DIY E-Slide

[Macville]

I was thinking I had posted this before, but nothing came up in the search. Anyhow, this tool I have used before is WONDERFUL for doing dolly moves in small spaces, for closeup objects (aka food shoots) and for extending off an object when a Fisher will not fit. The tool is the http://www.e-slide.com/index.html

Now, this seems like a fairly easy item to make...hopefully. I would like to make one to do a food shoot that I will hopefully be doing soon. It will need to support either a DVX100A or a JVC HD110. I am thinking that if I can get the bearings and the steel railing, that it shouldn't be too hard to make.

What do you all think?

Matthew

[ProLost]

http://home.earthlink.net/%7Eprolost/skateCam_01.jpg (http://prolost.blogspot.com/2006/08/book-report.html)

:D

-Stu

[JasonFox]

ProLost - Nice! :)

Macville - I agree -- I think you could build something similar fairly easily, although it might weight more and be a tad more bulky. Basically just a mini-dolly on case-mounted rails. Something with the bearings would be cooler, but the ultra-easy/cheaper route would be the small dolly.

[tbanucci]

Look for threads involving the skater dolly. This will give you the best results at the cheapest price.

[Toenis]

>>> http://www.indifocus.com/indiSLIDER.html :thumbup:
I have a MINIskater and unfortunately I must admit that the slider might be even better investment but one can not substitute the another.

If you find threads on SlymSkater don`t be too exited as it is way too DIY for serious production.

One thing I´ve been thinking about is that maybe it is possible to make a miniature, scaled down dolly that uses bare skateboard bearings in V configutation on steel/alu/CF rails...

T

[tbanucci]

I was actually talking about this skater DIY:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=40901&highlight=skater+dolly+teddybear

[Kholi]

Does anyone make something like this for a simple tripod? That'd be great for slow dolly-in's where you only had space for a tripod, really. Just a random thought.

[Macville]

ProLost - Nice! :)

Macville - I agree -- I think you could build something similar fairly easily, although it might weight more and be a tad more bulky.

You haven't used one of these before have you? The thing weights a TON for what it is..The 4' is over 60 lbs ! What I don't think people understand is how much better it is for doing small moves than a skater dolly. Sure it can't do a 360 move around your obj, but then again you don't have to worry about making a smooth surface either.

I am going to do some more research. It seems like I could build the frame out of wood fairly easy and all I would have to do is buy the steel bar rail plus the bearings. We'll see what I come up with.

Will post soon with my findings.

Matthew

[JasonFox]

Well, no, I haven't used one before. But I still think a DIY will weigh more and be more bulky. That's a comparative statement, not one that says the pro-built ones are svelte.

[bilgami]

you could also put wheels on the spider brace if you have one.

[Macville]

So look what I've found on ebay today http://cgi.ebay.com/Quiet-Camera-Dolly-Slider-for-Video-Film-Cameras_W0QQitemZ290073359887QQihZ019QQcategoryZ30 091QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It looks almost exactly what I was thinking of building. It looks like I can buy the parts for much cheaper (under $500) to build one. The only thing I haven't been able to work through is that I need to be able to ball mount my Sachtler Video 18 head. This is getting very interesting/affordable since the e-slide rental for one day is $150...!

Matthew