In this video we're talking about the Smartta Slider Mini
and we're gonna explore what this slider is all about
and why I think it's an awesome slider.
If you're new to this channel my name is Jeven Dovey.
I do a lot of filmmaking tutorials and camera reviews.
So today we're talking about the Smarta Slider Mini.
This little guy.
So what this is, is a motorized slider.
And what it does, is basically your camera will go
from left to right, or right to left depending on
which way you set it to go.
And it can do live action or it can do time lapse.
So it's a very simple device that gets you
some really awesome footage.
So I took this out, I went trail running the other day
and I really wanted to see, A: how portable this thing was
and B: what kind of footage I can get while I'm on the go
and on the move.
So what I did is I just threw this in my backpack
with my camera.
I explored a trail that's near LA.
It's a really cool place to go adventuring, go exploring.
It has a strange history behind it.
So before we get into talking about this slider specifically
let's just take a look at what kind of footage
you can get with it.
(dramatic music)
One thing before we get started,
I was not paid to do this review.
I just want to put that out front.
They did send this to me early because this is a Kickstarter
and it just launched today.
So they gave it to me to test out, to play with, to sample,
and to give you my thoughts about it
because they're launching their Kickstarter today.
So while I was filming all this footage
I didn't have anyone else with me.
It was just me, the slider and my camera
with a little tripod head on it.
And that's the beauty of this slider.
It is super small but it has a lot of features
packed into it that makes it super powerful.
So it's a uni-body design which means all in one.
You don't really have to do much besides
add your tripod head to it.
Whatever it is that you want to put on here.
You can use smaller ball mounts
or you can do a bigger video tripod head.
And then if you want to mount it to something else,
say a tripod itself,
there is a screw on the bottom for that as well.
It is super compact and it's super easy
to get some awesome footage.
As you can see I was out, I was on a run
but I was able to pull the slider and my camera
out of the bag, get some shots and keep moving.
And it doesn't take a lot of time to set up and go.
It's got an eight inch gliding path
and it's an all-in-one uni-body design.
You have your charging port,
and you also have a port add a camera control cable.
On the far side you have a button
and this is how you turn it on.
And this is also how you can run it
if you don't want to use your phone.
So a couple things I want to talk about the design.
A: it's got a battery built into it.
So like I said, it's uni-body.
There's not a lot going on here; the battery's in here.
I actually don't know the full capacity of this battery
but I've been running it for the last few days
and I haven't seen it drop very much in the battery itself.
So that's a good thing, the battery lasts a while.
You can use this button
to make the slider move left and right.
And that's one of the really cool things about it.
So if you click it twice it goes right,
if you click it three times it goes left.
So when I was out trail running, one of the coolest things
is that I didn't need to worry about connecting my phone
to make this work.
I just pulled it out of my bag, turned it on,
clicked the button twice and it starts moving.
And so that's the beauty about this kind of product
is that you can set it down, it runs on its own,
and it's very easy to use.
You don't always have to have the app connected.
And that's something I personally really like about this.
So if I'm shooting myself I can get these cool,
subtle, moving shots with a slider
and not have to have anyone else there.
I don't have to program a bunch of stuff.
I can just hit a button and go.
And that's one thing I really liked.
As you can see in the footage, I was able to get
a lot of different shots
and some interesting angles using the slider
that look so much better when you put a little motion to it.
When you move your camera things look so much more dramatic,
they look so much more produced than say,
if your camera was just sitting there on a tripod.
Even if it's just the subtlest motion,
it looks so mch better.
So that's kind of where this slider comes into play.
Is that you can get these subtle movements,
you don't have to have a ton of gear,
and this thing can go with you wherever you're going.
So it's something that you could easily add
into your kit if you want to get these subtle movements
and it's not gonna take up a bunch of extra room.
You could slide this in a lot of parts of your bag.
Now you might say, why don't you just use a gimbal?
Well, a gimbal is great but a gimbal doesn't have the same
kind of functionality as a slider.
So with a slider you can do it hands free.
You could film yourself and still get that movement.
You could also get more dramatic, very stylized,
slow-moving shots where there's something foregrounded
in the frame that you can't necessarily get with a gimbal
because you're having to control the motion
from left to right or right to left.
This, since it's automated, makes it a lot easier
for you to get those dolly-style shots.
And that's one element where this slider really shines.
When you go into the app you just power on your slider,
it instantly connects,
and you can see right here on this screen
that you can change your speed,
which it also shows how much time it takes
to do the full movement from either left to right
or right to left.
It shows where the camera position is.
Currently mine's on the left; when it goes to the right
it will shift the right.
So as you can see, when I click it
it's moving and you can see it move in real time
in the app which is really cool.
Now one of the really cool things about this app
is that when you go into the time lapse,
Smarta has already put together a bunch of settings
for different scenarios.
So you have stars, you have the Milky Way,
you have a day road, a night road
and you can see there's a bunch of different settings
to do time lapses.
And it auto-sets up all the time,
and then it will connect to your camera
and take a photo and then move the slider.
Take a photo, and move the slider.
As you can see you have all your frame rates.
There's some really cool functionalities with the time lapse
and one of the best parts about it
is that if you want to make your own
you just go to the end and you can make your own settings
that work best for you.
So it's a super powerful and simple app.
Now the last thing you can do is stop motion.
What you basically do is take a frame, click this button.
It will move to the next frame.
And then you just keep going through.
And you can add however many frames that you want
up to a thousand.
So you can have a cool sliding move
in your stop motion projects.
So as a whole, I actually really liked this slider.
It's simple and easy to use.
And that's one of those things.
If something is simple, if it's easy to use,
then I'm gonna use it.
I can pull this out of my bag and I can be ready to go
within a minute to do a dolly shot from left to right
or right to left.
So normally I don't carry a slider with me
but this is definitely one that I'm gonna consider bringing
depending on the trip.
It adds a lot of value and it's very easy to use
and it doesn't weigh that much.
So guys, if you're interested to see more about this slider
I highly suggest checking out the link in the description.
They're running a Kickstarter right now and there is
an early bird special where you can get it half off.
If it's something that you would consider adding
to your gear I highly suggest checking that out
so you can get a huge discount.
But guys, that it is.
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If you want to see some cool videos
on how to get cinematic footage check out the video up here.
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Alright guys that's it. I'll see you on the next one.