Dear Santa,

Oh, yes, I do, I do, I do, I do, I DO believe in Santa Claus! I do, I do, I do! (Otherwise, who'd ever pay attention to my annual video production wish list?) Santa, dear, please remember that Aunt Agatha might not know a hard drive from an HDSLR, but I'm betting you do - and your little elves, too.

The end of each calendar year has many quaint traditions that provide us with a time to gather around with family and friends to celebrate a year that's quickly passing; to make plans for the year soon to come... and to give and receive lots of gifts - oh, joy! For a video producer, there's never enough gear, there's always that one more piece of something that we all want, need, or hunger for, and there's no better time to compile a wish list than at the biggest gift-giving event of the year. We polled a few video producers, to see what type of video joys they'd like to see magically appear in their stockings, and following is a collective list from several pro and not-so-pro producers - in no particular order.

Tripods and Steady Devices

Santa, you're a big guy, and you know that handheld shooting isn't for wimps, it takes skill and a steady hand, but we can all use a little bit of help and the bendable Joby Gorillapod delivers. This object of wonder has legs that can bend securely and grip tightly around all sorts of objects like fence posts, bicycle handlebars and other things to secure the video camera for weird and different points of view.

While we're at it, I could sure use a couple steadying devices like the BarberTech SteddiePod, or Glidecam's HD series stabilizers. And for those who have a nifty small camcorder, well, they're great for a lot of things, but difficult to hold for very long, so we'd love to see a hand-holding device like Cam Caddie's Scorpion. Heck, throw in the ElipZ handheld gadget from Anton Bauer and Delkin's Fat Gecko with suction cup support under the tree and I'll be set.

Don't forget to look at that more robust solid traditional tripods from Manfrotto, and please, dear Santa, make sure it's a Fluid Head tripod... for smoother panning shots.

Smooth Moves

Pricey production gear like jib arms, cranes and flying camera systems were once only for rental houses, but are now being manufactured on a smaller scale to fit the new small prosumer camcorder models. With this downscaling, prices have also fallen. Don't count out the larger class of video gear until you check out what you can get within your budget. We're still talking about the $1,000 and up range of gear, but it is available. Glidecam, VariZoom, SteddiePod and JonyJib are a few of the companies that specialize in these products.

Lights

What production is complete without a video light or two, Santa, and the Litepanels Micro isn't the average incandescent on-camera mount. It's a 3"x4" panel of about 30 or so white LED lights and it mounts on the cold shoe on top of the camera. Or for a light that's priced a lot lower and won't break the bank: Sima's SL-200 LXI is a cool on-camera light that adjusts for daylight or indoor temperatures.

Of course, we need some full light kits, too. Videssence has the Koldlite kits, two light plus barn doors and stands that come packed in a solid hard case, and the Modkit with long florescence lights that are portable and pack small.

Santa, while you're in the lighting aisle in the Video Accessories Department at the North Pole, don't forget to check out Kinoflo's BarFly kits or the Diva-Lite. They come with cool lights that you can focus and dim to be very soft or as bright as 1000 watts, which pulls only two amps.