Any Experts on Dollies In This Forum?

I know that production houses and grip and electric rental houses can get a long-term lease for the Fisher. I personally have not looked into one for our office, but I do know that it can be very pricey. I'm not even sure that Fisher actually, sells their dollies at all. I was also told the Fisher REQUIRES anyone that signs a lease agreement, to take a training seminar on how to use it properly.
I could be wrong here, perhaps it's Panther dollies that require this.. Anybody heard of this... ? I could be totally wrong on this whole thing, as I heard it second hand. Nobody that I know of in the mid-west actually owns a Fisher dolly. I understand from my local rental house that depending on which dolly that you lease, it's around $700 bucks a month, perhaps slightly more for all of the accessories,boards,steps, seat, leveling head...ect. This of course , is several hundred dollars cheaper than renting it by the day.
 
IMHO, it really depends on the size of the camera and whether your shot requires a ride along. Let's face it, good cameras are getting smaller! If you need to support a 35mm rig, then you should go with Fisher or Mathews. Elemack was great . . . in 1972.
If you're hauling a smaller camera, then a smaller dolly will work great. You don't need to haul a 3 person crew to op a small camera, and a big dolly is a big pain to haul on set.
 
I was just going to bring that up. Anyone use it? It's just under $5000.

PD1300A.GIF
 
I just worked on a shoot where we used that PD-1, and it was alright. The extent of my dolly knowledge is pretty limited, I've used a doorway dolly a bunch, and once touched a pee wee, so it's a little bit difficult for me to give a fair review of that dolly.

Anyways. Some of the pet peeves of mine from that dolly were the fact that the wheels were a bit hard to set, took lots of lifting of one end and another person trying to swing the wheels into the correct position as quickly as possible, they just take a bit of getting used to...is this a common design for dollies, or what? The locking pins were frustrating at times as well. The more I think about it though, the more I realize how little trouble I had with it. It definitely did the job just fine and I'd reccomend it.

Either way though, blows the doorway dolly out of the water, but for all I know, there may be a lot better options in that price range.
 
I haven't used the PD1, but have heard from a very good dolly grip that it is an excellent value for the money. He stated that it had a Swiss-Army kind of practicality, but that sometimes this fact slowed the work.

I would love to test one for a few days and add it to the kit.

e
 
One thing that many people who have not used a Fisher may have overlooked, while they are probably the best dolly you can use, they weigh a ton. Do you always have a cube van or larger with a liftgate on every shoot that you will want to use the dolly on? The smallest Fisher, the 11, is 40" long and weighs over 300 lbs. Add in all of the other accessories you need, wheel sets, track, etc. and you are at minimum a large pickup with 2-3 strong guys and realistically, a cube van with a lift gate.

For some reason, it strikes me that most readers of this forum probably are not usually at that level of production, I know that I am only at that level a few times a year. When we get the Fisher or Chapman, we either have a 5 ton with a liftgate go to pick it up, or we have Fisher or Chapman deliver it to the set.

I have used the PD-1. For local to Hollywood readers, Wooden Nickel in Sun Valley rents them and sells them. It's not a bad little dolly, it's really a little, light wannabe Fisher, it has a similar basic design. I liked it, although it's a bit light and it's build quality for $5,000.00 will be nowhere near the Fisher or a Chapman. The cool part is that one strong person or two average people can easily lift it in and out of a hatchback or trunk, it's a lot more practical for most small productions that a Fisher or Chapman.

As far as a doorway dolly, the Matthews is good but kind of expensive, I think. You can get this http://www.cinemagadgets.com/doorway-dolly-p-380.html directly from Norms for around $1,300.00 and buy lots of other mounts and wheel sets and still come in cheaper than the Matthews and the quality of the Norms product is just as good, if not better. Doorway dollies are cool, but are kind large and heavier to move around in cars, they are really more suited to SUV and truck owners.

I have been considering the Rowe set up for a long time. For me, the smallest, lightest and simplest will suffice for most of the time. If you are not experienced with dollies, you should also know that what makes a dolly easier to use is weight and mass. The bigger and heavier the dolly, the smoother the moves will be, especially with light, twitchy prosumer cameras. This is also a drawback of the doorway, and small dollies like the PD-1, they are too light to do certain moves at certain speeds smoothly. That is why the Fisher is the industry standard, it has enough mass and weight, is built like a more reliable and bulletproof Mercedes and is a joy to use. It is so well engineered and built that it is like using a well crafted tool, not a compromise.

Best,

Dan
 
BTW, the Modern Doorway dolly is list $1400 at Modern Studio equipment, but when you pay at ordering, you can get a 25% discount which makes it $1050! I am getting an entire dolly setup: doorway dolly, skater wheels, and 18' of track for around $2700 after discount. I looked at the PD-1 myself, but decided the doorway dolly was a better way to go because I wanted to put my EZ-Jib on the dolly and the dolly can also be an equipment carrier.

Matthew
 
Macville said:
BTW, the Modern Doorway dolly is list $1400 at Modern Studio equipment, but when you pay at ordering, you can get a 25% discount which makes it $1050! I am getting an entire dolly setup: doorway dolly, skater wheels, and 18' of track for around $2700 after discount. I looked at the PD-1 myself, but decided the doorway dolly was a better way to go because I wanted to put my EZ-Jib on the dolly and the dolly can also be an equipment carrier.

Matthew
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Sounds like a plan to me! Enjoy it!

Dan
 
How smoothly does the PD1 boom up and down?

I need something that will fit in the back of a half-tonne van, hence my interest.
 
Does it seem to have good capacity for feathering out at the beginning and end of a move or does it suffer due to lack of weight? I see that there is an adjustability for camera weight.

e
 
Erik Olson said:
Does it seem to have good capacity for feathering out at the beginning and end of a move or does it suffer due to lack of weight? I see that there is an adjustability for camera weight.

e
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In my experience, no, it does not have a good capacity for S-curve moves at the top or bottom the boom movement. The middle of the move is usable but the dolly is too light for the starts and stops to be rock steady. You need to go rent a Fisher or something like that if smoot start stops are important to your work. You need mass and weight.

Dan
 
I'm not sure if you are aware or not, but the PD-1 doesn't have a hydraulic boom. My understanding is that it's got a wheel that you turn to move the boom up and down. You are correct. It seems to be great for variable hight work.

On the issue of weight, if you want it smoother, just dump some sandbags on the dolly. That's what I do with doorway dollies.

Matthew
 
The literature indicates the wheel is for dialing up or down the spring/air (??? - not hydraulic apparently) pressure to accommodate different system weights. There is a plainly visible hand actuator in their brochure which would indicate that a single operator would/could control the boom.

e
 
I am wondering if there are mutiple versions of the PD-1 or if they might have changed specs on it at some point? It's been while since I rented it and used it and I cannot recall exactly how the boom worked, but only that the move was somewhat usable for more than just simple positioning.

If you want to know for sure, contact the manufacturer or Wooden Nickel in Sun Valley, Ca. Either could tell you definitively.

Dan
 
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