I was shocked at my favorite product this year at PPE. Mostly because it wasn't digital, electronic, or even made of glass. I was most impressed with a product that helps our capture workflow in studio and on location.
Innovativ Carts
The product this year that made me drool the most was from a company called Innovativ. They make custom capture mobile work stations for your computer, monitor, camera, gear, lenses, and whatever else you need to go with you. Having seen and played with these carts first hand, this product easily made it to the top of the list of must buys for our studio in 2014.
I'm an advocate of clean, organized, well built workstations. It helps creativity and keeps you moving in the right direction. These carts from Innovativ are super well built, can go anywhere, can hold all of your stuff, and can be customized to your needs plus they can be your gear work horse when lugging gear onto a location due to their super rugged nature. They currently have 3 types of carts called the Echo, Ranger, and Scout and other accessories for them. For us, I see us configuring something like the Echo with two monitors that can swivel, a place to mount a camera when not in use, and a secure place for a Mac Pro on the lower level. These carts will probably last your entire career and I really cannot wait to get one.
I, nor Fstoppers, is in any way affiliated or sponsored with Innovativ. I just really like their carts and think you will too.
Don't forget there is an Fstoppers party tonight.
Thank you for this been looking for a good cart and have just been coming up short. This is like a no brainer to me nice find!
An incredibly useful product. An awesome Commercial photographer, named Cris Crisman, uses an alternatively more affordable cart, which one could see here: http://www.crismanphoto.com/blog/how-we-travel/
http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Roller-Multi-Cart-Model-R12/dp/B003AYLJXU
Check it out.
neat. a cart. for a ziliion dollars. lol.
Wow, something must be wrong with my monitor because I keep going back to that website and it just keeps showing me those overinflated numbers for pricing.
Seriously, at that price I could have an mechanical engineer do one up for me out of aluminum and start marketing them myself; powder coated and felt lined etc etc.
it seems a little on the high side.
I am so thankful I don't need anything like this. First time I am ever saying big no to a product.
exactly! I could buy good stock material and pay a machinist to customize the pieces for me, and bolt one together myself and it would fit me perfectly!
I don't get it. the base model costs as much as A CAR. (a cheap one)
Grossly overpriced. Cannot understand why this is at least 100 times more expensive than a platform trolley which cost $25 at a hardware shop. Sorry, that's not how I spend 2.5k on a trolley.
Let me expand on my statement a bit. . . .
I've worked on location hundreds maybe thousands of times; film sets, fashion, corporate, annual reports etc. And while a good/great cart is always appreciated the crew only moves as fast as the slowest person, the MUA.
No just kidding, but seriously, we always move as a unit. Sure someone can start prepping the next location etc but it isn't until the last person arrives on set that the shooting resumes. So whether you're rolling the gear along on a $200 cart or a $2000 cart, I don't really care. As long as it gets there.
And yes MagLiners and these are great to work off of but even a MagLiners only around $1000 all kitted out (and thats still overpriced).
When I first looked at the photos I saw the little bottom drawer hanging underneath and I thought, "hey cool, they have installed a little crawler motor for moving it around" but alas it is just another storage drawer.
I'm sure their order books are full and they are selling them like hotcakes to the film industry, where this can be justified slightly. I hope they do well but I think I would be having my own made if I'm ever in that position again.
I can understand the sticker shock for some photographers. For us, being able to mount 2 30 inch Displays up and off the cart that can swivel for clients is so important. We can mount a heavy duty camera with Really Right Stuff L brackets to the cart when not in use, customize a place underneath for a Mac Pro to live, properly cable manage everything, have plenty of workspace for our Digital Tech and Retoucher to work efficiently, and store gear like lenses in a safe and organized space. Plus this thing can easily roll over anything and go anywhere.
This isn't a trolly or an expensive cart for hauling gear. PA's are for that. This is the best workstation I've ever seen with unlimited customization opportunities. If you are a fan of world class engineering then you will appreciate a cart like this. There are always other options that are cheaper for every product that has ever existed. At the end of the day quality and engineering will always trump saving a few bucks.
If its not a cart for hauling gear or a trolly then don't put big wheels on it and photograph it on the side of a mountain ;)
It IS a cart for hauling gear... very expensive gear that you wouldn't typically take out to a mountain.
I would be happy to switch from an old magliner if these were not ridiculously overpriced. I mean come on...
Just google "Utility Wagon" and you'll find loads of real cheap quality alternatives...
absolutely ridiculousy overpriced, ffs can we stop this greed from companies who slap the word film/video sticker in and charge us the consumers 4x the actual cost.
Those look really cool but not for 5x the price of a Magliner
Ya'll are missing the point. This is NOT a thing for moving sandbags in. This is AN EXPENSIVE cart for doing expensive things with expensive gear. DITs will love this thing. This is so you can have a mobile workstation, a high-end computer, with broadcast quality/calibrated monitors, storage, interface connectivity... it absolutely would be a waste if you're just hauling c-stands or makeup. This is not that.