AWARDS
GEAR OF THE YEAR
SUPPORT
Good camera support is half the battle in creating pro-quality video, so whether you’re looking for rock-solid stability or the ability to addmotion effects with ultimate smoothness, the gear you choose will dictate results. Get it right and your footage has a professional sheen; get it wrong and all you’ve got is an amateurishmess. That’s why the Support section in Pro Moviemaker ’s Gear of the Year was so fiercely contested. Scooping the Tripod System award, Sachtler’s carbon fibre Flowtech 75MS has really proved its worth. At home in any environment thanks to its quickly attachable and removable foot pads and spiked feet, it’s also easy tomanoeuvre, being lightweight, and easy to carry with ergonomic legs that sit comfortably on the user’s shoulders andmagnetic locks to keep them stable on the hoof. But the Flowtech 75MS’s real trump card is its speed and versatility in operation – it’ll lift 20kg of rig with ease, and videographers can extend all three legs at once and shoot down to 26cm if required. In theMonopod category, it was all eyes onManfrotto’s XPro 4 Section VideoMonopod which scooped the top award, amodel that won praise for its practicality and stability as well as affordability. Not only does the XPro 4 support loads of up to 8kg, its Fluidtech base allows smoothmotion, while D-shaped tubes give great resistance to rotation, and along with a newly designed leg warmer allow it to be used as a boom. Having a range of motion effects in your filmmaking arsenal is something that brings in the clients. For smooth and controlled tracking shots a good slider is vital, and in this all-important category, Kenro’s Double Distance slider came out on top, boosted by a superb mix of stability and innovation. It can be used like a regular model when laid flat, but mount it on a tripod using the central point and its counterbalanced belt drive
WINNERS
Tripod system
Sachtler Flowtech 75MS
Monopod
Manfrotto XPro 4 Section VideoMonopod Slider Kenro Double Distance Slider Rig Vocas Spider System Stabiliser gimbal DJI Ronin-S
effectively doubles the range of movement from38cm to 76cm. Top-quality gearingmeansmotion is smooth in either direction and its aluminiumbuild will take a load of 6kg on the flat or 3kg on a tripod. A good rig will offer stability in shooting, andmoremounting points for accessories, all the while giving a good balance and not contributing toomuch to the overall weight you’re carrying. Step forward the Vocas Spider Systemwhich nails the job on every score with a universal camera base at its centre, combining withmodular arms, handgrip, shoulder and belly braces to offer all active filmmakers need. In the quest for super-smooth video, a bit of automated help is always appreciated and that’s whymany of us are turning to technology packed gear like the winner of this year’s Gimbal category. DJI’s Ronin-S is small enough to fit in a backpack but produces results comparable to much larger and heavier systems, and its SmoothTrack technology lets you go frommotion
control to changing camera angle even working one handed, while the front trigger takes the camera from upright to underslung in a seamless movement.
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PRO MOVIEMAKER WINTER 2018
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