Varavon's offering up to 70% OFF on select items on their website. They offer a wide variety of camera products from Camera Cages, Cable Cam systems, Gimbals, Sliders, Battery Solutions, and more. They also offer many accessories such as their Magic Arms, 15mm rails, clamps, grips and handles. You can browse their website at https://Varavon.com
Exciting news! The latest Gimbal stabilizer from Varavon is finally available today. We've been teased about this product over the last few weeks, and heard rumors earlier from the NAB2015 show. The new Birdycam Lite may be around 1/3rd lighter than the larger original Birdycam2 and is designed to work with today's ever shrinking cameras. Without the top handle, the Birdycam Lite gimbal frame itself is probably just around 3lbs.
VARAVON BIRDYCAM LITE 3-Axis Gimbal Stabilizer
They have a small list of suggested cameras that will work well such as the Sony alpha 7, Sony a6000, Panasonic GH3, Panasonic GH4, Canon 70D, Canon XC10, Nikon D3300, Samsung NX1, so you'll get an idea if your camera system will work well on the new Birdycam Lite. There's some really cool stand out features on this new gimbal such as a wireless joystick (included), and the ability to use it with the handles detached. This means mounting the gimbal to a Jib for remote PT (pan/tilt) operation should be a breeze.
VARAVON BIRDYCAM LITE 3-Axis Gimbal Stabilizer
The camera mount is also Manfrotto plate compatible so that you can quickly move your camera off the gimbal to your favorite Manfrotto accessory. This is something a lot of people have been asking for, and most will try to add a Manfrotto QR base if possible.
Probably the most stand out features for the Birdycam Lite Gimbal is the newly added Encoder hardware. This was a newly supported feature for SBGC gimbals, and is a night and day difference when it comes to efficiency and stabilization. We're starting to see that pretty much every new gimbal will start to incorporate this. Another stand out feature that some will get really excited about is the single arm design that leaves the (left) side of the camera's ports available for adding HDMI cables, Audio, and power cables.
There's a ton of info and specs over at the Varavon Birdycam Lite product page, so make sure to take a look (LINK).
If you've recently purchased, planning to purchase, or possibly just have access to certain Varavon products, you could enter the Varavon Review Event and possibly receive a complimentary gift.
All you need to do is leave a video review (3 minutes or less) and submit that video to [email protected] Video reviews must specifically be about either the BirdyCam2, TiltJib T1/T2/T3/T4, or any of the ARMORII Cages for the 5DMK3 / 7DMK2 / NX1 / A7s. So if you have these products, or have access to a friend's equipment, you can email your (3 minute or less) Review Video or a link to a URL with the video, and this event runs between Between July 1st, 2015 - July 30th, 2015.
More details on the banner image below along with available prizes offered for selected winners.
Rik Cordero over at RunPlayBack.com put together a nice BTS look from one of his recent projects. The new music video for rapper Joey Bada$$ was put together using fairly accessible consumer priced equipment.
A Varavon 3-Axis Birdycam Gimbal was used to help stabilize the handheld and tracking shots. A broad throw of light was offered up by the massive ePhoto R640 LED Ring Light (found here), and a GoPro HERO4 on a DJI Phantom Quadcopter with FPV setup was used for aerials. According to Rik, this massive 640 LED Ring Light was extremely versatile and used almost throughout the entire video. I'm a big fan of this light as well.
ePhoto R640 18” LED Ring Light
The video was shot using the Panasonic GH4 camera (currently on sale here) with mostly old Canon FD Lenses and a Metabones FD Speedbooster.
Here's a look at the BTS video.
And here's a look at the final edited piece
I'm just throwing up a bit of a summary here, but you can read an entire article about the workflow and tools used on this and other projects over at Rik's site https://RunPlayBack.com
Yesterday I met up with SatoStudios to check out the new DJI Ronin Gimbal, so I decided to bring out the Varavon Birdycam as well to shoot a few BTS clips. This footage is shot with a GH4 camera and although I find this footage to be incredibly smooth, I believe that I will have to tune up some of the PID settings to get best results on this super lightweight setup.
What you see in the video is still using the existing profile that was shipped with the unit, but it may be time to dig a little deeper. Since the Varavon uses the same Alexmos 32 bit software as the other gimbals, I can create my own custom settings. [BTW, you should not attempt this unless you know what you are doing].
