Camtrac is a new project showing up on Kickstarter, presented as the world’s first fully adaptable camera dolly designed for time lapse, hyperlapse and video production.
The creator of the Camtrac, Dan Eckert, expects to raise enough money to make the project a reality. The Camtrac dolly will only be funded if at least $75,000 is pledged by . For now a handful of backers pledged close to $3,000, but there are still more than 20 days before the campaign ends.
The Camtrac is, as many other inventions, born out of necessity. Dan Eckert has been doing serious time lapse for six years now, helping to popularize the hyperlapse technique (which involves long camera movements) as well as some of the first incline sequences, and the Camtrac has played an integral role in his brand of time lapse and video. Some if Dan Eckert’s work has been used in movies as well as TV commercials, and now he has decided to take the next step and share with a vast audience the tool he uses: the Camtrac.
Dan Eckert says that there simply wasn’t a time lapse/video dolly on the market that combines functionality with ease of use. The Camtrac, he adds, “will run on almost any surface or track. Since all wheels and components are removable or adjustable, you are left with infinite possibilities when setting up your camera move.”
The goal has always been to get this dolly into the hands of creative filmmakers everywhere. Now that a fully functional motorized prototype is completed and thoroughly tested, it is possible to move forward and make these units on a much larger scale.
The biggest challenge by far, continues Dan Eckert, “has been getting the software completed. The basic motorized version runs using a simple dial for speed and forward/backward movement. With funding we can deliver the Camtrac with a more intuitive, programmable controller which uses more precise calculations such as motion ramping and shoot-move-shoot for time lapse”. The creator says he is open to any suggestions on how to improve this dolly system while they are in the pre-manufacturing phase.
All CAD drawings have been done, as well as a list of all the part needed, and Dan Eckert is ready for the manufacturing. He just needs the support to go ahead and deliver, and that’s what the Kickstarter campaign is for. Visit the Camtrac webpage at Kickstarter and decide if this is something you want to see reaching the market.
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