From Zeferino Professional Lighting this week we want to show you the best grip & light gear of 2016.
MoviPro
With complete internal cable routing, dual batteries for longer continuous shots, and—finally—feet, the Pro is clearly the result of a lot of thought and work that went into perfecting the design. It’s still pricier than many of its competitors, but the benefits in ease of use and weight are worth the extra expense for many users.
ARRI master grips
While image quality is obviously the most important factor in choosing a camera, it’s important not to forget that someone is going to be holding that camera on their shoulder for 10-12 hours a day on a hand held show. The ergonomic feel, comfort, and best of all camera control built into these grips is truly impressive. Most surprisingly of all, after extensive testing, ARRI ended up sticking with its original grip design from the 1980s. Turns out the company had already invented the perfect camera handle, so now they’ve just brought it into the 21st century.
Osmo+
When DJI first came out with the original Osmo in October 2015, it was exciting to have a stabilized camera in the palm of your hand, but it felt like a limited tool, especially with its fixed focal length lens. The Osmo+, released less than a year later in August 2016, resolves most, if not all, of the reservations filmmakers had about the initial Osmo and is busy cranking out some really fascinating shots right now that likely couldn’t be accomplished with anything else.
AER
This one is the most likely to get tossed hard straight to your face. Because it’s made of soft foam, it’s also likely to hurt the least and to create the most hilarious video afterwards. Sometimes wonderful tools come from the simplest (and weirdest) inspirations, and the AER is one of those. Soft foam casing for the camera, fins for stabilization. And you have a fun toy for playing with video. And a tool that will create some legitimately interesting and different shots than other tools can capture.
LiteGear Litetile
Although it showed up at late 2016, the LiteGear Litetile, we think is going to be the new trend for 2017. Is a mosaic of hybrid light formed by different panels of fabric linked together. They are flexible and can be folded, for better transport and storage. It can be installed in areas, a priori, difficult. Led light with dimmer for color temperature control.
Mole Senior Tener
We love big lights, we cannot lie. Unfortunately, big lights either require stage rental or a generator. Then cabling, then power distribution. And the price adds up quickly. With the new Tener LED from Mole Richardson you get all the power of the old school 10K light. But you can plug it into a 15amp Edison plug wall outlet. Of course, you can’t plug anything else in that outlet. But we think that’s a worthwhile trade off to have the punch and power of a 10K.