anyone used the paintedsheep dolly?

Love the name. Looks like about what you would expect, a homemade $250.00 wooden tripod dolly. Not bad, but I find it interesting that there is no demo of the dolly being used with curved track.

I have used several of these types (low cost/homemade) of dollies and they work okay although they are rarely smooth except in certain circumstances.

Dan
 
Paintedsheep Dolly

Paintedsheep Dolly

Hey guys...came across this thread and wanted to hijack it to get some correct info out to you...
I'm the Inventor of the Paintedsheep Dolly and I own the manufacturing company that produces it and a few other products (more to come this year).

The paintedsheep Dolly is NOT a "homemade" dolly. They're not made in my garage. In fact we have a nice facility that was once used to manufacture cabinets and furniture. I have a small group of people that work for me to produce the Dollies I design and a few other things.

We went with wood because it's a BETTER material than aluminum or steel. It just is. And it keeps the cost MUCH lower for me...and for you. I've gone to great lengths to keep cost as low as possible so that I can give the LOW/NO budget filmmaker a chance to own a dolly. There are ENOUGH $1000 dollies out there that offer less than the Paintedsheep Dolly.

The dollies we sell are tougher than most anything out there and although they weigh only 14 pounds...they are capable of working under loads of over 350 pounds.


And the Paintedsheep Dolly is JUSt as smooth as ANY other dolly out there...why wouldn't it be?

Check out some feedback from customers all over the world on my ebay auction number: 290226411785
Thanks for letting me clear that up! :dankk2:
Marc
 
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Eh he's just setting the record straight. Not like he started the thread... Anyways looks like a cool design at a decent price. Nice work man!
 
jdajda said:
Eh he's just setting the record straight. Not like he started the thread... Anyways looks like a cool design at a decent price. Nice work man!
Click to expand...
Didn´t mean it offensive:beer:.
Just that a new member mentions a never seen before product brand and three days later the owner chimes in made me think of guerilla marketing...

Looks like a capable and inexpensive product:thumbsup:!
 
Yeah I guess it is kind of odd... Cheers back at ya :beer:

either way the name stinking rocks! want to fill us in on the background of the name?
 
jdajda said:
Yeah I guess it is kind of odd... Cheers back at ya :beer:

either way the name stinking rocks! want to fill us in on the background of the name?
Click to expand...

Paintedsheep....
Sorry the name is a secret :happy:....
But you won't forget it.

Thanks for the compliments! It's much appreciated.

But I swear theirs no "guerrilla marketing" going on...
I don't need to market...I'm behind on orders as it is!

I don't know ANY other members here...I was looking at the stats on my website and this thread popped up as a link...so...I thought I'd check out what people are saying.
Thanks for being cool.
Let me know if anyone needs a dolly!
Marc
 
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Hi Marc:

No offense intended, I think your dolly looks like a good value. My homemade comment came more from your demo clips on YouTube that looked pretty "homemade", not that that's a bad thing.

The lack of smoothness comes from lack of mass and center of gravity. To me, smooth is a Fisher 11. I don't expect any sub-$5,000.00 dolly to even come close, nothing against your dolly. But in my experience, you cannot match the smoothness of 600-800lbs of steel and aluminum with any small, light homemade-style/garage/small business made type of dolly, regardless of engineering, it's simple physics. I find the results with all light dollies to be a bit lacking but then again, renting a Fisher is an expensive hassle so there is a good place for small light dollies. It seems that most of the time I use a dolly, it is also with a teleprompter and a camera operator on board for a show opener or a spokesperson so I usually can rent a Fisher or Chapman but if I were making indie films, I would definitely consider a dolly like yours.

Good luck with your dolly and great name!

Dan
 
puredrifting said:
Hi Marc:

No offense intended, I think your dolly looks like a good value. My homemade comment came more from your demo clips on YouTube that looked pretty "homemade", not that that's a bad thing.

The lack of smoothness comes from lack of mass and center of gravity. To me, smooth is a Fisher 11. I don't expect any sub-$5,000.00 dolly to even come close, nothing against your dolly.

Good luck with your dolly and great name!

