Photography

Muwi: Cheap, portable, modular camera slider to elevate your smartphone/DSLR footage

Muwi: Cheap, portable, modular camera slider to elevate your smartphone/DSLR footage
Muwi: ultra-portable smartphone slider
Muwi: ultra-portable smartphone slider
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Muwi: a portable, cheap motorized slider capable of moving a DSLR
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Muwi: a portable, cheap motorized slider capable of moving a DSLR
Muwi: ultra-portable smartphone slider
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Muwi: ultra-portable smartphone slider
Muwi: a bit of motion parallax adds a lot to a shot.
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Muwi: a bit of motion parallax adds a lot to a shot.
Muwi: capable of smoothly moving a DSLR up and down an angled slider
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Muwi: capable of smoothly moving a DSLR up and down an angled slider
The Muwi kit: track, Flow, Muwi, Flow X
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The Muwi kit: track, Flow, Muwi, Flow X
Muwi: track folds up into a small square-profile pole
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Muwi: track folds up into a small square-profile pole
Muwi flow X: remote controlled pusher motor
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Muwi flow X: remote controlled pusher motor
Muwi Flow: speed dial lets you choose how fast it's moving
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Muwi Flow: speed dial lets you choose how fast it's moving
Muwi swivel head: lets you mount any camera to the Muwi, up to DSLR size
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Muwi swivel head: lets you mount any camera to the Muwi, up to DSLR size
Muwi: bends in the middle to let you move along a curved path
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Muwi: bends in the middle to let you move along a curved path
Muwi: even operated by hand, the basic Muwi lets you get sliding shots
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Muwi: even operated by hand, the basic Muwi lets you get sliding shots
Muwi Flow X: can aommunicate with a DSLR through a control cable for total remote operation
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Muwi Flow X: can aommunicate with a DSLR through a control cable for total remote operation
Muwi track - even the shortest one adds valuable movement to your shots
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Muwi track - even the shortest one adds valuable movement to your shots
Muwi: with wheels extended and a smartphone on board
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Muwi: with wheels extended and a smartphone on board
Muwi: folds up to pocket size to be every bit as portable as your phone
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Muwi: folds up to pocket size to be every bit as portable as your phone
Muwi: folded up
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Muwi: folded up
Muwi: the smallest, cheapest and most portable motorized slider we've seen
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Muwi: the smallest, cheapest and most portable motorized slider we've seen
Muwi: powerful and grippy enough to move a DSLR up a slanted track, portable enough to stick in your pocket for smartphone video.
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Muwi: powerful and grippy enough to move a DSLR up a slanted track, portable enough to stick in your pocket for smartphone video.
Muwi smartphone/camera slider: powerful and modular enough for DSLR filmmakers, portable enough to carry anywhere with a smartphone
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Muwi smartphone/camera slider: powerful and modular enough for DSLR filmmakers, portable enough to carry anywhere with a smartphone
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Smartphones are literally all you need to make solid web video these days, it's just so valuable to have a HD camera with you at all times. And you can take it up a level with the Muwi, a cheap, pocket-sized, modular phone/camera slider capable of shooting powered motion timelapse shots.

If the best camera is the one you've got with you, well, that's gotta be your smartphone. And that would make Muwi the best motion slider, because this thing is tiny and super portable.

The Basic Muwi unit is a palm-sized fold-out unit with a smartphone holding clip and four tiny, smooth-rolling wheels. You clip your phone in, then slowly move it across any smooth surface to get a nice motion slide. You can bend it at the middle to get yourself a curved slide action that lets you move around your subject as if it's on a swivel platform for some very cool effects. At US$39, it's cheap as chips and an easy way to upgrade your video production.

Muwi: even operated by hand, the basic Muwi lets you get sliding shots
Muwi: even operated by hand, the basic Muwi lets you get sliding shots

From there, things get modular. You can add a small swivel clip that lets you attach a DSLR or action camera instead of a phone. It'll hold up to 5 kg (11 lb) of gear.

Things get really interesting when you add the Muwi Flow. This is a small attachment that clips onto the Muwi and moves it with an electric motor. There's very little in the way of controls, just a scroll wheel to set your speed. But it enables things like motion timelapses, and means your sliding footage is always perfectly smooth. Muwi plus the Flow motor is going for US$99 – that's cheap for a motorized slider.

If you want to go remote controlled, you can upgrade to the Flow X, which comes with a hand remote and also responds to a smartphone app if you've got a DSLR on board instead of your phone. In fact, it comes with its own camera control cable so you can operate the camera remotely as well for totally hands-free shooting. The Muwi slider plus Flow X motor goes for US$169.

Muwi: powerful and grippy enough to move a DSLR up a slanted track, portable enough to stick in your pocket for smartphone video.
Muwi: powerful and grippy enough to move a DSLR up a slanted track, portable enough to stick in your pocket for smartphone video.

And if you want to step it up again, and have a portable smooth surface to roll the thing on wherever you go, Muwi also makes a very portable, foldable slider track you can stick on any tripod head to give you complete control.

The regular track is fairly short at just 37 cm (14.5 inches), but more than enough to add that nice bit of movement to a close shot. You can order a Muwi slider, Flow X motor, swivel clip and small track for US$209.

There are longer track options as well, a 67 cm (26 in) track and a larger 97 cm (38 inch) track that's so big it needs two tripods to stabilize it. But these get more expensive, and take away from the extraordinary portability of the kit above, which is small enough that you wouldn't think twice about throwing it in your backpack to enhance your footage on a hike or city walk.

Still, the whole thing amounts to one of the cheapest and most portable slider setups we've seen, and, as the footage in the video below shows, it can add some really nice effects to your smartphone and video shooting ability without taking up nearly as much room in your pocket as a gimbal.

The Muwi Kickstarter is over, it's already raised over US$600,000, but early bird pricing is still available for the moment and deliveries are underway now. Check out the video below!

Source: Muwi Kickstarter

MUWI: Capture cinematic videos anywhere and at anytime!

View gallery - 19 images
1 comment
1 comment
Brian M
Nice idea - But if you want to be really cheap - and who doesn't!
Hijack your kids remote control vehicle toy (the ones with big rubber wheels are good). A bit of blue tack to hold phone in place and you have your own remotely controlled slider. All for the price of an ice cream (to keep the kid happy!).