
The Pocket Dolly from Kessler supports your inner crankiness.
ALEXANDRIA, VA. Walking the floor of the NAB Show exposes you to lots of products, and it's easy to be subjective about what you see. In my subjective opinion, one of the fastest-growing product categories in recent years is Camera Support, the products used to help steady a camera and allow the videographer latitude on shots.
In the past 25 years, we first saw the growth of Steadicam-like body-mounted stabilizers, then similar handheld products that could provide the same function for small lightweight cameras. These are still popular, but they are just one of a multiplying variety of camera support products.
Very popular in the past 10 years have been sliders, which let you smoothly move a camera in-and-out or side-to-side, adding a sense of motion to an otherwise static screen image. These are so popular that they are now common in films, scripted TV series, reality programs, documentaries and television news.
There were plenty of sliders at 2015 NAB Show, in all shapes, sizes and configurations. These included motorized sliders, ones with cranks and other manual motion mechanisms and tripod-mounted tracks with built-in curves. As cameras get smaller and yet more capable, the size and weight of sliders has been keeping track. That leads to some inexpensive professional products that provide a lot of bang for the buck.
One example was at the Varavon booth, where the company's Slidecam Arc provided a curved one-meter track to add interest to shots. Another was the Kessler Pocket Dolly that has a big flywheel-stabilized crank to allow for smooth camera slides or dollies.
A drone takes flight in the Drone Pavilion. (Photo: Al Powers)
In the Central Hall, it seemed that one end was filled with innovative camera support gear that drives the hunger for ever-more creative shots.
Of course, drones were one of the most talked-about camera support products at the show, with a pavilion dedicated to several manufacturers' products. Walking the floor, there were dozens of drones displayed in as many booths, as well as booths for drone manufacturers, often with flying cages.
Among others, 3DR and DJI had flying cages for their popular drones, and both drew steady crowds in the Central Hall. Drones were this year's top model when it came to cool camera support products, but they were not the only interesting development.
A couple years ago, one of the interesting products was a handle with a gimbal-mounted platform for a camera. This made for interesting moving shots that mimicked the point-of-view of a person or animal. At this year's NAB Show, there were more of these devices and at lower prices.
Hien Le, CEO of Letus, demonstrates the company's Helix Jr. gimbal stabilizer.
The first one to make a splash with a gimbal stabilizer was Freefly Systems' MoVI, which has a couple different models for cameras of different sizes. At the show, DJI also drew a crowd with its Ronin Gimbal Stabilizer, which it had actually shown a year before. Another crowd pleaser was the Letus Helix Jr., a small and affordable gimbal stabilizer for small and affordable cameras.
In an interview with industry veteran Walter Schoenknecht, owner of Midnight Media Group, he said that one of the things that has impressed him with the trend toward smaller and more affordable video gear was its empowerment. It used to be that it took a truck full of expensive equipment to make a video, but that is completely changed today.
A clever and creative person today could make a watchable video or even a movie using a cell phone's video camera, a few inexpensive accessories and editing software. That's empowerment, and it means that more people than ever are thinking about video, making video and sharing video.
At the 2015 NAB Show, many of these empowered people were looking at the many forms of camera support products and thinking about how they can be used to create the next interesting video. If you didn't spend time looking at the camera support gear, you might have missed one of the industry's biggest trends.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
23/06/2026
December 7, 2022
Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the multi-award-winning develope...
23/06/2026
April 23, 2026
NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
PlayBox Neo appoints Besco as Channel Reseller to establish a firm foothold in Asia Pacific's thriving high-tech export-driven economic boom
PlayBox Neo, t...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
LTN, a global leader in IP-based video transport and network services, today announced that PBS has selected LTN as its IP video partner to modernize and future...
23/06/2026
LiveU will introduce its Q Era to Australia and New Zealand for the first time at ABE2026 on Stand No. 25, (July 30 31). Leading the showcase is the LU900Q, a n...
23/06/2026
Miri Technologies Inc. has begun shipping its highly anticipated V410 live 4K video encoder/decoder for streaming, IP-based production workflows and AV-over-IP ...
