the Pump SAKK – Inflatable Camera Stablizer

January 10, 2026

Hey, this is Dave from dqstudios, and today we’re taking a look at the travel-friendly inflatable Pump SAKK camera stabiliser.

SPOILER FIRST:

The Pump SAKK is seriously a one-of-a-kind solution for travelling video creators. If you want a lightweight, travel-friendly camera stabiliser that packs completely flat, and honestly, gives you years back on your career—this is it. I’m not exaggerating when I say the SAKK has completely replaced my Easyrig and Steadicam vest. It gives me better footage with way less fatigue, and it has definitely earned its spot as an essential part of my camera kit. Highly recommended.

WHAT IS IT?

So, what are we looking at? The Pump SAKK is a patent-pending, U-shaped camera saddle with an inflatable bladder that literally cradles your camera. You can pack it flat, then inflate it in seconds and just throw it on the ground, sling it over your shoulder, or rest it across your lap to give yourself a super stable platform for your camera, your arms, or your gimbal to rest on.

WHY IT MATTERS:

I’m super fortunate to have been a full-time, camera-carrying professional creative for the past 23 years. But all those years have definitely caught up with me. I’ve been dealing with backaches and wrestling with golfers and tennis elbow in both arms—and I don’t play either sport! It’s just the natural wear and tear from years of hauling heavy gear and holding cameras in weird positions for long production days.

Maybe this is just an “old man’s issue,” but the SAKK has been the easiest, most affordable fix for me to shoot better and feel better while I’m doing it. Seriously, who knew?

WHO IT’S FOR:

Anyone who carries a camera can benefit from a SAKK. It’s fantastic for video creators and cinematographers who are looking to shoot longer with less fatigue, literally extending your career as a camera operator.

FULL DISCLOSURE:

Before we dive into the review, full disclosure – I paid full price for my original polybead-filled Sakk over two years ago. Then, last summer, I was hired for a couple of back-to-back productions where I could only bring a carry-on, and I was bummed I couldn’t bring my original Sakk. When I saw the newly released, travel-friendly inflatable Pump SAKK, I reached out to the company and they were kind enough to send me one at no charge—but with no strings attached too. So, as always, I’ll be sharing my honest thoughts—the good and the bad—to give you all the details you need to make your own informed decision. You’ll find a clickable table of contents and links to all the gear I mention in this video down in the description below.

WHAT MAKES THE Pump SAKK SPECIAL?

There are a lot of similar cine saddles around, but the main thing that sets the Pump SAKK apart is its patent-pending inflatable design. This makes it uniquely travel-friendly, and allows it to be flat-packed and brought with you on anywhere in the world.

PROS:

Quality Cloth: The canvas is wax-coated black cloth, and it’s super durable and oddly easy to clean.
Two-stage Bladder: You’ve got a one-way valve for super-quick inflation and a second knob for fast deflation, making custom sizing during a shoot super fast and easy.
Comfy Strap: The removable Padded Strap is more comfortable and adjustable than ever. It has these adjustable velcro pads, and you can loosen the fit to let the metal buckle slide through. This lets you shorten the straps more than you could before, which is great for height-challenged humans like me!

Handles and Tie-offs: You’ve got an easily accessible carry handle and tether points on all four corners. These made for versatile mounting options: strap it to your backpack, your car, or pretty much anything else you can think of. Plus, you can easily tether your camera for extra safety.
High-Vis Pockets: The large and small pockets have this awesome orange interior lining, which makes it easy to find batteries, filters, and other tools when you’re in the heat of a shoot.

Looks Matter: I’m not a fan of the huge logo, but you can easily hide it by facing it towards your body. I do like the choice of black because it blends right into my shooting uniform—black on black, you know the drill. This might sound minor, but we’re in the business of image making, and your image, even on set, definitely matters.

CONS:

Velcro Pockets. I love the large zippered pocket, but I’m not a fan of the noisy, super-grippy velcro they used on the two smaller pockets. It doesn’t just make them cumbersome to open (especially if you’ve got a hangnail!), but they’re literally a no-go anywhere audio is being recorded or discretion is desired. I’d much prefer to see zippers there for quieter use and for them to last longer.
Z-axis is Tricky. It gives minimal help in removing the Z-axis movement, like when you’re walking. To be fair, this isn’t the SAKK’s fault, and honestly, I’m not even happy with the results from other Z-axis solutions, including the spring arms on my Steadicam and Easyrig STABIL. I’m sure some of it comes down to user error – so that’s on me. But the best solution I’ve found for countering that up-down movement is to just not walk— and use a Segway instead.

THE UNKNOWN:

This isn’t really a con, but time will tell how long that inflatable bladder lasts. I think I read or saw somewhere that this patent-pending bladder can take a load of 100 KG! That’s super impressive if I’m not mistaken. It definitely seems to be high-quality, and over the last 4 months of use it hasn’t leaked and has been great.

HOW TO USE YOUR Pump SAKK

INFLATE: To fill the Pump SAKK you open the one-way valve and blow a couple of breathes in. It’s entirely up to you how much inflation you like. Personally, I’ve found I like mine 25-50% filled to give it more stabilty on the ground and compression against my body, but definitely test everything from 10-100% to see what works best for you.
DEFLATE: You can unscrew the larger knob a little to leak air as you want. Or unscrew it entirely to quickly pack flat.

