Kessler Parallax – mechanical panning add-on for sliders

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by Nino LeitnerMay 6^th, 2013

Kessler used to be called Kessler Crane, but they have long moved beyond cranes – with many other products. First and foremost their sliders, they have taken the filmmaking world by storm (and I have to add, if you look at the quality they deliver, quite rightfully so).

Personally, I bring my Kessler CineSlider to all my shoots – literally. It’s such a versatile device that can add production value to the most boring corporate films without having to put up with the hassle of setting up dolly tracks everywhere. Very often, a subtle slider move is more than enough, especially when you are on a wide angle lens.

One popular field of use for sliders are interviews, something where I find myself using the CineSlider very often. I try to keep the subject in the middle of the frame while sliding across in a relatively slow speed. However, there is one problem: Doing it manually is prone to failure at some point. And if that’s during an important interview … it’s a big risk to say the least. The other problem is focusing which a lot of people without assistants have to do alone too … compromises that probably don’t need to be that common any more from now on.

Kessler hast just introduced “Parallax”, an automatic panning add-on for their sliders that allows you to dial in the panning radius you need, and off you go – it pans by itself. Watch Eric Kessler explain it:

Kessler Parallax™ from Kessler Crane on Vimeo.

With this product, Kessler challenges the competition that has grown strong recently … remember Edelkrone’s automatic targeting slider (click here if you don’t know it yet)? Or Redrock Micro’s “One Man Crew” slider (click here)? Interesting times ahead, I find it’s been way to long since we have seen real innovation in the field of sliders, but there’s a lot of movement in that field now.

And at an estimated $399, the Parallax seems like a no-brainer investment for any owner of a compatible Kessler slider. Click here to check out Kessler’s website.