fbpx

DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

Submit A Story

The Trexo Slider is a mini motion control camera slider for creatives who like to pack small and light

by Leave a Comment

Trexo Innovation has announced their new Trexo Slider, a motorised mini slider aimed at content creators who like to pack a small lightweight kit. Designed to handle everything from DSLR and mirrorless cameras to smartphones, it allows for shooting of both video and timelapse, with speeds ranging from a super slow 0.001mm/sec up to a rather nippy 30mm/sec. It’s also strong enough for vertical slides up to a rate of 25mm/sec.

It’s launching via Kickstarter and claims to be “the world’s most compact camera slider”. I’m not entirely sure about that claim, but it is pretty small. Unlike most camera sliders on the market, the Trexo slider uses a leadscrew instead of a belt for camera movement, allowing for smaller movement increments, increased accuracy and better torque for moving heavier cameras.

[Read More…]

Joby’s new “Swing” and “Spin” motion control tools for smartphone creators won’t break the bank

by 1 Comment

This seemed to slip below the radar the other day when Joby announced a whole new range of Wavo microphones, but Joby has also announced a couple of new tools specifically for smartphone content creators. The two new products are called Joby Spin, which is a motion controlled Bluetooth 360° pan head, and Joby Swing, a Bluetooth mini sort-of-slider. Both of them are designed for smartphones with a focus on size, weight and easy of use.

The new Spin and Swing produts work with both iOS and Android devices with the Joby Motion app, and allow users to create more advanced camera moves with minimal gear at a much lower cost than they might with other brands. Spin, for example, was a collaboration between Joby and Syrp Lab (both of whom are owned by Vitec) but comes in at a much lower cost than any Manfrotto-branded-Syrp product.

[Read More…]

This Snoppa Rover is a self driving tripod that wants to replace your camera op

by 2 Comments

This is a pretty interesting idea from Snoppa Tech. It’s called the Snoppa Rover and it essentially seems to be a motorised tripod on wheels. According to Snoppa, you can programme it with set paths with full camera control, it can climb up to a 30° slope, it has a 0° turning circle, runs on all terrains and features smart tracking, so you don’t even need a camera op to follow you around. But what’s most impressive is the stabilisation.

Each of the three weeks on the Snoppa Rover has independent suspension and there’s a gyroscopic sensor in each one, along with a hall sensor and accelerometer. These detect any changes in the rover’s body as it moves over terrain and can respond by adjusting the wheel to compensate ensuring as smooth a ride as possible. You don’t even need to mount a gimbal on top!

[Read More…]

This 3D printed motion control rig offers pro-level features at a DIY-level price

by 4 Comments

I’m a big fan of DIY motion control rigs and we’ve featured quite a few here on DIYP before, including this crazy 6-axis (mostly) 3D printed one. But this one from Andreas Epp – who goes by FuzzyLogic on YouTube – is a really slick design. Not only is it a thing of mechanical beauty, but it also seems to rival many commercially available systems out there, too.

Andreas’ motion control system is 3-axis, including a slider and a pan-tilt head. It’s a setup that you wouldn’t expect to be all that difficult. But having had a go at building some myself, they can be quite complex beasts to nail down – especially when you’re relying on 3D printed parts.

[Read More…]

This open-source DIY 6-axis motion control rig is almost entirely 3D printed

by 2 Comments

The only thing cooler than a 6-axis motion control rig is a DIY 6-axis motion control rig. And the only thing cooler than that is an open-source one that anybody can build and modify to suit their own needs. And that’s exactly what this is from Chris Desrondiers at Do It Whenever? An open-source 6-axis motion control rig that’s made entirely from 3D printed and off-the-shelf parts.

[Read More…]

The axiiio nano is a complete compact, modular and expandable motion control system

by Leave a Comment

It looks like there’s a new player in the world of motion control. The axiiio nano has today launched on Kickstarter with a new modular system that offers a lot of flexibility. Rather than just being a single device, it’s a range of components that allow you to build up only the system you need. And it’s designed for both photographers as well as filmmakers.

The goal of axiiio was to have the system be as lightweight and versatile as possible. So, it’s made from carbon fibre composites and aircraft-grade aluminium. But it’s also designed to be small, allowing you to use the same motors to control both the focus as well as move a camera along a slider.

[Read More…]

This DIY kit wants to be the Lego of motion control

If you’d like to add some movement to your videos, there are plenty of ways to do it (including plenty of DIY methods). But here’s a very interesting kit that will add movement not only to your camera but also to your subjects. RGKit Play is kinda like Lego of motion control, and it seems both useful and very fun to play with. So let’s check it out and see what it offers.

[Read More…]

You thought this 7-Eleven commercial was CG but it was really shot using a giant robot arm

by 1 Comment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWljbU7f1cM

I’m not entirely sure how recently the above commercial for 7-Eleven was released (I’m in the UK, not many hhere), but when I first saw it, I thought for sure that it was just some pretty neat CG. It turns out, though, that it was actually shot 100% practically and for real by none other than Steve Giralt and his team. Yeah, I know, I was quite surprised, too.

While a computer was used to previsualize and programme the moves, the actual sequence was shot on a Bolt motion control robot arm. I can’t quite tell what the camera was (some shade of RED, most likyle), but the lens used appears to be the Tokina Cinema Vista 16-28mm II T3 cine.

[Read More…]

Here’s how to light and shoot cinematic Apple-like product commercials

by Leave a Comment

When it comes to product photography, there are a lot of brands out there who keep a very consistent look and feel to their promotional material. Whether it’s a truck or a toaster, you can immediately tell by the way it’s lit and shot that it belongs to a certain brand.

One such brand is Apple. And while many of their product photos and videos are actually CG, the guys at Syrp have broken down Apple’s techniques to show you how you can shoot it for real.

[Read More…]

How to blend time with motion control from planning to post production

by 5 Comments

Motion control is one of the most fascinating topics of photography and filmmaking for me. It combines several of my favourite subjects. Photography, electronics, engineering and programming. Motion control allows us to create some amazing imagery that just wouldn’t be possible in any other way. It also allows us to do it over and over again consistently.

That’s what drew YouTube channel Media Division to motion control and The Marmalade production house to record their new video intro. Consistency and repeatability. Their goal was to create a composite clip, shot with a moving camera, blending four different speeds of footage from real-time to 25% speed seamlessly.

[Read More…]

Recent Posts