With all of the awesome cinematography equipment coming out on the market, creating stunning videos, beautiful panoramas, and mesmerizing time-lapses has never been easier. But if you want to bring your creative vision to life with complicated shots and perfectly controlled, buttery-smooth camera movements, you’ve got to choose the right gear.
New Zealand brand Syrp makes professional cinematography accessible to visual creators of all skill levels with their extensive collection of affordable yet highly innovative photography and filmmaking equipment. Whether you’re using a smartphone or a DSLR camera, Syrp’s high-performance motion control gear gives you expert results without the need for extensive technical know-how.
Find out how their products can help you take your photography and videography to the next level:
Syrp Motion Control Gear
With the following key items from the entire Syrp line, prepare to produce advanced cinematic shots that only professionals used to be able to achieve with more expensive film production equipment.
Genie II
When it comes to producing the smooth tracking shots you’re looking for, the Genie II is the ideal addition to your gear arsenal. With 3-axis motion control, the system let’s you achieve those dream shots, with the customized kit of your choice, and the Syrp Genie App for control.
The Genie II Linear is the original Genie (more on that below) taken to the next level. The system includes a built-in joystick and the whole thing can attach to a slider that’ll instantly turn it into a motion control device.
The Genie II Pan Tilt, meanwhile, is ideal for your tripod setup where you can get your pan tilt motion going, or combine it with the Linear if you’d like the full Genie II experience.
Merge the two Genie II systems together and you have a 3-axis motion control tool that’ll let you shoot time-lapse, video, panorama, and more, with the use of the app.
Now, also available, are the Genie II tracking kits that include the Magic Carpet PRO, endcaps, carriage, and ballhead. Whether you opt for the Genie II Tracking Kit, the Genie II Genie Mini Pan Track Kit, which also includes the Genie Mini, there’s a combination that’ll fit your needs.
Genie
The Genie, is a portable and versatile motion controller for your camera. Syrp takes pride in this innovative device for its capability to provide more creative freedom when it comes to capturing cinematic shots, time-lapse photos, and videos, and more.
It is specially designed to be an integral part of any modern photographer or videographer’s main arsenal. Simply attach the device to your tripod or any DIY stabilization tool for motion control shots, and connect it to your camera via the Syrp Link Cable. Once attached, you can wirelessly control the Genie using any mobile device via the Syrp Genie App for perfect time-lapses and the smoothest video movements.
The Genie itself already gives you the opportunity to shoot panning and tracking shots without the need for any other device. For panning and tilting shots, just attach the Panning Plate to your tripod and set the Genie in place. For precise tracking shots, attach the Genie to your slider with the Linear Accessory.
With the Genie’s unique rope system in the linear accessory, you get the freedom to capture stunning time-lapses 100 metres between mountains or buildings (when used with the Syrp Slingshot). The device also has a dedicated time-lapse mode where it performs a move-shoot-move function to create perfectly spaced and stable time-lapse shots.
The Genie can work with all types of sliders and is versatile enough to be used with your own cable cam rig or DIY mobile equipment (like remote controlled cars or an old skateboard), so you really don’t have to bring a massive amount of heavy production equipment to add production value to your footage.
Whether you want to shoot starry night skies, moving clouds, or the hustle and bustle of the city, you can choose from the Genie’s many preset settings to limit your setup time and start shooting as soon as possible. You can also create your own custom presets, which can come in handy if you usually shoot the same kind of scene or subject.
Other features include automatic HDR time-lapses with bracketed exposures, the bulb ramping feature for shooting sunsets and sunrises, and the auto start mode for counting down the start (date and time) of your recording.
Genie Mini
The Genie Mini is an easy-to-use motion controller for both aspiring and professional photographers and videographers. It is used to conveniently capture seamless panoramas, perfectly smooth panning videos, and breathtaking time-lapses.
For a very small device that fits right in your pocket, it’s capable of helping you achieve highly professional results using your DSLR or mirrorless camera, GoPro, and even your smartphone camera.
The user-friendly Genie Mini comes with factory presets for astrophotography, nighttime traffic, time-lapses, and more. You can even create your own preset for a particular shot or scene (like waterfalls) to ensure quicker setup time for future shoots.
To use this mini motion control tool, all you have to do is attach it to your tripod and connect it to your camera using the Syrp Link Cable. Wirelessly control the device via Bluetooth and configure its settings—including the amount of overlap for panorama shots, number of photos to be captured, and your desired movement speed and angle up to 360 degrees—using the Syrp Genie App on your Android or iOS mobile device.
You can use two Genie Mini devices (paired via Bluetooth) for advanced panning and tilting control using the Pan + Tilt Bracket and the Syrp Genie App. It is also designed to work with the Genie to enable advanced 2-axis motion control (simultaneous panning and tracking) and create professional cinematic results (just connect the Genie Mini to the Genie with the separately available Sync cable).
For smooth and accurate panning shots, including HDR time-lapse footage with greater dynamic range, the small yet powerful Genie Mini is a must-have.
Slingshot
The Slingshot is a unique production tool that is motorized by the Genie to enable motion control over greater distances of up to 300 feet (100 meters). With the Genie, you can customize the movement and timing of the Slingshot to create the most dramatic cinematic shots, time-lapses, and establishing shots of a landscape scene or architectural view.
The easy setup of the Slingshot only takes minutes. Just find two fixed anchor points and tighten the rope at both ends. It’s quick-release design also allows you change and customize the setup in record time.
For more advanced and fully customizable app control, the Slingshot can be used in conjunction with both the Genie and the Genie Mini for both panning and tracking motion. And when used with two Genie Minis, you can enable 3-axis motion control that includes panning, tracking, and tilting.
