Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Camera Support at NAB 05 Points to a Major Trend

01/05/2015

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.
LINK: http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0110/camera-support-at-nab--points-to...
See more stories from tvtechnology

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

10/09/2026

Tedial to introduce Media Business Hub at IBC 2026

Tedial is introducing Media Business Hub (MBH) at IBC 2026, a new business enablement platform designed to help media organizations unlock the full value of the...

10/09/2026

Globecast Unveils Next Phase of Media Orchestration at IB...

Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will unveil the next phase of its transformation at IBC2026 with a preview...

10/09/2026

Fabric Data and TMT Insights Merge to Create Fabric Insig...

Fabric Data and TMT Insights today announced that the two companies are combining to create Fabric Insights, uniting authoritative data, purpose-built software,...

10/09/2026

Operative Launches Unified Platform to Transform Advertis...

Operative, the preferred advertising and broadcast management provider for the world's leading media brands, today announced a comprehensive slate of new pr...

10/09/2026

Leader announces new Sx2 handheld Test and Measurement se...

Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, has announced the launch of its latest range of handheld signal generation, analysis and monitoring ...

10/09/2026

Kiloview Partners with Zixi to Deliver Reliable IP Video...

The partnership begins with native Zixi protocol support on the Kiloview D350 and will extend to deeper product integration and joint go-to-market initiatives ...

10/09/2026

Avid and FilmLight announce strategic partnership to reimagine the color pipeline for post production

Avid and FilmLight announce strategic partnership to reimagine the color pipelin...

10/09/2026

Maxon Brings Exclusive Preview of Fall Innovations to IBC2026

Maxon Brings Exclusive Preview of Fall Innovations to IBC2026 Brie Clayton September 10, 2026 0 Comments IBC attendees will get the first look at new ...

10/09/2026

Three Boston Conservatory Dance Alums Honored for Their Early-Career Promise

Three Boston Conservatory Dance Alums Honored for Their Early-Career Promise India Hobbs and Demetrius Lee received Princess Grace Awards, while Lilly David t...

10/09/2026

MonoNeon Returns to Berklee to Kick Off Signature Series

MonoNeon Returns to Berklee to Kick Off Signature Series The Grammy-winning bassist and alumnus performs with students and faculty from the Planet MicroJam In...

10/09/2026

Study: NFL Ad Revenue to Hit a Record $6.3 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Teradek Unveils Bolt 7 With 900MHz RF Pipeline

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Survey: Roku Remains Most Popular Streamer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Sony Unveils Fourth Generation Of DWX Wireless Mics

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Scripps Revamps Local Media Regional Leadership Structure

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

RT Sign Ryder Cup Highlights Rights Ahead of Historic Return to Ireland

RT to Broadcast Amgen Irish Open free-to-air New multi-year agreement will see RT continue to bring the Amgen Irish Open to Irish audiences Ryder Cup hig...

10/09/2026

RT Prime Time report into the National Ambulance Service to air tonight

More than 30 women report allegations of sexual harassment, misogyny and bullying within National Ambulance Service Tonight on RT Prime Time, 9:35pm, RT One ...

10/09/2026

Visit the mythical island of Mrunglody in the new series of RT KIDS podcast and brand-new retro video game

Series 3 of Nero's Class begins Friday 11 September on RT Listen The third...

10/09/2026

Boots on the Ground: WARDOGS' Goes All Out on GeForce NOW at Early-Access Launch

Gear up: The latest PC games and major updates are ready to play on GeForce NOW ...

10/09/2026

d-Matrix Adopts NVIDIA NVLink Fusion for Rack-Scale XPU Deployment

AI inference chipmaker d-Matrix today announced it will use NVIDIA NVLink Fusion to connect its next-generation Raptor XPUs to NVIDIA's AI infrastructure pl...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Sony Introduces SEL814G Fisheye Zoom G Lens

Sony Electronics has announced the SEL814G, the company's first fisheye zoom G Lens for full-frame Alpha E-mount cameras. The lens will be available in Octo...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Telestream Expands Practical AI Capabilities Across Vantage and UP Platform

Telestream has announced an expansion of its Practical AI capabilities across th...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Chyron and Haivision Announce Camera-to-Cloud Live Production Integration

Haivision and Chyron have announced a technology partnership integrating Haivisi...

09/09/2026

ManningCast Reveals 2026-27 Season Schedule with Heist Mini Movie

Omaha Productions has released ManningCast: Heist, a short film featuring Peyton and Eli Manning attempting to break into NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's o...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Imagine Communications to Showcase XVR Updates

Imagine Communications will demonstrate the next evolution of XVR at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14). XVR is Imagine's channel-in-a-b...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: swXtch.io Launches AI Broadcast Orchestration Tool abbe

swXtch.io has announced abbe, an AI-based orchestration layer for live media workflows, making its world premiere at IBC2026 (Meeting Room 5.MR13, Hall 5, Septe...

09/09/2026

Inside the NFL Returns to X for Second Season, Marking 50th Anniversary

NFL Films has announced the second season of Inside the NFL on X as an X Original, premiering Wednesday, September 9. The series marks Inside the NFL's 50th...

09/09/2026

LiveU Expands AP Partnership with LU900Q Fleet and MAM Integration

LiveU has announced an expanded partnership with The Associated Press, deploying the largest fleet of LU900Q intelligent production units in the industry as par...

09/09/2026

Diversified to Consolidate New Jersey Operations into New Newark Facility

Diversified has announced plans to consolidate its four existing New Jersey locations into a new facility in Newark, expected to be fully operational by the end...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Wisycom Showcases MATF Antenna Matrix, PFL RFoF Box, and MPR60 Updates

Wisycom will exhibit new RF products at IBC2026 (Stand 8.D60, September 11-14), including the MATF Wideband Antenna Matrix, PFL Portable RF over Fiber Box, and ...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: G&D and VuWall to Introduce vsNEO KVM-over-IP Platform

Guntermann & Drunck (G&D) and VuWall, both Panoptec companies, will introduce vsNEO at IBC2026 (Stand 8.B63, September 11, RAI Amsterdam). Pre-orders open in ea...

09/09/2026

Mo-Sys Completes Restructuring, Promotes Selin Kemal to Managing Director

Mo-Sys has completed a business restructuring and relocated to a new facility in Canada Water, London. As part of the reorganization, Selin Kemal has been promo...

09/09/2026

Aicox and TAG Video Systems Power Monitoring for Telefnicas TSAmediaHUB

Aicox has integrated TAG Video Systems' Core monitoring platform into Telef nica's TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure....

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Blackmagic Design Releases DaVinci Resolve 21.1

Blackmagic Design has released DaVinci Resolve 21.1, a free update available now through the Blackmagic Design website. The release adds new AI tools, workflow ...

09/09/2026

ESPN and Apple Music Collaborate on Monday Night Football Music Curation for 2026-27 Season

ESPN and Apple Music have announced a collaboration on music curation for Monday...

09/09/2026

Sacramento Production Services Deploys Wisycom RF System at Sutter Health Park

Sacramento Production Services has completed a wireless audio overhaul at Sutter Health Park, home of the Athletics during their three-year residency in Sacrame...

09/09/2026

NDI and NVIDIA Collaborate on AI-Powered Multilingual Content Workflows

NDI and NVIDIA have announced a collaboration to develop AI-powered workflows enabling broadcasters to create and distribute multilingual content from a single ...

09/09/2026

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Announces the Class of 2026

Christopher Chip Adams, Troy Aikman, Jim Dove, Jim Eady, Bucky Gunts, Robert A. Iger, Charlie Jablonski, Robert Kraft, Tom Rinaldi, and Dick Stockton to be ho...

09/09/2026

NBC Sports Opens 21st SNF Season With Expanded Schedule, Traveling Studio Show, and Bulked Up Toolkit

ND2 returns as the primary unit, While FNIA gets SSQC and new flexible Rover...

09/09/2026

Celemony Tonalic gains additional Paul Kleber upright bass

New parts aimed at hip-hop and pop productions The latest update to Celemony's innovative virtual session musician expands the collection of built-in in...

09/09/2026

Sonarworks Autumn Sale

Save up to 40% until 21 September 2026 Sonarworks are currently running their Autumn Sale, with discounts of up to 40% currently available across their rang...

09/09/2026

Bjooks Beat Gems to begin shipping

Upcoming title officially launches in September 2026 Bjooks' celebrations for this year's 909 Day will be welcome news amongst drum machine lovers, ...

09/09/2026

NITV to bring First Nations netball to audiences nationwide

NITV to bring First Nations netball to audiences nationwide 9 September, 2026 Media releases Every match of the 2026 First Nations Tournament will be live ...

09/09/2026

NFVF CALL FOR PROPOSALS: YOUTH FILMMAKER PROJECT FACILITATING COMPANY 2026

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites eligible Tier 1 and 2 South African production companies to submit proposals to serve as the Facilitating ...

09/09/2026

Nielsen launches CTV Ad spend data into its Italian Ad Intel product

Italy launch follows UK and Germany as Nielsen expands product across EMEA Milan, Italy, September 9, 2026 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, ...

09/09/2026

Gracenote Expands AI Product Roadmap with Sports MCP Server, Entertainment SLM and Agents

Planned solutions tackle accuracy, cost and latency barriers to deploying AI at ...

09/09/2026

Dalet Promotes Brian Doheny to CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...