23/06/2026
DHD audio reports the completion of an upgrade to the audio production facilities at the Galilee headquarters of Radio Tzafon. The station broadcasts two progra...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Multifaceted Growth Executive Brings 20+ Years of Experience Leading Organizations Across Tech and M&E
Imagine Communications today announced the appointment ...
23/06/2026
Australians in Film and Screen Australia's talent development initiative UNT...
23/06/2026
Visual Productions Unveils RdmRelay2 Four-channel Relay Control at InfoComm 2026
Brie Clayton June 22, 2026
0 Comments
New Relay Solution Combines DMX, ...
23/06/2026
SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible, Opening Standards Library to the Gl...
23/06/2026
The priority now is a clear and credible plan
June 23, 2026, Winchester, UK - Arqiva, the UK's leading communications infrastructure provider, welcomes tod...
23/06/2026
The RT Toy Show Appeal has raised over 31 million since its inception in 2020 ...
23/06/2026
News Highlights:
NVIDIA technology runs 81% of the TOP500 and 90% of the systems new to the list.
26 systems on the TOP500 adopted the NVIDIA Grace CPU, up ei...
23/06/2026
Companies are asking how to build specialized AI that fits with the way their workflows actually run.
The first wave of enterprise AI was about access. Compan...
23/06/2026
Newly identified molecule strengthens the eye's response to damage in retinal disease Scripps Research discovery finds that restoring the naturally occurrin...
22/06/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
22/06/2026
Cosm has announced the appointment of David Ho as Chief Legal Officer, a newly created executive role reporting to President and CEO Jeb Terry. Ho will oversee ...
22/06/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the developm...
22/06/2026
Daktronics has completed an audio control system upgrade at Petco Park in San Di...
22/06/2026
Accelerate Media has named John Willi as President and announced the launch of the Accelerate Sports Network (ASN), a prep sports media and streaming platform c...
22/06/2026
All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) and 3XBA (3 3 Basketball Association) have announced live television coverage of the annual 3XBA tournament on Friday, Jun...
22/06/2026
OWL AI has announced the appointment of Jay Prasad as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Prasad succeeds Josh Gwyther, who has served...
22/06/2026
CP Communications delivered RF video and audio support for TNT's Inside the NBA at the 2026 NBA Finals, providing main show coverage in San Antonio and ea...
22/06/2026
Polymarket has announced a partnership with GRID, an official esports data platf...
22/06/2026
As sports venues continue to evolve into more video-centric, fan-engagement-driv...
22/06/2026
As the regional sports production scene shifts toward streaming, this Texan helps lead the engineering behind Victory+'s growing live platform...
22/06/2026
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
the memories of your elders [are] a scaffolding for you to build your identity on - and t...
22/06/2026
New hyper-resolution analyser EQ revealed
CEDAR Audio's all-new Icons plug-in series has just gained its newest member, Blade. Described by the compan...
22/06/2026
Turn any live input into a cinematic soundscape
Designed for use in the studio and on stage, Sampleson's latest creation is capable of taking any audio ...
22/06/2026
Adds guitar strings to Eurorack rigs
ADDAC System are renowned for their weird and wonderful synth designs, and their line-up includes plenty of gear that...
22/06/2026
FIFA World Cup 2026 fever grows, as more than one third of Australians tune in ...
22/06/2026
In our latest blog, Tim Pearson explores NAGRA Venturi, the new streaming security solution for the AI era from NAGRAVISION. Designed to aggregate and analyze ...
22/06/2026
Expanded integrations give advertisers access to distinct contextual signals acr...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Xilica today announced the release of Dynamic Voice Lift, a new feature in Xilica Designer v4.12 that brings adaptive speech reinforcement to large meeting spac...
22/06/2026
Telecom operators have seen remarkable returns from using generative AI to automate network management, customer care and back-office operations. Most of that i...
22/06/2026
Monday 22 June 2026
Official trailer released for Katie Price: Nothing to Hide,...