Varavon has released a new product called the VaraCrane which is a solid bar designed to mount a fluid head on one side and a counterweight on the opposite end. Throughout the VaraCrane are 1/4-20 and 3/8 threads for various mounting points or to reposition the counterweight or fluid head.
They also show examples of how the VaraCrane can be used to extend travel distance when combined with the new Slidecam S video slider. Adding wheels to the VaraCrane turns it into what they are calling a Dolly Cart. Hmm.. Both are available now, but let's leave this open for comments and what do you guys think about the new products? Find the new products via eBay (click here).
Varavon VaraCrane Jib and Dolly Cart
alex18
i need a metal piece like that for my konova slider to extend my camera out like some of those shots. I was think a magic arm will do. Any ideas?
Shelby
The best thing about this product?... 2 fluid pan heads and the worlds steadiest hands to use it as a jib! Come on guys, really? If this was $50 bucks maybe, but at $180 you're begging for the negative comments. =/
Han
I love Konova slider, Today I received a Vara crane.
It's great!
Slider feature is extremely upgrade than you might imagine.
Varavon's staff was stupid,
They can not describe the product features.
jont
I dont see this item selling at all.
And i know, because im quick to trigger every piece of support equipment out there.
also its "barbel", not "babel screw", unless there is such a thing as a babel for barbel weights.
Varavon reps, get on it. Also get actual R&D before releasing such things.
Aron Anderson
What gives with all the negative comments. I read all the comments before I watched the video and was expected a terrible video and product. I think its a great idea. I would like to use it on a camera going through a window shot I think it would work great for that and other shots. All you need is a little imagination of what you can do with it. Great job V.
Paul
@Tony,
good point, it maybe useful but really it does seem like a bar of metal with some holes drilled in. I can't seem to find the video but another way to achieve the same effect is to mount the camera to the bottom of the slider and the carriage to the tripod. Obviously you need a pretty beefy tripod for this and I haven't tried it but it seemed to work.
Alex
Looks pretty interesting. I agree with Paul that it might be useful at somewhere.
Steve V
I am with Joe B. I operate a 30' jib quite frequently and the camera needs to be kept at the same angle relative to the ground when its lifted as a general move (on a simple jib) because the motion will rarely be usable otherwise. Think a lift on a talent. You will rapidly loose the correct headroom (or bounce around). Trying to move the fluid base head and the jib arm at the same time smoothly is just going to look bad. That is why the better designs are parallelograms. Even the weight mechanisms are not usable since it should be exactly balanced and it looks like small adjustments are not easily done.
Joe B.
I would rather do the DIY jib from Cheesycam and Oliviatech seen here: httpss://cheesycam.com/diy-mini-jib-mini-camera-crane/
Tony
@Paul - Yea thats what I said. I remember doing a pull-shot on my ..eh-hem.. Varavon slider and I had to cut my pull a little shorter than I wanted to due the the front end of the slider coming into the shot. With this I could have backed the slider up and easily had room to play with. Thing is now I can just have my metalsmith put something like this together. WDITOT
impoze
heres some sample footage from NAB they have.
httpss://vimeo.com/41050526
strange they didnt have the varacrane mounted onto a fluid head, looks like its straight onto the slider.
Paul
I think this could be really useful for pushing in and pulling back without getting the rail in shot providing it isn't to wobbly
Joe Horvath
I think that this could be a useful piece for doing slider moves where you want the camera directly overhead pointing down, I actually built a rig for doing just that. But, as other have mentioned, it's trying to wear too many hats and is pricey for the results shown in the video.
I don't think this would be useful for jib type moves, but if it's solid, it could be really nice for moving the position of the camera when you have the slider on sticks and just need to make a small height adjustment. I would also guess that you could mount the camera upside down and get some really low shots that you would otherwise need a snorkel for, or you could do macro push ins with the camera pointed parallel to the track and right on the deck. I like the counterweight system, looks simple and trouble free.
Robert
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-BDSL10-36-Inch-Gecko/dp/B000UKMWMO
I don't think this even needs to be modified to function the same.
David
Steve sounds like Varavon in disguise 🙂
Han
It is good jib just on the slider, I think.
I have a konova slider, I'll try this crane
DaveT
My bad...$36 is just gets you the wheels!
DaveT
eBay price is down to $36. Affordable enough to give it a chance...maybe. I could see it being useful for some situations.
prfsr_zoom
First of all: here, here! to svem's suggestion. If there was an affordable version of that rig, I'd definitely be in the market.
Secondly: I think it's sketchy to say your product is around $100.00 when it clearly costs $175.00 (I'm sure you're going to say that it's $120 before shipping (still not 100), but everyone still has to pay the additional $52 to buy your product!), and your product descriptions on eBay don't make it at all clear what you receive for $175.00. What exactly does that include?
I appreciate the effort, but to me this one looks like a swing and a miss.
Getauwtahere
@ Varavon
Here's the bottom line. We can smell when somebody is only trying to make a buck instead of a real useful product. It's a bar with some holes being presented as a crane/dolly/shoulder rig.
