If you thought your Joby GorillaPod tripod was cool enough on its own, wait until you put some sleek wheels on it! Videographers who use DSLRs will love the CineSkates by Cinetics. These are essentially skateboard wheels that securely attach to the bottom of your GorillaPod's flexible tentacles and turn your camera into one mean, flexible camera sliding shooting machine. This is probably one of the most useful inventions since Joby itself created the Gorillapod. The only downside to the CineSkates is the price. You'll have to purchase a GorillaPod Focus tripod that we just so happen to have reviewed, with a ball head mount if you haven't already in order to use the CineSkates. Once you've got all the ingredients, you'll be able to shoot some incredibly smooth cinematic video with a portable package. Here are some of the examples:
- Arcing shots that rotate around objects
- Sliding shots that push or pull the subject into focus
- Rolling shots that glide over the subject
- Time-lapse shots that move the camera slowly and smoothly
- Panning shots that scan a wide area
- "Worm's eye view" shots that slide just above the floor
$150 will score you a pair of CineSkates if you pre-order them, they'll retail for $200 once the Kickstarter project is finished. If you don't have a GorillaPod Focus, you can drop $275 on the complete CineSkates system that includes the Focus tripod with a BallHead X. The amount of interest has been tremendous with Cinetics reaching their funding goal of $20,000 in just one day. Check out the video below of the CineSkates in action!