The Slingshot comes with a portable backpack, as well as 25 meters of Genie rope and Slingshot rope, to allow you to safely carry and transport your gear to any location.
Magic Carpet
The Magic Carpet is a simple yet durable dolly or slider that works seamlessly with Syrp’s other devices, such as the Genie and the tripod Ballhead, to capture ultra-smooth videos and time-lapses.
This elegant slider is motion control ready and designed with quick release adjustable legs, a counter weight roller that provides stability for vertical shots, and a full roller bearing carriage for your camera setup—whether you’re using DSLRs or professional Red Epic film cameras.
Like other Syrp devices, the Magic Carpet can work with your existing gear. Mount it on your tripod and tripod head using the 1/4″ UNC or 3/8″ UNC thread, and mount one tripod in the center or two tripods at both ends of the track for greater stability and heavier camera loads.
The Magic Carpet allows you to manually move your camera smoothly across the track from side to side, but it can also help you achieve programmable upward and downward motions with the help of the Genie and its rope system. Adjustable quick release legs also allow precise levelling, so you can achieve that perfectly angled shot.
The Magic Carpet’s end caps and carriage can be used interchangeably between the short and long tracks, so you don’t have to purchase an entirely new slider system when you want to upgrade or when you have to switch tracks during shoots.
Shoot perfectly smooth motion control time-lapses and videos however you desire and virtually anywhere, thanks to the Magic Carpet’s lockable brake and lightweight, foldable design. Just pack your Magic Carpet into a Magic Carpet Carry Bag, which comes in different sizes for short and long tracks, for reliable protection and convenient travel.
Magic Carpet Carbon Fiber Track
The Magic Carpet Carbon Fiber Track with carriage and end caps) is the much longer and extendable version of the Syrp Magic Carpet, making it perfect for adventurous time-lapse photographers and filmmakers. It can be set up with as many extensions as you wish while maintaining the stability that the Magic Carpet line is known for and keeping the entire gear feather-light for easy travel.
The centre track of the Magic Carpet CF only weighs 670 grams, while each extension and bracket adds only 380 grams. They can be packed away to sections of 60cm/2ft tracks, which can easily fit in the Magic Carpet CF Carry Bag.
Like the classic Magic Carpet, the CF can work seamlessly with your tripod (or tripods). You can find three 3/4 mountable points on each Carbon Fiber centre track and more on each extension bracket, allowing you to create a stable setup with your existing gear. And with its high quality extension screws, additional tracks can be locked perfectly in place within seconds to ensure quick setup and silky smooth movement along the entire track.
Vertical shots are achievable when paired with the Genie, which helps you achieve fluid and controlled upwards and downwards motion for videos and time-lapse shots. If you have a heavier setup, the CF also has a built-in counterweight system in the track’s end caps and carriage for support and stability during vertical operation.
Lens Filters
Syrp also offers range of neutral density filters that are designed to take your DSLR shots to a more professional level.
Like any ND filter, they can simply be attached to your interchangeable lens to reduce the amount of light that enters and reaches the camera sensor, thus allowing long exposures and the use of wider apertures during daytime.
The resulting effect gives you extraordinarily vivid landscape shots, smooth waterfalls, glassy lakes, and dreamy skies with moving clouds to make your photos and time-lapses come to life. While blurring is usually frowned upon, daytime landscape shots benefit from long exposures as it captures the passage of time and gives your images a more surreal look.
And of course, the higher the number of light exposure stops offered, the more dramatic the results typically are.
The Syrp Variable ND Filter is composed of high-quality Japanese glass elements and provides an adjustable exposure of 1 to 8.5 stops of light exposure reduction, equivalent to an ND2 to ND400. They are currently available in two sizes—the 67mm Variable ND Filter Kit, which comes with adaptor rings for 52mm and 58mm lenses, and the 82mm Variable ND Filter Kit, with adaptor rings for 72mm and 77mm lenses.
The Syrp Super Dark Variable ND Filter, on the other hand, offers more stops of light. It’s made of the same high-quality Japanese glass but with a darker tint that offers an adjustable exposure of 5 to 10 stops of light, equivalent to the ND32 to ND1024. This enables you to use a shutter speed of 15 seconds or longer in midday.
The stops on the Super Dark VND filter are clearly marked, and the maximum and minimum values have hard limits, so users can quickly set their desired stops and avoid having the dreaded X pattern in their images.
It also comes in two sizes—the 67mm Super Dark VND Filter Kit, with step-up rings for 52mm and 58mm lenses, and the 82mm Super Dark VND Filter Kit, with step-up rings for 72mm and 77mm lenses.
Both the plain and Super Dark Variable ND filters have threads in front, so they can be easily stacked with other filters and fit regular lens caps. Each small and large filter kit comes with a genuine leather carrying case that can fit multiple lenses and a lens cloth to protect the glass from dust and scratches.
Ballhead
The Syrp Ballhead is a multi-purpose photography and videography tool that allows easy and convenient camera positioning for complex shots. It is fully compatible with the Genie and comes complete with bubble levels, quick release knobs, and a quick release plate for quick mounting, precise leveling, and advanced motion control.
Mount your DSLR or mirrorless camera on top of the ballhead and attach the camera setup to your tripod or monopod. When used with the Genie Mini, you can pan from left to right or tilt upwards and downwards, giving you more creative options for your time-lapse shots and videos without having to purchase pricier and bulkier film equipment.
With Syrp’s line of sleek and advanced photography and filmmaking tools, you can achieve amazing videos and time-lapses by yourself without the need for an entire production crew or a full suite of video gear. By incorporating any of their motion control tools in your own setup, you’ll soon be capturing cinematic shots and time-lapses like a pro, such as the one in the episode of AdoramaTV below:
