Padcaster 2 (Equipment Review)

Posted by Jeremy T. Hanke on Jan 30, 2014 | 0 comments

Equipment Review
Padcaster 2Manufacturer: Padcaster
Website: http://www.thepadcaster.com/
Description: iPad shooting cage with reconfiguration options.
MSRP: $149
Demo Footage: Click Here
Expected Release: Available Now
Review Issue: #95 (01/14)
Reviewed By: Jeremy Hanke
Final Score: 8.4 (out of 10)

When I first used the iPad to film clips of my most recent child’s post-birth cooing, I realized that there was an interesting advantage to shooting with the somewhat unwieldy device: it forced you to hold your arms apart, more like you were holding a Fig Rig, which in turn meant your footage was much more stable than it would’ve been shooting with a smaller device (like your iPhone). Plus, the super huge viewing screen made focus issues virtually a thing of the past.

Unfortunately, the iPad has little assistance for you if your wanting to use it as a camera, since nothing was set into the slick device to allow it to screw into a tripod or take an accessory jack.

The folks at Padcaster, however, realized how many people were trying to jury-rig solutions with iPads to shoot everything from video chats to mid-end YouTube shows and put together a solution! (Some of you may have even seen the new Padcaster in some of Apple’s recent iPad commercials.)

Consisting of an aluminum outer cage with a urethane inner sleeve, the Padcaster provides a secure place to hold your iPad and the outer frame provides places for you to not only screw the iPad into a tripod, but holes for a variety of accessories. And, what’s more, if you want to have assistance with your DSLR, you can peel out the polyurethane sleeve and use the aluminum cage for DSLRs.

(For this review, I tested the system with the iPad 2.)

Ease of Use

The concept behind the Padcaster is great and, once it’s set up, most regular use is pretty simple and painless.

In the first release of the Padcaster at the end of 2012, there were a few flies in the ointment when it came to ease of setting it up, as well as some problems when it came to actually using the snappy features that the Padcaster promised.

The biggest issue stemmed from the polyurethane sleeve, which was so snug that it was very difficult to get the iPad into and out of. (In fact, it was so tight, that not only did I have to remove the thin iPad cover it was in, but it nearly peeled off the microthin screen protector. As I found out later, the Padcaster company recommends no screen protectors of any sort.) Additionally, the holes for accessories were unbelievably tiny and almost impossible to use if you had average male hands. After testing the original, my personal thought was that they needed to scrap the polyurethane sleeve altogether in favor of ratchet lock down system, as that would allow secure gripping, while leaving accessory ports easily accessible.

18 months later, we have the Padcaster 2.0. So how far have the good folks at Padcaster come?

Quite a ways, actually. While they stuck with the urethane sleeve, it’s been adjusted so that getting the iPad in and out is much easier—without sacrificing the security of the iPad when it’s in place. The accessory holes have been expanded, as well. While it’s still a tight fit for my fingers, it is roomier than it was before.

Depth of Options

The Padcaster system comes with two main use options:
1) Seating an iPad securely for tripod mounting and handholding
2) Removing the sheath to use it as a cage for DSLR shooting

In addition to these options, they have standard ¼” and 3/8” holes that you can adapt any number of accessories to, like shock mounts or lights. They also include a cold shoe mount, which is a very nice option, since you can add in a number of video DSLR accessories without having to adapt them first.

Performance

The performance of the Padcaster as a unit continues to be stable and reliable once you get it set up. In addition to making it stable on a tripod, the Padcaster also provides more mass and more horizontal surface area, so that hand held shots are much more stable than with the iPad by itself. The ability to screw in your accessories while you’re doing this is very handy, giving the piece an even greater resemblance to a Fig Rig when fully outfitted.

When it comes to actually using it as a video DSLR cage, it does the job fairly well, but it’s still not as well implemented as it could be. The original Padcaster had a detachable screw that went through the base to hold your camera directly against the bare aluminum cage, without rubber grips or an adjustable washer system. The new Padcaster 2 has added small, circular rubber grips on each side of the screw hole which is better than bare metal, but still really could stand an actual rubber grip plate or a pop-on tripod mount adapter.

Value

It really depends on why you own an iPad what the value of the Padcaster as it currently stands is. If you purchased the iPad solely so that you could do podcasts, then, once you get it setup, the Padcaster really is an awesome value. (In my review time, I did some research on options for iPad tripod mounts and couldn’t find anything that seemed as rugged or heavy-duty as the Padcaster.) Another group who would benefit from this are folks who want to use their iPad like a mini Touch TV for streaming Netflix or Amazon Prime with Bluetooth support, as they would just leave it tripod mounted to facilitate this.

With that said, if you want to use your iPad only occasionally on a tripod, then the Padcaster may be too spendy and/or too much of a hassle for most people. Likewise, folks who are primarily wanting the DSLR cage functionality are probably going to just look at a more dedicated use DSLR frame or cage.

With that said, the fact that you have the capability of doing both things could make it very attractive for the iPad/DSLR filmmaker who wants a single tool that can adapt. If the Padcaster folks can manage to drop the price to $99, from its current $149, I think they’ll see a lot more filmmakers taking a gamble on it for this latter purpose(especially now that there are as many apps that will turn your ipad into a field monitor for your DSLR camera).

Final Comments

The concept behind the padcaster is great and the actual use of it is good. There have been a lot of little improvements in the transition from Padcaster 1 to 2 and I think there’s definitely a market out there in its current iteration, especially if they can swing a bit of a price drop. Additionally, I look forward to seeing what happens when they launch their new MiniPadcaster Kickstarter campaign.

Breakdown
Ease of Use	8.0
Depth of Options	10.0
Performance	8.0
Value vs. Cost	7.5
Overall Score	8.4