The moza slypod pro is the follow up to the moza slypod. I made a video about the original slypod and I was quite harsh in my review, I really didn’t like it and I found a lot of issues with it for timelapse photographers.
Safe to say I was quite surprised when Moza reached out a few months ago wanting to send this new Pro model over.
Have they fixed every single thing that I critiqued in the original video? Let’s find out.
As you likely know I review things as a timelapse photographer, I’ve linked another great review here which talks about the other non-timelapse features. Disclaimer: Moza sent this device to me for free however there is no contract and there are no deliverables, I made this video because I wanted to make this video.
What is the Slypod pro
So the slypod pro is a “motorized telescopic camera pole” or a monopod which has an internal motor which allows it to expand or retract at the touch of a button.
It comes in a box with a carrying case, a charging cable and in my case a bunch of camera cables. It comes with removable metal feet and a removable Arca compatible ball head at the top, two mounting points to screw it onto a tripod or other devices, 3 buttons to power it on and to move it up or down, a USB c charging port, a multicolour led ring and a proprietary camera connection port.
It pairs with the Moza app on your smartphone which allows you to finely control the device to move up or down using keyframes, ramped speed etc.
How is it different from the original slypod
In my original slypod review I mostly complained about the fact that it was super wobbly, that it wasn’t long or tall enough, that the feet weren’t sturdy, that the ballhead was annoying, that there was a little bit of play on the extension and a few more things.
Anyways, all of these issues from the previous model have been improved or fixed. I am honestly impressed.
From the eyes of a timelapse photographer, the slypod pro is now a device that I might take with me to create niche shots where I don’t want to take a slider.
It holds a reasonable (but less than the original) amount of weight for both horizontal and vertical moves and I see myself using this more in the future for simple setup shots in and around the house, for shots where I want to move through a gap etc.
How to shoot timelapse with the Slypod Pro
Let’s have a look at how I would shoot a timelapse with it.
As you may know, I mostly shoot continuous as opposed to shoot-move-shoot timelapses as I prefer the motion blur that gives me and it’s usually faster and easier to set up as you can just sync your camera’s shooting settings alongside the moco rig’s parameters. For this, I use the camera’s internal trigger and it’s not linked to the Slypod at all. I do this with most devices by the way, as it allows me to shoot a LOT of shots in a run and gun style.
So the app connects to the device easily and gives you a battery status and then a few options, for my way of shooting I’d go to the video recording screen, then dial in your settings and do the same on your camera then hit start at the same time and boom, you’re shooting.
For finer control and move shoot move timelapses you want to open up the Step tab and dial in your settings from there. The controls could be better but they’re not horrible, I think they just need to work on their English translations a little bit.
You can also link the slypod with a moza gimbal, which I don’t have access to at the moment so I can’t comment about that but if you look at the carrying capability you will need a very small or lightweight camera and a SUPER sturdy setup to make sure it doesn’t lean over when the weight shifts.
There’s lots of fun angles that you can get with this, and I’m excited to try more out now that the world is slowly opening up again.
So, to answer my question from the start of the video, have they fixed everything I critiqued in the original video? Let’s put it this way, I feel like they watched it and used that as a guideline to create this new model. I doubt they did, but I do feel like this is a very solid improvement!
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