Shoulderpod: modular smartphone rigs
Along the way, video producer Stephanie Tresch finds one of her highlights of the Mobile World Congress: a modular system for building smartphone rigs. She has to test it right away.
"Wait a minute," says video producer Stephanie Tresch in the middle of an aisle at the Mobile World Congress, "There are individual parts for tripods or something here."
"Or something like that.
"Or something" is correct, because the stand of the Spanish company Shoulderpod does not sell or advertise tripods, but individual parts for camera rigs.
It's clear that Stephanie has to take a break. She loves the wooden and black metal parts. They come in all sizes, from a single smartphone holder to a two-handed rig with smartphone, light and external Rode Videomic. The video producer, who films mainly with Sony a7s ii and rarely with Samsung Galaxy S8+, of course has to see this.
"It's all the same rig," says Enrique Frisancho, founder and CEO of Shoulderpod.
The rig from the kit
It is this statement that turns the Shoulderpod stand from a curious accessory into a point of interest. How can the same rig have five different variants?
"We do everything here on a modular principle. Like Lego," says Enrique.
He demonstrates this, unscrews a quarter-inch screw, inserts a plate, attaches a second handle and voilà, a two-handed rig is ready. Of course, everything is compatible with the normal tripod screws that practically every tripod has.
Stephanie takes each component in her hand, holds each demo rig in front of her head and tries it out, pretending she's filming. She clearly likes the idea of Shoulderpads.
"Especially when I have to be agile, I don't want to waste a cubic centimetre of space," says the camerawoman, who likes to climb up on things or crouch under things to get the perfect shot. Because that's her element. On the constant hunt for images that will impress you, there's little she doesn't do.
"All I need is a microphone and a camera," she sings after shooting with her new Shoulderpod S2 Stabilising Grip. She deletes the recording afterwards. The world is not yet ready for her rap skills.
Six people, six components
Shoulderpod has a home game, because the company Shoulderpod is based in Barcelona. At the Mobile World Congress, Stephanie meets one sixth of the company's entire workforce, in other words one man. He explains in about two sentences what his idea is and how it has been realised. The rest is left to the video producer's imagination. Where does the light go? Where is the camera? She thinks aloud about whether she could perhaps mount the Sony a7s ii, which weighs around one and a half kilos, on a rig.
"In terms of the load our parts can carry, that's not a problem," says Enrique. Stephanie expresses an initial concern about balance, as the Sony camera's 24-70mm lens could take the centre of gravity beyond that of the rig. Perhaps this would be possible with a 50mm fixed focal length lens, but with the big glass? She has doubts about that.
"It depends on the experiment," he adds, but warns us to be careful when experimenting.
After the shoot, we say goodbye and Stephanie waves her smartphone and grip around. The new toy was a must, even if she hasn't bought any modular parts yet.
"Look how beautiful the wood is," she enthuses.
I don't see why wood is absolutely necessary for a camera rig. Black, metal, plastic. It all fits.
"You don't understand that. The wooden design is not directly mandatory or important, but it's nice when someone not only invents something useful, but also something beautiful." <p
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.