Being largely a studio photographer, I work as a lot with my digital camera as I do with the digital camera trolley. I’ve a wonderful digital camera, however my trolley was at all times missing a bunch of professional options. Whereas investing in a brand new cart was by no means an choice, upgrading my present one appeared like the way in which ahead. I regarded into the LaVa cart system to see if it was in a position to pimp my cart.
One in all my favourite exhibits rising up was Pimp My Journey. The thought of modifying current gear to make it higher is a really sensible one. Suppose medium format cameras: in the event you want a greater sensor, you may simply get a unique again. If it’s good to flip your digital camera right into a technical digital camera, you are able to do it simply by simply investing in a part, fairly than shopping for a complete new digital camera.
The identical applies to flash. A flash head could be plugged right into a plethora of turbines, which is able to change how good or dangerous your flash output is. Modularity is a superb idea, as you’ll be able to enhance and optimize your workflow to your particular calls for.
Introduction
Beforehand, I reviewed the RockNRoller R12 cart. It was, and nonetheless is, an excellent selection for these of us who want a gear mover and a basic working floor. It’s by far one of the best bang-for-buck digital camera trolley you may have. It’s largely well-made, sturdy, and might take a beating. It’s not excellent, nevertheless, and whenever you examine it to one thing like a Magliner, you see the imperfections greater than ever. I knew I needed to improve my cart to one thing higher with out investing 1000’s right into a brand-new cart and having to discover a new use for the previous one. That is the place the Lava Cart is available in. They provide improve kits to pimp your cart. From cabinets to watch mounts, to many extra helpful ins and outs to show your RockNRoller right into a steady manufacturing cart.
The Cabinets
The LaVa cart cabinets are made particularly for studio and manufacturing use. They’re made out of what appears to be wooden. The highest and backside cabinets are completely different in development; the highest shelf is made to carry all of your screens and cameras, whereas the underside shelf is made for your entire Pelican circumstances, modifiers, and different odd objects. I exploit it primarily for transporting gear from the storage room to the set. There may be actually nothing past “good” that I can say in regards to the backside shelf. The highest one is a unique story.
To start with, it’s wider than the cart itself, supplying you with extra floor space to work with. Whereas I do have the extra-long shelf from RockNRoller, I like this yet one more as a result of it offers me extra safety. I might be mendacity if I stated that I by no means had gear fall off my cart. This was a significant drawback with the previous shelf system. This shelf tackles that by being larger and providing loads of mounts and attachment factors for numerous gear. What’s extra, there’s a protecting border that attaches magnetically to the cart, stopping unintentional slips.
Cable Administration
One of the vital essential issues a few manufacturing cart for me is the flexibility to handle cables successfully. It’s one factor to clamp all of them down and a complete different to have two devoted ports that tuck all cables beneath the working floor. What’s extra, cable administration is additional enabled by a screw-mounted extension twine you should purchase from LaVa Cart. This makes cable administration additional straightforward and tremendous clear. To energy the complete setup, all you want is a cable that connects your cart to the mains within the wall. It allows you to transfer the setup very simply across the studio, stopping unintentional energy downs and falls. The one destructive is that I’m primarily based in Germany, and the extension from LaVa Cart is made for US plugs. Thankfully, I can order an answer from Amazon.
There are two rails on the underside of the shelf that allow you to mount equipment with screws. That is tremendous helpful, as you might need to mount your energy there, add some hooks, or put another equipment beneath. What I might like to see LaVa Cart do is add extra equipment, comparable to small cabinets. I might like to put muddle, comparable to my cellphone, onerous drives, and so on., on a shelf beneath the cart. Maybe you might have a Mac Mini you run your station from; that might additionally go beneath. Moreover, it might be nice to see the fabric on the highest shelf change to a mushy carpet-like one. This may make for a greater person expertise, and you’ll by no means scratch your digital camera. If not that, then altering the floor to be mouse-friendly can be nice.
Equipment
LaVa Cart additionally shines with regards to equipment that enhance your RockNRoller cart. I added a couple of equipment that make the cart itself extra steady, wheel elimination simpler, and scale back wobble within the high shelf. The wobble within the shelf was a extremely dangerous drawback, because the cart wouldn’t lock utterly, and transferring it might at all times imply that one thing fell off. In addition they made use of nearly each gap on the cart. I added screw mounts to my cart and am in a position to put a tripod head on the cart, which holds my digital camera in place when I’m not taking pictures with it. The screw could possibly be improved by including a tensioner to it, although.
It’s a cell setup that’s straightforward to move. Merely unscrew the highest shelf and connect it with the included straps to the underside one, and you might be able to roll.
Ultimate Ideas
General, LaVa cart is a superb product that improves your RockNRoller cart by rather a lot. It’s, after all, suitable with different carts, such because the Gator Frameworks, Rockville, ProAim Vanguard, and On-Stage carts. I believe the crew over at LaVa Cart might go the additional mile in including equipment to their vary. Issues comparable to cabinets, mounts, and cables might go a good distance. As for me, I’m ordering a couple of extra energy administration units and making this into the final word manufacturing cart!
