Tag Archives: magic arm

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Sliders are great tools, but there are certain moves that can be limited when your camera is simply mounted over a ball head or video head. For instance a forward push or pull will often show the rails of your slider. Below is a screen grab from one of my attempts at a push which ended up showing the rails on the Cinevate Duzi V3 Slider.

Cinevate Slider in Shot
Slider in shot during push / pull movement

If I were able to position my camera slightly higher and forward past the tracks, I would have been able to accomplish this reveal shot. Instead I had to find a different option. Even something as simple as a side dolly directly over an object (i.e. slide over wedding rings) usually ends up just tilting down towards the object because there just isn't enough reach.

I've tried Magic Arms and other ways to reposition my cameras, but most are hardly sturdy ways of doing it. For these situations Cinevate has introduced the 'Grip Reacher'. A custom designed versatile camera positioning system that works on any video slider to allow for more creative camera movements.

Cinevate Grip Reacher Product Details
The Grip Reacher is an incredibly strong and versatile grip arm that enables you to mount and articulate your camera in countless configurations. Use the Grip Reacher on a slider to achieve ‘ground-scraping’ slides or pushes.

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Learn-More-sm Cinevate Grip Reacher Versatile Camera Mount for Slidrs

Looking to capture an overhead photo or video? The Grip Reacher is the affordable and lightweight solution. The toolless adjustments make changing positions effortless. The Grip Reacher works on any slider or tripod that offers a 3/8" mount.

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Learn-More-sm Cinevate Grip Reacher Versatile Camera Mount for Slidrs

Crafted from solid aluminum and carbon fibre, the Grip Reacher is durable and strong, and weighs in at just 1.8 lbs. The Grip Reacher includes both a 3/4" and 1/4"-20 camera mount, and can handle loads up to 7 lbs. - See more at: https://www.cinevate.com/store2/grip-reacher.html#sthash.QCiQtyU2.dpuf

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Keep in mind, that I do design products that are sold through PhotographyandCinema.com, so this entire post might seem biased. Hopefully you'll consider this post to be more informational about the various products out there. Earlier this week, YouTube member NitsanPictures pointed out the differences between the Variable Friction Arms carried by PhotographyandCinema.com and another one he purchased elsewhere.

I have mentioned that the P&C friction arms were different than others a few times through the blog comments, but I don't know if it's fairly obvious to everyone out there. PhotographyandCinema.com does not manufacture these friction arms, but has worked directly with the manufacturer to ensure that small changes were made to improve the overall design. There are other manufacturers making similar friction arms, but lack the toothed joint to prevent slippage. So wherever you make your purchase, be aware of this small design change which is the better ones on the market.

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find-price-button Variable Friction Arms PhotographyandCinema.com

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YouTube member TheEthanThompson has a very simple idea on how to use an articulating friction arm to add a bit of extra support when shooting hand held. The arm can be positioned much like a gun stock / target shooter to add an extra point of contact. My guess is you'll need at least the 11" version to give you more room for adjustments, and some sort of brace on the end to work comfortably. A handy little tip to know if you already have an articulating arm. [Thanks Ethan]

Articulating Friction Arm
find-price-button Articulating Friction Arm

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I think these friction arms were wiped out the first day I posted them, and someone mentioned they were out of stock. Appears they are available again for the time being.


onetwo
find-price-button 11 Inch FMA-1 Magic Arm and Hot-Shoe Mount

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Just days ago the most popular design in power friction arms recently receives a significant price drop of up to 25% on eBay. This includes free shipping. Two common sizes available from 11" and 7". We have about 6 or more of the 11" and use it for just the most random things. If you've purchased these before, or have previously done your price matching, then you'll know it's a deal right now (click here).

Friction Arms
find-price-button Power Friction Variable Position Arm

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Yeah, they rock! Was a bit worried about the size, type of material, and how much weight these things would carry, but I totally under estimated the quality. It's all metal in every segment. Lots of different mounting options from Male thread, to Female Threaded insert, to Hot shoe. Very cool highly positionable little arms that carry a crap load of weight. In the video above i'm showing these things carrying my other DSLR's while mounted to a Letus Talon DSLR Camera Cage. If you're looking to bring that Z96 LED video light a bit higher, move your Shotgun Microphone further away from the camera, add an HDMI LCD Monitor, or position your Portable Audio recorder into view so you can control it faster, these are the things that will help get your rig customized. If used with the Nano clamps, they become more versatile to mount onto Lightstands, onto the Rods of your rig, or clip onto the legs of your Tripod. In the past these types of arms ran well over $90 dollars for everything included, but here's a seller pawning them off for half that price: Link >> DSLR Variable Position Flexible Power Arm for Accessory Mounting

power-arm-led-video-light
find-price-button Lightweight Variable Friction Power Arm For DSLR

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find-price-button Manfrotto Nano Clamp

[Update] There was a comment in one of the earlier posts, that this item looks similar to the arms sold from Vibesta. Shortly after posting this article, I get an email from Mark of Vibesta. Here's a little bit more information from the man of Vibesta himself...

Hi all,
This is Mark from Vibesta and I can shed some light on this.
We are the manufacturer of these arms so if you find the identical arm somewhere it is from us (or a copy of it). It is right that we produce it in china to be able to offer it at the lowest price possible and we take great care of quality control to offer arms that are of the same or better quality compared to the best arms on the market.

We sell the arms to manufacturers, retailers and final customers so it is possible to get it through different sources but we try to offer Vibesta arms locally in as many countries as possible so that customers don’t have to pay high shipping costs or wait a longer time for their order – for example within the USA you can order Vibesta arms from Express35.com or Cory Easom, for europe we have local stock in Germany and we are constantly adding retailers within other countries to our network. We will very soon update our website so that it gives you more information where you can order our products locally.

As prices don’t differ a lot I would encourage you to order from a local source if possible to support your local dealers and also for better and more direct customer service.

Best regards,
Mark

Well i'm not sure how to follow up on this one. Obviously, If you're looking for these types of products in the US, check out the suggested retailers. If you're in Germany, Vibesta has the products locally. As far as the overseas sales, i'm guessing it's not going to be around very long....

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power-arm-led-video-light

Someone asked me the other day about getting a bit more height on the Z96 DSLR LED Video light. I had a bit of insight on this item, but it wasn't available until 'now'. (Literally just now!). This is called the 'Power Arm' and it's a variable friction adjustable arm made out of Aluminum. Comes with a Shoe mount, but can be broken down to accept standard 1/4x20 threaded insert. If you look at the image with the hand, it's a decent size even folded up. Other images show off carrying the Z96 LED video light, so it's gotta be able to carry some weight. I have two in the mail which should arrive any day now, and hopefully get the hands on review of this new item. The reason I ordered two is because the images show some mounting options which looks like I can combine them together to gain quite a bit of distance. If combining these arms works out, it would be a good fit along with the Manfrotto 386B Nano Clamp.

manfrotto-mini-clamp
Manfrotto Nano Clamp

This could prove to be a popular articulating arm that we'll see more of to carry those new EVF remote LCD Viewfinders, or something as simple as positioning your portable audio recorder further from the camera reducing that all annoying 'handling' noise. Similar accessories like this arm are discontinued everywhere, but i'm guessing their $150+ dollar price didn't make them very popular. I should have mine in soon to do some weight lifting tests, but you can only find these here: Aluminum Variable Friction Adjustable Power Arm

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