For the last year I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to receive training on operating the Cineflex system. For those of you that aren’t camera technology geeks – the cineflex is an incredibly advanced camera contraption (gimbal) that uses gyros to sense movement and then stabilizes the camera and lens housed inside it. The cineflex is most often used for shooting ultra smooth aerial video – think Planet Earth series, or for snowboard fans – Art of Flight. More on this technology coming in another post. For now, I have some exciting news to share.
Over the last year I’ve been apprenticing under Daniel Zatz, owner of ZatzWorks and master of cineflex operation. Daniel and his crew of techno wizards have been hard at work adding capabilities to their cineflex. The latest invention to emerge from the ZatzWorks workshop is a cineflex housing the RED EPIC camera. This camera has grown to be a favorite amongst action sports shooters and others looking for ultra high resolution video, great dynamic range, and high frame rates (good for slow motion). Combining these features with the mind bending stabilization of the cineflex . . . well, it’s just amazing!
I consider myself very lucky to have been the first to ever shoot this combination from a helicopter when we took it up for the first test flight last week. The weather was stunning and we even had some surf in town that day so while I missed out on a fun looking session, I was able to film my friends making the most of it. Below is a little edit I put together from our short ten minutes of flying, the online video doesn’t really do the resolution of this footage any justice so you’ll just have to imagine it without the compression artifacts and in ultra sharp 4k like I see it on my workstation. I can’t wait to see what we can produce with this system!
If you find yourself needing some smooth aerial footage in Alaska get in touch with ZatzWorks.
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