Our easy-to-construct D.I.Y. Camera Dolly

deneb79

Member
Hi all,

since me & John (visit The Door Between link in the HorrorFest thread) have started filming, we always wanted our shots to be more real-life and have a certain amount of motion. Since we are on a very tight budget (we fund our own projects), we took the decision to build our own stuff... Our first construction was this camera dolly. We took some ideas from the web and a certain book: 'DV Camera Rigs', and started searching for the right materials to make this happen. We found lots of stuff on wheels or rails but there were always over our budget... So we ended up with this pretty little solution... Enjoy!

Dolly05.jpg

This is the end result, let's see what we did in the following photos:

Dolly01.jpg

The main board of wood is 1m x 1m. There are 6 sets of office chair wheels screwed on the board. 3 of them are used to hold the board on each rail.

Dolly02.jpg

Close up on one set of wheels.

Dolly03.jpg

Close up on the screws that hold it on the other end of the board. Scrappy work but hey... it's our first attempt in building something like that!

Dolly04.jpg

The rails are 1.5m metal bars that were supposed to be curtain holders. We got lots of them and use gaffer tape to connect them at their ends and make a straight line while shooting. Then, cut the tape to dismantle the rails.

Dolly06.jpg

Close up on the wheels on the rail. The truth is that it need a little bit of work to put them all together on the rails because they move individually.

Dolly07.jpg

The end result from another angle.


Overall:
The say that 'you get what you paid for' but in this case, even though the overall cost was the minimum possible, the results are incredible. Of course, we cannot film on really great speeds and the camera operator cannot climb on the dolly but we have filmed a lot motion shots. I believe that TheDolly v2.0 will be a lot better after this experience.

All comments and suggestions are welcome :)
 
Nice job! Its the easiest dolly to make I've seen so far. Finally I am motivated to make my own. I was being too lazy with other setups.
 
:dankk2: guys!!!! To be honest, I didn't think that such a simple design could make such an impression (being humble here)...

Actually, I don't think that it could get simpler than this... And you can make it ultra fast (after you find the right stuff on your local hardware store). It took me about 2 hours to finish the whole project :beer:!

If you need any extra info pm me or, even better, use this thread... :thumbup:
 
Looks good, Stratos! Love the photos. Nice job.

Yeah, a camera dolly is in my future. I want to build a crane first. I just did my own Fig Rig that took some wild turns. I would love to share photos on it but I am seriously thinking of looking for a patent first. (It came our nothing like the Fig Rig... but SO incredible useful!!!)

Keep up the great work.

Best!

Ted
 
TheatreGuy said:
Looks good, Stratos! Love the photos. Nice job.

Yeah, a camera dolly is in my future. I want to build a crane first. I just did my own Fig Rig that took some wild turns. I would love to share photos on it but I am seriously thinking of looking for a patent first. (It came our nothing like the Fig Rig... but SO incredible useful!!!)

Keep up the great work.

Best!

Ted

You have to admit that is a little funny..... that in the process of copying a patented design (obviously without compensating the original designer), you came across something clever and original! Fantastic!

But the funny part is, that before you share it with anyone on this forum (which is probably where you got the idea to do your DIY-FIG rig in the first place), you want to patent it, so nobody rips you off...

*grin* now come on... admit it.. thats funny, "no matter who you are."

J
 
IMHO: When it comes to D.I.Y. stuff for personal use, I don't believe that any patent is necessary!

(except of course if you come up with a reaaaaaaaaaaaaly good idea and have a good reason wanting not to be copied) :Drogar-SunGlass(DBG

Just to be clear, that statement has nothing to do with Ted's comment about his own ideas, It's just my opinion on patents when building things for personal use. :)
 
VersuS said:
like that dildo you built last year ...for ...PERSONAL USE....

Yes I remember that, it was specially ordered by a certain Mr. John L.... Sorry, I cannot reveal his true identity... :beer:

Ok, let's stop behaving like 9 year olds...
 
deneb79 said:
Yes I remember that, it was specially ordered by a certain Mr. John L.... Sorry, I cannot reveal his true identity... :beer:

Ok, let's stop behaving like 9 year olds...

too late.. haha
 
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