This $99 device will motorize any slider
Oct 1, 2016
Udi Tirosh
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
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There are some pricy (and awesome) motorized slider solutions out there (we quite like the Syrp Genie), but they are all kinda expensive. Anything with decent controls (screen/app) is 500$ or upwards. What if you throw some creative thinking into it?
Videographer Nitsan Simantov constructed a variable speed slider motor from a TurnsPro – a $99 egg timer style panning device (kinda like the Genie Mini we reviewed, but $150 cheaper). The idea is to use the TurnsPro as a push/pull device. Connect a piece of string to the thread of the revolving head and tie that string into the slider cart (this is why this built rang a bell with the Syrp Genie).
Here comes the clevers. By using different sized wheels, you can control the speed in which the motor pulls the cart.
Using a very small wheel will give you pretty slow motion, suitable for time-lapse (the slowest will be 15 degrees over 10 hours)
A 5″ wheel (which oddly looks like gaffer tape) will be faster
And a 10″ wheel can be radically fast, more for live video
To follow Nitsan’s setup you would also need a small bracket like this one, to mount the TurnsPro.
If I was TurnsPro Marketing manager, my next product would be discs to replace the DIY ones Nitsan uses.
[BEST $99 motor for ANY slider! | Nitsan Simantov]
Udi Tirosh
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
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7 responses to “This $99 device will motorize any slider”
Hey Udi. Thanks for sharing my video! :)
Yes the 5″ wheel is gaffer tape. :) Just the first thing I found to do a speed test with.
The 5″ size probably doesn’t have much use. It’s a bit too slow for live, and not needed for timelapse.
After I filmed this video I hot-glued two (roughly 12″ size) plastic lids from a £1 store tupperware box to each other, and then glued a 1/4″ thumb nut. Similar to the 10″ one in the video, just stronger and looks better. I probably won’t use it much, as I mostly made this slider for timelapse.
It would be interesting to place the Turnspro on the cart if there is some space. Or on a skateboard for that matter. it should enable some pretty long runs
Brilliant device and for the right price, thanks.
Wow just 99$…. https://youtu.be/h9jXmKDSoqA
Something like this could get me back into timelapse. Well done.
Hi, very good! can you give me a link to buy the coupler female to female please, and I’ve some questions : how did you attach the cable to the platform where is pluging your camera ? and where is attach the other side of the cable? in the video did you use one or two Turns Pro devices? Thank you.
Hi Udi,
The TurnsPro team have taken your advice and put together a kit, so you can motorise any slider. It is live here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/turnspro/motorise-your-slider-with-turnspro
Thanks for the review.