Slingshot

Syrp’s new Slingshot is a motion control zipline that lets you dolly your camera for hundreds of feet

Sep 14, 2016 by John Aldred Add Comment

Creating super long slider or dolly shots is something many timelapse photographers and filmmakers dream about doing. For some, hyperlapse techniques and a lot of post production work is the answer. For others, that’s far too much work. When you look at the whole process, you can quickly see why. For others, the solution is a cable cam zipline type system.

It works with the Syrp Genie (review here), to provide you with a level of control that is otherwise difficult to achieve. Until now, though, these have been DIY solutions. In fact, you can see our own DIY Syrp Genie cable cam here. Today, though, Syrp have released their official cablecam, the Slingshot.

Video on a Budget: Using MS Paint for special effects editing

Jan 8, 2015 by Allen Mowery 1 Comment

As a kid, I liked my slingshot and spent many hours practicing with a variety of ammo. However, as an adult, Joerg Sprave is nothing short of absolutely obsessed with slingshots and launchers, and his (currently) 553,302 YouTube subscribers are a testament to that fact. From high-powered, more traditional slingshots to lethal monstrosities that launch saw blades and decapitating arrows, Joerg knows how to have a good time.

So, what does a mad wood-and-rubber-band scientist do when a test goes awry and he gets nailed in the head with a fast-flying, half-inch steel ball on camera? He posts it online for the world to see, obviously! The video looks incredibly painful, but, after a little digging, I uncovered the truth. The truth of the matter is, Joerg used a little ingenuity, visual slight-of-hand, and cheap-ass-MS-Paint-wizardry to deceive the world (give or take a few billion souls). Let’s see how he did it…

Using A Fish Slingshot For Better Eagle Photography

Feb 4, 2014 by Udi Tirosh 14 Comments

I know that the first thing you did after seeing that title is looking at the date thing on your smartphone. No it is not April first.

Photographer Ken Kester from Clinton, Iowa knows how hard it is to photograph Bald Eagles, so he rigged the system. Instead of depending on luck waiting for the eagle to arrive into a comfortable shooting position, he devised the perfect mechanism to lure them.

Using a homemade contraption, Ken slingshots dead fish about a hundred meters away from the docs. This is far enough from the docs that the eagles feel comfy enough to snatch the fish out of the water, while close enough to allow photographers to get good shots of the birds.