Hi all,
I bought this for surfing instruction....it is the best tripod for filming you can get IMHO...No need for shaky videos or relying on someone to constantly monitor...the surfer/windsurfer attaches the receiver to their arm and the tripod with the camera on it automatically tracks it...takes a few sessions to sort it out but once that is resolved you can set it up....start filming and leave the wife/hubby or girl/boyfriend or doberman to sit beside it without having to actually monitor it (just for security).
www.soloshot.com
Interested in people's opinions. ...admittedly a tad expensive but I (may) get some money back from doing "professional" video analysis for surfing...in the meantime this will be a tool for both myself and the little tacker to work with to help with the "learning curve".
Understand it wont work well if you are going more than say 500m away but if you are trying to master something then taking off into the wild blue yonder is probably not what you need at that stage.
Of course the GoPRO is also a cheap alternative but nothing beats a professional HD camera (Canon has one for about $850 which uses the same CMOS as the $2K plus cameras).
The Soloshot has been posted here before. Its a great innovation. Recently I bought a half decent camera, not an DSLR but a superzoom which shoots video in HD. The main issue taking video of windsurfing has been getting smooth panning. Its very difficult to do. Its probably the main difference between amature and professional video footage.
How much did you get the Soloshot for? I picked up a half decent second hand tripod on eBay for $51 last week however to get a decent fluid head tripod I've read can cost well over $1000.
I think retail is $499...I paid $399...and $65 for shipping.
Before everyone thinks this guy has too many toys we have a family policy that we dont buy new stuff if we cant afford it (got a huge mortgage like others) but sell older stuff...e.g sold Tinnie to fund Windsurfing...hopefully windsurfing will be a lifelong passion now as has surfing for 40+ years. 
I was thinking about one when they first appeared on seabreeze. They were not in full production at the time and had a 2 month delay as they built each unit as they were ordered, I guess they have gone full swing now. It seems to do a good job but I was always concerned about the smoothness of the pan? As soon as you get a chance to post a vid I'd like to really see what it can do?? I don't really trust the vids on the web site as you can fix a lot in post production theses days. Anyways I'll look forward to your vid and make a decision from there.
Cheers Jase.
Here was my first one...sorry its a surfing one...still working with it..the trick is to get the sensor aligned/sighted by the person from around 100m away and I forgot to do this...its something that gets better each time you use it....I forgot to do a proper "alignment" on it...hence sometimes it does go out of frame...the better shoots are when you make sure the subject is centred at/around where the subject is doing their thing before you do the final "pairing" between the sensor and the unit...something I forgot to do properly here..just paired it directly in front of the camera but still a lot smoother than hand held and no need to monitor it if you dont want to.
Of Course to avoid long periods of boring stuff you have to edit out the crap.
FIO...Camera is a Canon Legria HFM452...cost $800 which has the same CMOS processor as the $2k+ pro ones...great in sunlight with a UV filter and hood..not so good indoors when compared with the pro ones..also bought a Canon Waterhousing for $500 for the up close stuff....great little toys.
And another one which still is not 100% and the surfer is an old Kook (me)...blame the wrong board and crap surf that day
....but this SOLOSHOT and photography thing is similar to Windsurfing....the more you use it the better the results.
Its a bit boring...but to see the way it works...fast forward to the last 20 seconds or so.
Finally got one with some windsurfing put up...I cheated cos I am so slow and doubled the speed in editing...but apart from that the process was setup the camera on the tripod/synch the transponder and sail...interestingly enough about halfway through the video I took some video of my wife SUP'ing on the Starboard Start....this was without the soloshot but still using a tripod...its like chalk and cheese...without a viewfinder and your eyes glued to the viewfinder it is impossible to clearly see the individual and the result is less than professional. However, with the SOLOSHOT there is no need to do anything...ie no one else was involved in monitoring etc...only downside is if you come too close (less than 25m from camera) it doesn't seem to like it too much.
Pls, no negative comments about my style as I know it sucks (tho constructive comments welcome)..as I am only about 3 weeks into it at this stage...and it is a lot harder on my back etc than I imagined. (had back surgery in 2008).
That video shows how difficult it is to smoothly pan a video. The video seems a bit blurry though.
The Solo Shot seems like its great value at $400 or $500. A decent tripod will cost that much. However how does it work as a standard tripod?
A couple of issues though, I guess you have to set the camera to shoot at a certain distance. This is difficult with windsurfing in sideshore winds as windsurfers can sail a long way out. The other issue would be that the Soloshot is only good at videoing one person. Sometimes its a good effect to move from one subject to another. However these limitations could be lived with.