USE CASES FOR THE Pump SAKK

CAMERA STABILIZER: The main selling feature of the SAKK is its ability to stabilise your camera. It can do this on the ground, strapped to your car, resting on your lap, or just slung from your shoulder—your creativity is really the only limit.

TIME SAVER: The SAKK also saves me a ton of time on set. I always build and test my camera rigs before I arrive at any shoot. I can transport my fully-built rigs in my car right on top of my SAKK, safely strapped in with a seatbelt. This makes it lightning-fast to unstrap it and start shooting right when I arrive.
IN-CAR SHOOTING VIBRATION DAMPENER: I wish I had a behind-the-scenes shot of this, but on a recent production, I opened my window and rested the SAKK on the door’s ledge, with my camera rig right on top. We were driving at 90 km/h, which would have made a gimbal completely unmanageable, but the SAKK was the perfect choice for this high-speed capture since we couldn’t slow traffic.
COMFORTABLE CARRY: The SAKK has basically become a comfortable pillow that protects me from the hard edges of my camera rigs and gimbals. It’s also been a great pillowy buffer when carrying my rig atop my Sachtler tripod.
CAREER LONGEVITY AND INJURY PREVENTION: I truly can’t overstate the increased comfort and reduction in fatigue and pain I’ve experienced just by being able to rest my camera rig or gimbal on the Sakk between takes. It’s given me peace of mind that I can keep shooting for years to come with less stress and wear and tear on my body.

THE COMPETITION:

PUMP SAKK VS EASYRIG STABIL

The Easyrig STABIL distributes the weight of your camera rig to your shoulders and hips, but at the cost of adding a lot of additional weight to your entire frame. Over time, the added weight and bulk does add up, especially when compared to the lightweight Pump SAKK.
An Easyrig suspends your camera from a single point above. That means you have to spend time carefully balancing your camera rig and that mount point. A side-effect of this single point of attachment is easily knocking your camera rig off-balance, creating unwanted tilt and rolls. I can often tell when someone is using an Easyrig because of the unique wobbles it produces. Honestly, this is a pet peeve of mine, and I really hate that look.
The Easyrig’s bulk and weight make it decidedly less travel-friendly than the pack-flat Pump SAKK.
The Easyrig’s large frame and overhead arm make it harder to manouevre in tight spaces. Even when trying your best, you will inevitably hit walls, doors, and people! (I know I have).
An Easyrig screams “look at me! I’m filming!”—it’s super hard to be discreet when you’re shooting with one compared to a SAKK.
Easyrig’s Bulk makes it a much less convenient item for shooting from cars and tight spaces. It’s really best used on larger sets or outdoors where you have space to move around.
Price: The Easyrig STABIL arm is over $3000 CAD, vs the SAKK which is under $300. Though the Easyrig has its uses, you can literally buy a decent second camera for that price difference.

WHICH SAKK SHOULD YOU GET?

So, which SAKK is the right one for you?

If you never travel, the regular SAKK with poly-beads removes a little bit more jitter, but you can’t pack it flat.

The Pump SAKK is the way to go if you travel, with the huge benefit of flat-packing, and the only compromise is slightly less dampening of those tiny micro-jitters.

It’s kind of like pillows: when I’m travelling, I take my inflatable travel pillow because my regular pillow is too bulky. But that doesn’t mean my travel pillow replaces all my other pillows.

Ultimately, if you can afford it, I’d recommend getting both. Even then you’ll be saving thousands compared to buying an Easyrig or Steadicam system. And seriously – it’s a small price to pay for your health and wellness.

TIPS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

GIVE IT TIME TO GET USED TO YOUR SAKK – This sounds silly, but it honestly took me a while to “learn” how to use the SAKK effectively. During my first few shoots, I kept forgetting to actually rest my camera or elbows on it, and it just hung by my side. I’ve seen my second shooter who borrowed it do the same thing, too. But just give it time, and you’ll quickly find ways to use this seemingly simple tool to better your footage and lessen the load on your body.
Camera Rig: Add a plate to the bottom of your rig. This will allow your lenses to clear the back of the SAKK, making manual focus possible.

Put a level on your camera near your monitor to help reduce those annoying Dutch angles.
For Compatible Sony Cameras: Use Sony’s Catalyst plugin for DaVinci Resolve (you’ll need a subscription) to correct horizons and stabilise your footage using the gyro data captured during the shoot. I’ve found the horizon levelling to be a (dare I say it) game-changer—it makes my aging FX3 seem like a much more modern Sony camera. Unfortunately, that horizon level feature is only available through a paid Sony subscription.

THE BOTTOM LINE

So, what’s the bottom line here?

The patent-pending Pump SAKK is a perfect solution for travelling cinematographers who have to make the most of every pound and inch of gear we pack. While it’s not exactly cheap, it’s given me better results than other solutions that have cost me thousands more.

If you want to capture better footage and you value your health and the longevity of your career as a video maker, I highly recommend picking up a SAKK… or two.

WRAPPING UP

That pretty much wraps up this review. If I missed anything, let me know in the comments below. But before I let you go, I do have a thought of the day to share with you.

And the thought of the day is this:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Thanks for watching! If you’ve got something to share, don’t be shy—hit me up in the comments. And if you like videos like this, do me a favour: give it a thumbs up and subscribe. God bless and I hope to see you in the next video.