First Look: Mofage PIVOT is a modern Magic Arm With Damping Friction
Sep 17, 2024
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Share:
The world of magic arms has been quite stagnant. It’s like Manfrotto released their original a few decades ago, and then everyone else just cloned them. But Mofage has rethought the magic arm concept with the new Mofage Pivot Magic arm. We went to see it at IBC 2024.
It offers all you’d expect from a magic arm but with a mechanism that’s a little different than you might be used to. This interesting new design also allows it to provide some support with a simple friction fit, even when not fully tightened down.
Mofage Pivot Magic Arm – A modern take on an old classic
The Mofage Pivot is an interesting-looking magic arm. This could partly be due to its terminator-esque skeleton-like appearance. I have to admit, from an aesthetics point of view, it really appeals to the 80s & 90s sci-fi geek inside me. It’s very cool.
But it’s also practical, with ball-head joints in each end and centre pivot in… well, the centre. At each end is a 1/4″-20 thread with Arri locking pins and a tightening wheel. It looks like the tightening wheel also has sockets to shove an Allen key into for a more secure lock.
It supports a whopping 5kg payload, which means you can put some fairly hefty cameras and lights on them without risk of them falling or drooping. Quick-release heads on each end allow you to swap out those 1/4″-20 threads with other heads coming in future announcements.
Swappable heads are a fantastic idea. If I could quickly go between NATO rail and 1/4″-20 on one end – or between a 1/4″-20 and 3/8″-16 on the other – I’ll be grabbing two or three of these myself. I think mine will all be the black version, though.
Price and Availability
The Mofage Pivot Magic Arm is not available to buy – or even pre-order – just yet, but it will be coming soon with a price of $129 in Black (Disruptive Classic), Beige (90s Vintage) and Argent (Electronic Sci-Fi) colours schemes. You can find out more information on the Mofage website.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Join the Discussion
DIYP Comment Policy
Be nice, be on-topic, no personal information or flames.