Dan
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No offense taken...
The videos are crappy and shot in my backyard starring my kids in a few of them.
Those videos were all test trials from last year...Never actually meant to promote the dollies or be seen by anyone...but I needed something to show to people.
I just don't have the time to put together something better.
I'm a filmmaker also and am in the process of fundraising my first feature on film. Plus the orders for dollies never stop. Which is good but time consuming.

I've already got someone working on a more professional video for promoting the dolly, so keep a look out in the next 3-4 weeks and it should be up to replace the others...

I completely agree with your assessment of the heavy $10,000 dolly systems.
They are very smooth..but I guess I question your "measurement" of smoothness. You don't have to be a great camera operator to use my dollies without seeing any perceivable "instability". In other words...I'd challenge anyone to use my dolly then try to find instability in the shots (that wasn't caused by the operator).
But...I'd never try to compare my product with something that costs many thousands of dollars.
The people who pay thousands for a dolly are not the people I want to sell to. They are not my customer. I want to sell my dollies to aspiring filmmakers who want THE SAME shots that the $10,000 dolly can produce...but only have $250 bucks to spend.
If you have the $$$$ to be picky about steadiness that is minimal (if not imperceivable) then please go pay thousands of dollars for the peace of mind. It will be worth it for you!
For the rest of you...come see me.
Marc
 
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Paintedsheep said:
No offense taken...
The videos are crappy and shot in my backyard starring my kids in a few of them.
Those videos were all test trials from last year...Never actually meant to promote the dollies or be seen by anyone...but I needed something to show to people.
I just don't have the time to put together something better.
I'm a filmmaker also and am in the process of fundraising my first feature on film. Plus the orders for dollies never stop. Which is good but time consuming.

I've already got someone working on a more professional video for promoting the dolly, so keep a look out in the next 3-4 weeks and it should be up to replace the others...

I completely agree with your assessment of the heavy $10,000 dolly systems.
They are very smooth..but I guess I question your "measurement" of smoothness. You don't have to be a great camera operator to use my dollies without seeing any perceivable "instability". In other words...I'd challenge anyone to use my dolly then try to find instability in the shots (that wasn't caused by the operator).
But...I'd never try to compare my product with something that costs many thousands of dollars.
The people who pay thousands for a dolly are not the people I want to sell to. They are not my customer. I want to sell my dollies to aspiring filmmakers who want THE SAME shots that the $10,000 dolly can produce...but only have $250 bucks to spend.
If you have the $$$$ to be picky about steadiness that is minimal (if not impercievable) then please go pay thousands of dollars for the peace of mind. It will be worth it for you!
For the rest of you...come see me.
Marc
www.paintedsheepdolly.com
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I've sent you a PM about your product. As a student / budget filmer I'm enticed.
 
Whoa, somehow just noticed the activity in this thread.

Dan: Thanks for the feedback. I'm pretty new to film, and I think it's always good to hear how cheaper alternatives compare to their expensive counterparts. I think in understanding the deficiencies of budget equipment, we can set more realistic expectations for what our equipment can deliver and plan around those expectations accordingly.

Just to clear things up, I have absolutely no affiliation with Paintedsheep, and I don't own one either. I randomly stumbled upon it through Google while deciding between investing in the indiSliderPro or a dolly. I tried googling for more reviews/footage of the paintedsheep dolly, but I only found a few scattered posts on the web and nothing on dvxuser.

I would still like to hear about any first hand experiences with this dolly (which unfortunately still hasn't come up in this thread). Or perhaps see some footage shot by owners. I'm hesitant to buy equipment without being able to find any detailed independent reviews.
 
John...
Sorry about hijacking the thread...I meant to clear some things up but only served to make people assume you and I are affiliated in some way because of your original thread:
johnwenli said:
Tried searching for this, but couldn't find anything. I'm looking to buy a dolly and I found this website: http://www.paintedsheepdolly.com/

A $260 dolly that can run on both straight and curved tracks:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6jZOYLW8H

Was just wondering if anyone has ever hand any experience or heard anything about this dolly.
Click to expand...

Just to ease your mind you can look at my ebay auction (just search for things for sale by paintedsheep) and see some of the positive comments...or look at my feedback. Plus I think a few people have left some positive comments on my youtube page.
NEVER had a complaint..not one!
Just shop around a little and you will see where the best deal is.
Take care and sorry about the affiliation they assumed.
 
