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We have 2 new Litemat 4 plus LED kits coming our way the first week of Nov. We’ve been waiting on these a long time so they can’t come soon enough.

#litegear #litematplus #litemat4plus

 

 

Car rigging for days! We just picked up a whole bunch of camera mounting solutions for big camera rigs. We’ll update photos of the gear in use and the full packages as soon as they land on our doorstep.

 

Thank you to Brett from Vinyl Graphics NW for the new look!

 

I started work on fabricating the interior of the little Transit Connect grip van. This is such a great little rig. The footprint is tiny and the height clearance is 6′ which means it can zip right under all the old school parking garages with low clearance.

The beautiful thing about this fabrication thus far is the ability to fit 4×4 frames into the sliding side door. I found a way to cut out the floor in a manner that just gives clearance for the full size frames. This was an awesome discovery as I was previously convinced we were going to have to buy 42″ flags for this rig.

The C  stand rack turned out really nice. I fussed with a multitude of arrangements before settling on this. With the news rack, 12 C stands can ride on board, all off the floor and out easy to grab from the side door with ought having to move anything else.

The little Transit Connect grip van will be a great contender when she’s all said and done. Stay tuned for more updates.

Cheers,

Casey S.

It’s come time to retire the little NPR truck in exchange for a beefier big brother. That little 3ton had been riding REAL heavy for a long time and has become tired. After flipping up every couch cushion and emptying every jean pocket I scrapped all the pennies together to purchase a new truck with a custom designed hand built truck body.

 

This new 4 ton Freightliner grip truck will be a wonderful replacement to my workhorse Isuzu. The truck will have 6 large jockey boxes for quick access to essential gear.

The rear door will now be a double swing door. We will mount all the big light stand on door racks for easy access. Since the new body will be taller with no roll up door (like the NPR had), the additional interior clearance will allow for much greater storage of gear.

Keeping to the trend of the side door the new truck will also have curb side access, but now with a much beefier door that swings out to allow mounting of stands as well as freeing up interior height clearance. There will be a set of flip down stairs to climb into the side door.

I added a cab over attic to the design. This will be the location for storage of soft goods such as over head rags, sound blankets etc. This will also allow for the passage of 20′ 1&1/4″ pipe which will be a hug benefit with the new truck. We will now be able to fly 20′ overheads and use 20′ pipe sticks for rigging.

The truck will be fitted with an industrial tow package for pulling film generators or other tow rigs.

My single favorite addition from a crew perspective is the new lift gate. It’s a single welded wedge of aluminum almost 8′ long rated for 5000lbs. The gate is a dual cantilever style with tilt adjustment leveling and set cart stops so your carts can’t slide over the edge before the gate is on the ground!

The body installation won’t be complete until the first week of May after which I will begin the custom build for the inside. I’m beyond excited to have this project finished and on the road to share with the Seattle film community. I appreciate all of you who’m have worked with us in the past and welcome new opportunities for those of you who’m we haven’t yet crossed paths. 2017 will be a great year in film!

cheers,

Casey S.

 

 

Northwest Grip just picked up two Arri Skypanel LED lights for the new year! We’ve heard a lot of great feedback about this light system from other industry pros and now we can offer it to you. #arri #arriskypanel #arriskypanelS60

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With the new RED Scarlet-W package looking pretty dialed, it was time for some new sticks that could keep up. We’re really pumped to have a new set of Oconnor 30L legs with a beautiful 1030D’s head!

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After reading blogs and reviews I tried to assemble the best travel case for the Oconnor and I feel good about what we put together.  The Oconnor brand soft carry bag although expensive turned out to be a worth while buy. It’s not just soft flimsy vinyl, they really took care to engineer this thing to work in tandem with this exact tripod setup. The padding is thick with reinforced areas around the fluid head. All the straps are sturdy and functional. There is not fighting when trying to take the sticks in and out of the bag, it jut works!

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There are so many brands of hard cases now, it’s hard to delineate which offers a better solution. Tuffpak, HPRC and SKB were the contenders. After reviewing the builds, reviews and pricing I decided to try the newer route and go with the SKB. When the case came, I was really impressed with the build quality and that SKB provided a Lifetime Warrantee on the case. The Oconnor bag with tripod fits perfectly inside the hardshell and will be a great companion for longer travel.

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#Oconnor #oconnor1030DS #Oconnortripod #Tuffpak #SKBtripodcase #HPRCTripodcase

 

Kino FLO LED Select 30. After scouring NAB 2016 for the best new lighting products, I came across Kino FLO’s new LED lights. They are roughly the same size and weight as the standard 4’4bank fluorescents but now are bicolor LEDS. The most exciting part of this new fixture is the ability to shift green/magenta cast to match existing lighting environments! We have pre orderd the 2 light kit and it should be available for rent soon!

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#kinofloLED #KINOFLOSELECT30LED #KinoFloSelect20LED #kinofloselect30LEDseattle #kinofloselect30LEDrentalseattle #kinoflocelebledseattlerental

Im excited for the new Innovativ Scout 37″ camera cart to arrive. Innovativ has engineered the Scout to break down to an air-travel sized wheeled “case.”  This is huge for jobs that require flying! The all aluminum body reduces weight over our steel/aluminum combo magliner carts and are stronger than our poly carts. I’ve ordered two “masts” to support a 100mm fluid head kit and another for the dual tripod support kit. The new RED Scarlet-W is going to look great riding on this thing!

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#REDscarlet-W, #REDScarletW, InnovativEcho, Innovativscout, innovativcarts, innovativcartsseattle,