This bit of equipment has been long overdue. I've been looking at Tether Tools products for quite some time, it's amazing kit, having bought the StrapMoore a while back I knew the design and ideas were perfect for my requirements. I've been shooting wireless to my Google Nexus 10 tablet for a while now (amazing retina beating screen) and it's quickly become the only way I can work. Ok it slows you down a bit, even though it's wireless it's still slightly cumbersome, but I'm not shooting sports, and to be honest it's actually sped up my workflow in so many other ways, allowing me to selectively light areas of shots and assess them right away is one of the biggest boons. Not to mention showing art directors or clients the shots straight from the camera so we can assess how to improve the staging, or adjust the lighting. I don't have banks of assistants (yet, I could really use some though) to help me fine tune the output of my lights to create the shots, so this is another advantage to this set up, I could go on.....
Needless to say I was looking at a mount system to put the tablet onto my tripod. I spotted the Matthews Universal Tablet Mount (or MUT as it's known) which looked perfect for my requirements, but I was unsure how I could integrate it with the rest of my equipment. Ashley at UK Light was the man with the knowledge, a forward thinking guy with the foresight to distribute this great kit in the UK. After a quick chat about what I required, I bought the Tether Tools AreoTab S2, which you can see in the images. I've got a powerbank (I know I know...amazon) wired up to the modem transmitter which can also juice my Nexus 10 whilst shooting, this set up would last a good two days plus shooting without charging. These powerbanks are incredible value, well worth the investment, totally bolsters this set up for duration. The magic arm might be a step too far, I might look at alternative ways to attach it to the tripod. With the Mafrotto 161mk2b it is pretty heavy.
This is the set up as of now, I'll post some behind the scenes nonsense soon and let you know how I get on with it. First impressions are it's a rock solid holder, and a remarkably handy bit of kit, at least solving the problems I have for now.
Here's a look at a more compact option for connecting to the tripod, I'll probably run with this one, the base of the AeroTab is Arca Swiss compatible, so even better.
