing 12v DC power supplies and battery packs.

A great feature of Sony’s XDCAM EX cameras is that they can be powered by other external 12v DC power sources. And if you're like many EX owners, you probably already have other 12v batteries and professional 12v AC adapters that you'd like to use with your camera. The problem is, until now, it has been difficult to actually connect other professional power sources to the camera because of Sony's non-standard DC input jack.

But now that problem is solved. The EXDC1 from Vortex Media allows you to easily and safely power your Sony EX1 and EX3 cameras (and even accessory drives) from just about any 12v power source.

The F3DC1 adapter cable enables you to power your Sony PMW-F3 camera with the Sony BC-U1 or BC-U2 battery charger/12v DC power supply.

Take advantage of your BC-U1 or BC-U2 battery charger to supply continuous power to your camera. Bridging the proprietary Sony connector on the end of the BC-U1 power supply/charger to a 4-pin Female XLR connector, the F3DC1 is an inexpensive solution to provide DC power from an AC source.

Many people buying a PMW-F3 are users of the Sony PMW-EX series of cameras. The F3DC1 is a handy compact adapter cable that lets you take advantage of your existing Sony BC-U1 or BC-U2 power supply to continously power your PMW-F3 when battery power is not necessary.

Many of today’s small professional cameras (such as the EX1, EX3, and Z7U) have a prosumer-style "post & screw" tripod mounting system on the bottom of the camera.

Unfortunately, most professional tripod heads don't have a post on their quick-release plates. They have two screws, instead.

Without a second point of contact (either a screw or post), there is nothing to stop the camera body from rotating on the tripod wedge plate - which makes it nearly impossible to keep the camera properly aligned on the head.

The Tiger Claw is an adapter that adds the missing post to your existing Sachtler or O'Connor wedge plate. It locks the camera body to the tripod securely and properly - thus eliminating the annoying slipping and sliding that occurs with having just a single screw.