Maxell Professional Media, in an effort to continue diversifying from its well-known CD/DVD manufacturing business, announced it will release various camera accessories including three-way power shoe adapters, USB and other power connectors, and an interesting shoe clamp that will let you add a cold shoe just about anywhere.
While some may see this as just another accessory line-up, there are a few things that stand out here. First, Maxell is a trusted brand. They're not a random Chinese company that you havne't heard of selling things through Amazon at too-good-to-be-true prices. They were around for us back when we still needed CDs and will continue to be here for our accessory needs, apparently.
Second, while the various three-way power shoe mounts offer creative ways to mount and add power to your accessories, they do introduce other new options that aren't so easy to find. First, a USB power adapter allows you to use your camera battery to charge your phone or other USB device. While I wouldn't use my precious camera battery to charge my phone, I could see countless ways to use larger camera batteries in combination with these adapters to set up wirelessly tethered/triggered rigs, etc., since SO many devices undoubtedly have USB power connections today. DIY gurus should be ecstatic.
Additionally, the shoe clamp lets you add a cold shoe mount just about anywhere. An inner foam ring expands flexibility of application so you can add a mount to a variety of rigs' handles, etc., with different thicknesses.
Unfortunately, pricing information is currently unavaialble, but we will update this post if we get more information. In the meantime, you can get more details throught the product videos here.
Update: We have received pricing information on all of the new products as listed below. These are list prices, so there's a good chance they'll be cheaper from various retailers as they hit the market.
Three-way Power Shoe Mount with NP-F Battery Mount -- $183
Three-way Power Shoe Mount with BP-U Battery Mount -- $222
Three-way Power Shoe Adapter -- $72
Shoe Clamp -- $24
Four-way PC Power Connector -- $88
Male/Female PC Power Connector -- $19.20
USB Charge Adapter -- $135
I might be outside of their market on this one, but I don't see a burning need for any of these things.
"Maxell Professional Media, in an effort to continue diversifying from its well-known CD/DVD manufacturing business..."
Never knew them for that, only knew them for cassette tapes LOL!
Agreed. I had no idea they did anything other than recording media.
Ahah! WHY? What's the point of using this kind of device on a hot shoe?? They don't think DSLRs are heavy enough? Why so expensive? I built this kind of device last year for about $18 and it contained usb output! And with what kind of battery is that supposed to work? Why are they using crap proprietary power mount and not usb? (for selling another adapter of course!) What's the point of using a $50 DSLR-specific battery (with a little storage of about 1500mAh) to charge your phone when you can just buy a big usb power bank for cheap (Xiaomi 10400mAh for about $20, 5V/2A output, and it looks nice!). I think they skip what we usually call a business-plan...
1991 called and they want their stock music back.