Gadgetory

this video is brought to you by NCI XCOM great technology selection and service hey guys Dmitry here with Harbor canucks today we're outside beautiful summer weather and we're going to checking out something a little bit different from our usual computer hardware things but we're moving into more camera reviews and so today we're checking out the SOL shot - this is a very unique tool to help solo videographers to capture their motion or whatever they want to do without actually touching the camera so if a burr wave to the camera so Ebers the the video guy right now but if Eva wasn't there I could potentially use this device to help me do things like this if I stand up Eber will try to track me and follow me as I move around the scene but if it wasn't there and if I had a tripod set up there it would be very difficult this solo shot device by the name solo implies a single individual and this device will help the camera track me wherever I go and so today we'll be checking it out in terms of how to set it up and actually how it works so let's get started and so the basics behind the solo shot to assembly consists of the base unit that has some weight to it at two pounds it feels solid the main body is colored in the orange perhaps for it to stand out from the distance and there's a retractable antenna on the side to help with this signal the mini USB charging port is hidden behind the rubber cover along with a full-size USB port for updating the form Ram the camera mounting plate is at the top maximum supported weight is five pounds so most DSLRs and with the lens and many camcorders are supported the front of the unit has a few contact points this is the accessory port for either the camera controller module and/or the tag as this is how you charge the tag on the actual base unit which brings us to the second necessary component is the tag first that's what a proof it's shock-resistant it's fairly compact and easy to stash away on your person especially with the optional $10 armband the base relies on the geographical location of the for tracking and therefore you must be outdoors in the clear area with no tall buildings nearby so automatically this won't replace your cameraman and it will only apply in certain very specific outdoor situations the base basta tag will set you back at 399 and if you decide to get the camera controller that's an extra $99 and they also offer a camera bundle which includes a tripod and a 1080p Sony camcorder as your ultimate camera bundle I would say it's a premium price to pay especially since the results in our experience are not completely satisfactory but first let's check out the setup process and here is where I realized the setup is a little bit more complicated than it should be and would turn off potential casual consumers who just want to experiment with a solo shot too the first step is to attach the base to the tripod make sure that's leveled get the camera installed at the top with a green LED in the same direction and then the tag must be turned on and it has to go through this warmup period for at least eight minutes this means the tag must be outdoors until the red LED starts to blink and it took about eight to ten minutes for ours to warm up during this warm-up period we can set up the mode utilizing this LED and numbers menu at the back of the base and this is where things get a bit tricky as the base has multiple tracking modes determined by the LED one green color is for a surf-and-turf which gives you a good range of pan and tilt for objects of at least 50 feet away the red color is for big altitude mode to film drones mountain climbing high motorcycle or ski jumps for objects of at least 100 feet away and the third mode is orange for paying only for objects of at least 50 feet away LED number two is your trajectory setting or for how long the base continues to track along its trajectory if the tagged signal is interrupted and LED 3 determines your zoom options for widely Diem and tight mode with green red and orange colors Spector and if you are lost like I was for a first couple of times of going out to use the device this is a very handy LED summary that I kept referring to during my testing but they seriously need to integrate some type of LCD at the back of the base for more convenient mode selection and just understanding this robot so now after the tag has warmed up we need to Center the camera on the object that is at least 50 feet away and then you must perform a tag walk that requires at least 50 steps in the activity area for surf-and-turf and pan only modes and at least 150 steps for the big altitude mode then you must return to the base holding the tag above the camera and pressing the plus buttons on the tag and the base simultaneously afterwards return to your center spot 50 feet away and press the plus button again on the tag to finally complete the calibration process and you will have to do this calibration process every time you move the base around so this requires not only patience but really good understanding of each mode but when you finally set it up here's the footage that we got now my immediate reaction was that 70% of the footage or so is unusable for our use because of the jerky motion every time I slow down the motor on the base does not smooth out the stop and we get this inconsistency in motion while I was running we had some good consistent tracking but again when I slowed down or stopped completely this change of tracking speed is just not to any video production standard alright that's a major negative Plus even if we had everything set up properly the base sometimes would freak out and completely who's tracking in the middle of the shoot and we would go through the calibration process once again which was not pleasant now some of the good parts of using the camera controller module is remote stop and record option and if using a DSLR to trigger a series of photos there's a time-lapse feature built in and support for multiple tags if you're recording between people objects but I think the bottom line is this the non-smooth and variation of the speed of the pan is a complete deal-breaker for us if it can handle smooth motion then it's a no buy for any production guys however we are told that this might be fixed via firmware in the future for casual consumers if you want to record yourself mountain climbing skiing down the hill surfing the waves riding a motorcycle or whatever else just be prepared to learn the solo shot - and how to operate it because if you're fine with the footage it is still better than some people operating the tripod and thus could be a solution to capture motion just remember to have somebody on guard decide the solo shot so it isn't picked up by a distant stranger the soil shot is a developing ecosystem so hopefully when new revisions are introduced some elements will be backwards compatible but as of now it's not the robot camera I was hoping for despite being such an innovative gadget for video in photography enthusiasts so guys thank you so much for watching make sure to subscribe for more camera related content in the near future and we'll see you in a next