Kessler Shuttle Pod Tutorial and Field Demonstration

I have been given the opportunity to test out Kessler Crane products for review on my website. I am very excited about some of the new stuff Eric Kessler is designing in Indiana. The gear is well built, easy to use, and fills a void in both price range and tools for creating awesome camera movement. Please go to the Kessler Crane website for availability, pricing and kits. Some of this stuff is sold separately.

The Kessler Shuttle Pod is going to be released in the next few days. I had a prototype unit to play with and test over the summer. I am very impressed with the dolly system.

The Shuttle Pod is a “skateboard-like” dolly carriage that runs down the truss from the Kessler Crane. If you own the crane already, you have track. If you do not, Kessler will offer a scaled down bare-bones version of the track just for use with the Shuttle Pod. The system is much like a friction-free PVC skateboard dolly, but I found it to be much more versatile. But the best part is the fact you can hook up ElektraDRIVE motors to the Shuttle Pod and do some amazing things with the Oracle controller.

In the video at the bottom of this page, I explain what the Shuttle Pod is and how to set it up. I also go into great detail showing you how to set up the belt driven motor system. It is very simple to do and requires NO TOOLS in the field. I also show off some awesome video we shot using the system and a Canon 5dmk2 in Indiana.

Eric and I set up a sliding motion move in the Oracle controller and played it back multiple times. By resetting the carriage to the exact same start point on the truss, we were able to get perfectly repeatable complex dolly moves over and over. We were able to create a moving scene where I pop in and out of concrete pipes kinda like a “whack-a-mole”. We also used the Shuttle Pod to drag the camera up into a tree and later, capture some epic motion controlled astro-timelapses.

For more information on the Shuttle Pod and to order the system when it is released, please click on my affiliate banner below:

This video is also available on Vimeo. Click Here to view it.