Garrett Brown shows off Steadicam Tango (technology demonstration)
The lightweight Steadicam® TANGO™ provides long-sought floor-to-ceiling boom range with lateral reach, full stability, intuitive control and simple, economical construction. TANGO™ is a Steadicam accessory for use with today’s miniature HD cameras according to Steve Tiffen, President and CEO of The Tiffen Company. “TANGO™ is designed to be a straightforward, bolt-on addition for future Tango-compatible Steadicam models.”
The Steadicam TANGO™ balances and feels like a single sled carrying all components. It provides a comfortable, centered operating position, even at full up/down boom. It incorporates rugged, all-mechanical construction and uses a conventional Steadicam sled plus the six pound Tiffen Tango extension. “There are no electronics, gyros, wiring, connectors or power-hungry components,” said Garrett Brown, inventor of the Steadicam. “It also has a large-aperture, interior cable-path for camera/CCU interconnection. With your eyes closed, it feels like a normal Steadicam.”
BACKGROUND.
In 1973 Oscar-winning cinematographer Garrett Brown wanted the freedom to move the lens from the floor to the ceiling. Garrett’s ultimate Steadicam® invention was an elegant and wildly successful compromise that has revolutionized the world of film and video. New generations of Steadicam camera stabilizers have unleashed endless filming possibilities, but Garrett never gave up on his original dream.
In 2009 a camera revolution was well underway – lenses and HD imaging chips were at last being separated from their heavy CCU’s. Garrett started all over again with a radical new idea: a conventional Steadicam sled at one end of an accessory spar, stabilizing a “mini- sled” at the other end to at last yield that long-sought floor-to-ceiling boom range with direct and intuitive control.
