Have you ever wanted to film yourself while doing a photoshoot for some behind the scenes action, but not one of your videographer buddies wanted to get away from whatever indie marathon was running that weekend and help you film it? Well, now with SOLOSHOT you don't have to worry about picking up the phone and degrading yourself by begging to your cinephile friends, you can do it yourself.
A 360° turning head on a tripod that follows a signal from an armband transceiver is how the magic works. Made originally to film the creators while they surfed, it is marketed mostly to sports enthusiasts, but I think this has many other great uses, as well. You can set it up as a second camera while filming a scene, or perhaps strap it on a groom or bride while filming a wedding reception. The range is up to 2,000 feet and the armband's sensor is waterproof, so no worries of it shorting out while doing some cool water-inspired photoshoots. Any DSLR camera that has a tripod mount will easily work with this product. The only snag that I can see with this product is that you'll probably have to shoot with a rather deep depth of field to keep yourself from falling out of focus.
The SOLOSHOT's price point is at $479 on their website, but if you head over to their Kickstarter page they have some pretty good discounts there, they are limited though.
So, drop the text and Facebook-based pleading to your friends, (They're tired of you asking anyways. They're just too nice to say it... to your face, at least.) and look into this as an alternative.
If only I could trust the camera to still be there when I'm done filming myself!
Boy, have to agree with you here! Maybe with a gopro or something inexpensive, but with a DSLR? That'd be sure to walk away when you're out surfing or skiing etc.
Now if it only tilted as well...
Aren't most DSLR video clips limited to 20-30 minutes or so? (which would be a problem for the wedding reception)
Magic Lantern has an auto restart function which kicks in when the clip limit is reached. Exceptionally reliable too, I use it all the time.
I've read that this is done only to escape added tax for being considered a video camera. Below 30 min is the limit I think. Might also have to do with heat.
The would be awesome with a gopro!
hmm.. I film a lot of wakeboarding, and though it seems cool I think it'll have a lot of disadvantages... First: Security! No way i'm leaving a 5dII on it's own. Second: You need (quite) long lenses to make the follow shots interesting. It would be boring to have a (say) 11-16 on there. Therefor a GoPro wouldn't be cool to put on it as well... You need to be up close with those kind of wide angles imo.
And what about manual focussing(?), you can't just set it to f8 and expect your subject to be in focus a full track(length)... Also, it takes away the dynamics from the footage you (well, I) need in a sport like this. So you might wanna tilt a little with jump or landing... Maybe to have one, for safe b-roll footage. But i'd say no... I guess :)
go pro has a "zoom" setting. 3 settings Wide, Medium, Narrow
Love the innovation. Maybe not for me, but hurray for new ideas and forward-thinking. Kudos, Soloshot!
Am I the only one who thinks this guy looks like Michael Phelps? possibly his little brother.
They must make a version that also Tilt, not only Pan.
Version 2.0 of this product should have some way to focus the camera. Obviously if it can track side to side and up and down, it should be able to calculate distance of the subject to then focus the camera.
MUST TAKE OUT THEFT INSURANCE because there are a lot of STOLEN CAMERAS and SOLOSHOTS.