Which konova slider to get

OK: it was more like 5 years ago when I was started my journey into filmmaking and purchased my first slider: the Konova K3 80cm. A couple years later I added the optional Master Pan mechanical pan to my kit, and a few years after that I bought a couple of their tripod stability arms.

Then the robots came and I was smitten by the possibilities a motorized slider brought to the table. Perfect slides every time? Yes, please! But motorized sliders were perfect every time.

Just imagine what a full-size motorized slider could do! Konova was nice enough to reach out and send me their latest S2 motor add-on at no charge, but with no strings attached.

Which means I can look you in the eye and give my unbiased opinion as always. A belt, motor and control unit that can be added to all existing Konova sliders, giving you smooth, continuous slides for interviews, interiors, b-roll, timelapses and more. Even more impressive is their decision to make it compatible with every Konova slider ever made.

The fact Kovona left nobody behind In an increasingly throw-away world is truly extraordinary. This mechanical auto-pan works great even with heavy loads without the need for additional motors or complicated setup.

The Konova system is an entirely modular system that grows with you as a filmmaker: buy the slider first and learn to do manual slides as best you can. When you make some money, pick up the motor. But setting up the Konova for time-lapses took no additional time just attach one sync cable from your camera to the motor! Colour me impressed. With the addition of the Konova S2 motor I was not only impressed with the ease of getting perfect slides but was surprised how much time it saved in shoot and post since every slide was perfect every time.

Having more usable footage to choose from in less time means less time shooting and in edit. Below is a video we shot in fall in downtown Frankfurt with a rigged Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera on the K7 cm. The shots were NOT stabilized in post. We often used the Konova K5 slider in the past few years which is ideal for DSLRs but what I noticed especially when using the K7 is the ability to get really smooth shots even when shooting at focal lengths between 50mm and mm.

As you could see in the sample video there are quite a few shots at high focal lengths. Of course there are a few things that make a shot look smooth. The camera man should know how to move the slider plate smooth and maybe not drink too much coffee before the shoot, the slider itself of course and image stabilization. Most of the time we use sliders outdoors which means they can get wet and dirty but so far the K7 has survived all of our productions.

Just like a tripod a slider stand rough weather situations.