Test your products out with LOTS of real shooters before putting something like this out there. I think it hurt your credibility tons! BUT . . . having said that, good for you for listening and hopefully making some changes. At the very most, call it what it is i.e. "some kind of bar that can simulate jib shots as long as you can tilt the head perfectly at the same time" and give it the correct price i.e. $59-$69
Good luck.
You can't learn if you don't screw up . . . right!?
Patrick
i just ordered over 9,000 of these!
LOL i could make an actual jib for the price of this!
Jon
Hilarious! They make a great slim slider but this is just outright funny. Kudos on trying to make new stuff though :)I prefer Emm's and Olivia's DIY cranes to this.
Varavon
It's also worthy to note that the VaraCrane is just around $100 USD
Varavon
@Tony
Honestly speaking, this video was made before I even got here. That music brings horror to my ears. Anyway thanks for the input! We appreciate all the criticism!
Varavon
Thanks Darius! Much obliged.
You actually have it dead on. This product certainly is something for the budgeted filmmaker. Not everyone can afford jibs that other companies are offering. We're also trying to make our equipment extremely portable for people wearing multiple hats at a shoot. Try fitting a real jib, a set of sticks, and a slider in one bag. Your shoulders going to snap, assuming you actually got all things in there.
We at VARAVON are also trying to reevaluate our marketing strategy, if we even had one. It's sort of a way to reinvent all of our products, illustrating the true potential of our products.
In the past, we relied on Cheesycam and other filmmakers and bloggers to review and create product demos for us. That's all about to change.
Please look forward to what we have to offer. We'll have a lot of updates soon on our Facebook page. (www.facebook.com/varavon)
svem
Varavon:
Make an affordable version of this 🙂
https://youtu.be/9N64aligyxE
svem
Well, I don't know about the result and presentation, but I do appreciate the effort to add something new to the slider. Even if this idea doesn't work out, I hope they continue to explore new ideas and stuff because its always interesting to see if something eventually really works out well and you got to have it.
Tony
Hey! It's StraighTalkTony... @Varavon, don't let my fellow comrades here get you down. As stated we're content producers, so you probably don't know that "Epic" trailer music has now been so over-used, it's kind of lost it's dramatic appeal. I blame iMovie and such for those lousy templates I always see. I think the product has some viability... some said you need the camera to remain parallel throughout the crane motion...and the actor demonstrates that in the video being front side and using a fluid head/handle. So +1 check there. What really was a bad idea was showing it could be used as a shoulder mount. Ok...maybe in an emergency or no other choice..but honestly, concentrating on the camera and you could swing around and lug someone in the head, put a nice dent in a clients wall or knock something off the shelf with all that length hanging off the back and stack of weights. Personally I never knock creativity and unique products, no matter how useless they would be to me. I like the push-out in moves you can get with this but is it really $180? I didnt jump to the link. just wanted to chime in. Oh by the way, I am a Varavon 24" Slider owner just for disclaimer. =)
Darius
You know what, I actually like it, or I'd like to try it at least and see what it can do. Theoretically it could be a great product for a budget minded filmmaker.
Calling the footage "disgusting" is just silly and thoughtless, especially when someone from their company is willing to come on here and take our criticisms and use them to make a better product or a better example of their product. Not many companies would do that. A little respect and constructive criticism can go a long way.
nitsan
haha! not a single positive comment above.
The footage looks DISGUSTING and the other usage examples look just as bad.
as mentioned by David above, the swing+tilt was so horribly done that it immediately UN=sold me on this product.
I would much prefer a slider that has a weight attachment at one end as it would save having to carry two different items.
Varavon
I'm one of the developers of this product. I understand how this video could warrant the comments stated above but please have faith in the product. We recently acquired a DP to demo the product so stay tuned. I assure you we will not use this EPIC music (:
David
ahh so many things wrong with this.. notice when he 'swings' you can see him trying to pan all jittery. 'dolly' footage is bad and the epic music.. why?!
Kelly
Yeah, if it weren't for the Trailer type soundtrack, I would've turned the video off within the first 10 seconds!! I dare anyone to buy this and do an epic review 🙂
Altamiradora
The only thing I like is the big screw to hold the weights...
The rest, is a big joke ! These guys really don't have it. They are product builders, not real cinematographers, otherwise, they wouldn't come up with such stupid contraptions !
I started to laugh the second I heard the epic soundtrack; canned stuff !
Gussi
It has to be a joke...
That "jib" makes no sense and I just started laughing when they showed the "shoulder rig"
David
The video shows the results as he is demonstrating it. He can't even get fluid movement out of it how do they expect us too! And why do we only see the footage captured with the wheels attached, I want to see actual results from the product.
PAUL
:DDDDD i love the epic soundtrack
Simon
I think the idea of a crane is that the support stays parallel to the ground. Otherwise any lifting or lowering changes your tilt angle. This exaggerates any shakiness/flakiness of your camera moves.
Looks like it would be good for straight down shots from a slider though.
Getauwtahere
This is a joke. Jib movement needs to be independent from the head to be of any real use. Yes, of course you can get something out of it that is usable i'm sure. And rolling around with like that!?!?!? LOL and shoulder irg?!?!?!?! LMAO!!!! enough exclamation points?
GIve me a break. and to top it off, &180 for a steal bar with some holes. The music sold me though - how about you?