21Nov 35mod Modogrip kickstarter project
Andrew from 35mod.com sent me an e-mail about their new Modogrip project and I must say it looks nice. You might remember 35mod from a review of their wireless camera trigger I did a few months back (check out the video and review here). The basic idea is to add wheels and handles to your Monopod. This gives you the option to use your monopod as a camera slider, boom, or anything else you can think of.
I’ve been using my monopod with handles (pictures of that soon) for most of the events I’ve been covering over the last month, so it would be great to have the option to add a set of wheels for quick dolly shots or grips for a over head view in a large crowed. As soon as I finished looking over the design I pledged $399 for the whole kit. I hope Andrew meets his pledge goal because I’d love to get my hands on this thing.
The Modogrip kit comes in 2 flavors, a $250 kit which includes one handle, wheels, and a Targus monopod, and a $399 kit that includes 2 handles, wheels, a few extra clamps, and a beefier Manfrotto 680B Monopod
Update: Andrew was kind enough to send me some photos of the 35mod Modogrip before the black anodized finish is added.
Over all it looks like a solid peace of kit. If Modogrip works out I wont need to drag around a skateboard dolly any more. It’s also nice to see the thumbscrew design on the handles. I think It would be nice to leave the clamps attached to the monopod and keep the handles and wheels stored in my camera bag in case the need arises.
November 24th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
I am confused by this product. The parts are beautifully engineered, nicely designed and built to military spec.
I am confused because the demo video shows it absolutely failing. The shot of it rolling across the carpet has the camera jiggling nervously…. When it is used as a boom, the camera bobbles, which makes sense because with the camera hanging several feet awat from pivot point, the handels, with no counter weight to smooth its motion.
November 25th, 2011 at 9:18 pm
I felt the same way Paul. I don’t think the choice of video did the design any justice. I see this more as good table top dolly, or suspended camera type of device. I think the quality of video you get out of something like this is related in large part to the amount of practice you have with it.