In an ideal world, roads would be perfectly paved, suspension perfectly tuned, and all the hiccups of a road shot would be easily stabilized by a motorized stabilizer like the MoVi or the Ronin. However, in reality, that's often not the case, and rough roads can make their way up through a vehicle, creating enough vibrations to make long lens shots impossible (even on a stabilizer).
That's where vibration dampeners come in. Mounted between the platform—be it a jib, a car mount, or even a boat or helicopter—and the stabilizer, a vibration plate isolates the stabilizers from vibrations, allowing the stabilizing motors to focus on stabilizing the image and allowing DPs to work with longer lenses to create a wider variety of shots. Indiana company Kessler has just released its new, affordable, highly capable dampener: the Killshock.
The standout feature of the Killshock is that it is fully customizable, with swappable springs that allow you to set up your plate to match your camera package. If you are working with a small camera (like a DSLR) and hard mounting with no stabilization head, you will go for the light-duty blue springs.
Bulking up, you'll go to red springs, and if you need springs to keep shocked at bay with a full-sized camera package in a heavy duty stabilizer on top, you'll go for the black springs. You can even mix and match springs throughout the payload to ensure the ultimate stabilization of the shot.
Credit: Kessler
The Killshock is currently priced at $1,199.95. Head over to the Kessler site for more info.
Tech Specs:
- Blue, Red and Black variable tension springs
- Inversion kit available for upside down mounting
- Optional air bladder for extra stability
- 1/2-20, 3/8", MoVi, Ronin 2, and 100mm ball mounts on camera side
- Mitchel mount on platform side for mounting to car mounts, dollies and cranes.
