Curt O. Schaller with an artemis Cine HD Pro by Sachtler

Curt Oswald Schaller (born June 22, 1964) is a German cinematographer, Steadicam operator and photographer. He is also the developer and designer of Arri's camera stabilization systems: in 2025 he was awarded an Academy Award for the concept, design and development of the Trinity 2 system.[excessive citations]

Career

In 1984, Schaller began training as a camera assistant and then as a cameraman at the Bavaria film and television studios in Munich, Germany.

Following his training, he worked as a cameraman and as a Steadicam operator in German TV series, films, shows, and documentaries.

At the end of the 1990s, Schaller used his experience as a cameraman and Steadicam operator and began to develop his own camera stabilization systems, from which the artemis series by Sachtler / Vitec Videocom emerged in 2001. The artemis series was the world's first modular camera stabilization system when it was launched at the 2001 NAB Show in Las Vegas. In addition, the artemis HD systems were the first full HD camera stabilization systems in the world at the time.

In 2015, Curt O. Schaller developed the (artemis) Trinity system together with the engineer Roman Foltyn. It is the world's first camera stabilization system to combine a mechanical stabilization system with an electronic one: and it is considered the most advanced camera stabilization system in the world, used in films such as 1917, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

In April 2016, he moved with his entire artemis product portfolio from Sachtler / Vitec Videocom to Arri to drive the further development of the artemis and Trinity systems as product manager for camera stabilization systems.

In 2025, Curt O. Schaller was awarded the Academy Scientific and Engineering Award for the concept, design and development of the Trinity 2 system.

In addition, Schaller has been active worldwide as a lecturer in the training of Steadicam and Trinity operators since 1998.

To date, Curt O. Schaller holds 19 granted patents and 27 granted intellectual property rights as an inventor in the field of film technology.

Camera stabilization systems

ARRI

  • ARRI ARTEMIS 2 (patented)
  • ARRI ARTEMIS 2 Live
  • ARRI Cine HD Pro
  • ARRI EFP
  • ARRI TRINITY 2 (patented)
  • ARRI Trinity Gen. 1 (patented)
  • ARRI TRINITY Live

Sachtler

  • artemis Cine (patented)
  • artemis Cine HD Pro Gen. I
  • artemis Cine HD Pro Gen. II
  • artemis Cine HD RGB (patented)
  • artemis DV Handheld
  • artemis DV Pro FX (patented)
  • artemis DV Pro MD (patented)
  • artemis EFP HD SDI
  • artemis EFP HD SE for RED ONE
  • artemis Trinity (pre-production model, patented)

Awards

  • 2016: Cine Gear Expo Technical Award for the development of the ARRI (artemis) Trinity
  • 2016: cinecAward for the development of the ARRI (artemis) Trinity
  • 2017: BIRTV Award for the development of the ARRI (artemis) Trinity
  • 2025: Academy Scientific and Engineering Award for the concept, design and development of the Trinity 2 system

External links

  • at ARRI
  • at schaller media
  • at Crew United
  • at IMDb