Dr. Roman Foltyn, FoMaSystems Co-Managing Director and Chief Engineer, has been honored alongside Curt O. Schaller with an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy® Award from the Television Academy for their work on the hybrid camera stabilizer ARRI TRINITY 2.
The Emmy Award recognizes their innovation in overcoming the limitations of traditional body-mounted stabilizers, with ARRI TRINITY’s gimbal-based design opening up new possibilities for camera movement and angles while giving operators the freedom to move through a scene while maintaining precise control of their frame.
FoMaSystems Co-CEO Rainer Maertin and members of the FoMaSystems team traveled to Los Angeles to attend the award ceremony and accept the Emmy® on behalf of Dr. Roman Foltyn.
Watch the full Emmy Awards ceremony or Curt Schaller’s acceptance speech on YouTube.
ARRI TRINITY introduced a fundamentally different approach to stabilized camera movement by combining mechanical and electronic stabilization to give operators the freedom, responsiveness, and control of a body-mounted system.
For camera operators, that combination opened possibilities beyond simply keeping the image stable, allowing them to create a distinctive sense of fluidity by moving naturally through spaces, between subjects, and across changing camera heights while maintaining the immediacy of a body-mounted camera.
The camera could move from low mode to high within a continuous shot, transition dynamically around performers and environments, and maintain a stable image and consistent horizon throughout. Operators could also execute continuous 360-degree rotations and other complex movements without stopping to reconfigure the camera, allowing perspectives and movements that previously might have required different equipment or multiple shots.
By combining these capabilities within a single system, productions can move between different perspectives and types of movement without repeatedly changing platforms or rebuilding the camera setup.
ARRI TRINITY also introduced a new level of collaboration between the operator and the DP or director. Tilt and roll can be controlled remotely via digital wheels, joystick, or pan bar, while precise movements and lens control can be pre-programmed and triggered by either the operator or the DP or director.
Integrated interfaces enable coordinated control with other camera equipment, while metadata support and modular configurations allow the system to adapt to different production requirements and shooting conditions.
This combination of creative freedom and practical efficiency gives camera operators, cinematographers, and directors greater freedom to shape a scene and create fluid, uninterrupted camera movements. ARRI TRINITY 2 maintains this flexibility even in challenging environments, including crowded spaces, confined locations, and changing outdoor conditions.
Engineering in Service of the Operator
Over the years, ARRI TRINITY 2 has become an established tool for television productions, live broadcasts, major award shows, live concerts, sporting events including the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show and feature films such as Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Across these productions, operators have continued to explore the possibilities of the ARRI TRINITY system, creating dynamic shots and transitions that have become increasingly familiar to audiences while continually pushing the technology and their own creativity in new directions.
Receiving an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Award is an extraordinary recognition of that engineering achievement and of the impact it has had on television production. For FoMaSystems, it also reinforces the principle that continues to guide our engineering today: developing tools around the creative and practical needs of the people behind the camera.
Dr. Roman Foltyn: “I’m incredibly honored to receive this Emmy. ARRI TRINITY 2 is the result of years of engineering, collaboration, and close exchange with the people who use the system in the field. Their work has shown what becomes possible when engineering gives operators greater freedom rather than prescribing how the camera should move. Seeing operators push the technology beyond what we originally imagined and use that freedom to create new ways of telling stories is what ARRI TRINITY has always been about: Imagine the impossible.”
The Emmy recognition follows a 2025 Academy Scientific and Engineering Award for ARRI TRINITY 2, recognizing Curt O. Schaller for the system’s concept, design, and development and Dr. Roman Foltyn for the software and hardware design of its motorized stabilized head.