What do this dolly use for tracks, PVC tubes?

What do this dolly use for tracks, PVC tubes?

Anything on your site about that? Straight tracks seem simple, but howsabout curved?

Looks like an interesting product!

Thanks,
Kevin
 
Kevin,
There are endless variations of things to use for track...
The simplest and cheapest thing to use for straight track is white PVC tubing.
My dolly works perfect with 1 1/4" tubing but I've used it on everything from 1" to over 2 1/2" with no problems...and the wheels are completely reconfigurable so you could move them around and add washers or take away washers to move the wheels in closer or further away from one another to compensate for large or small track.
You can buy this PVC pipe at Home depot for $5 per 10ft piece. And there are half a dozen ways of connecting them together to get long runs.
Another option for straight track is angle iron or aluminum. The Paintedsheep Dolly will run just as well on angled metal...but it's harder to connect angled metal to one another.
As for Curved track there are any number of solutions...some better than others...
The cheapest solution I've found (but not the best by far) is again at your local hardware store...
Black PVC drain pipe is sold in rolls (and sometimes by the foot). 50ft typically runs $35-40. Just unroll and cut two equal lengths and lay them down next to each other...They are stiff and will want to roll back up...if outdoors I usually pound a stake through the ends to hold them in place...and if indoors I use sandbags...It takes a lot of fussing and frustration...but as you can see in my one youtube video...it does work. Forget about tight curves or "S" curves though.
Another thing I have used is 1" diameter washing machine hose...(again, Home Depot-approximately $2 per foot)...it has a tendency to "squish" a little bit if you have a lot of weight on the dolly so I usually fill them with sand...again, not a perfect solution...
Of course the "best" solutions cost more...I've seen people selling "flex track" on ebay. It's really just a solid rubber cable...I hear it works well...if you want to pay $8 per foot or more-ouch!
The BEST solution I've come up with is to have your own tracks made.
You can go to your local welder guy and he can make up a set of "railroad tracks" in sections that fit together...
We at Paintedsheep Dolly are looking into building and selling sections of metal track in different circumferences and lengths. You will be able to buy as many sections of curved or straight track and connect them together in many different configurations...
That's a few months down the road at best though...my plate is currently full!
 
johnwenli said:
Whoa, somehow just noticed the activity in this thread.

I would still like to hear about any first hand experiences with this dolly (which unfortunately still hasn't come up in this thread). Or perhaps see some footage shot by owners. I'm hesitant to buy equipment without being able to find any detailed independent reviews.
Click to expand...
Here is another "testimonial" from someone on another forum who purchased one a Paintedsheep Dolly:
http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=116447
Take care.
 
i have a question (i never used a dolly before and looking into an indie setup to practice):

usually on dollies like indie dolly, for example, there's a seat for an operator so he/she can pan, tilt, pull focus.

how does one do such tasks when trere's no place to sit/stand, does it mean sacrificing all such steps? i'm assuming it is a pain for an operator to do such tasks when he has to follow the dolly (even when it is pushed by someone else)

pls advise.
thank u
 
"The copyrighted design is unlike any other dolly on the market today."

just a thought--
you might want to change the word "copyrighted" in your description to something else as a copyright applies to printed material.
 
Well, what else would you transpose a design onto, silly? On a cloud or a rainbow?
No, you print it on paper or in digital format.
Did you assume the design resided only in pure energy, in the form of a thought?
Shall I change the wording to establish that: the design is indeed stored on a paper, and digital medium, so as to allow other humans to see and comprehend the information? hahahahaha.

And actually, no a copyright doesn't just pertain to "printed material" as you suggest. You're assuming that the only way to establish copyrights is to put the info down on paper and to send it into the copyright office.
In reality, a copyright can be established at the outset of the original idea.
It's not at all necessary to file your idea with the copyright office to have copyrights.
Filing with the copyright office only makes it easier to claim legal rights to information for litigation purposes.
So...yes our design IS indeed filed with the copyright office...on paper and a digital media.
And our 4 patents pertaining to the Paintedsheep Dolly are awaiting patent approval.

And for giving me something to laugh about, I'll knock $20 off a dolly from our website-just for you GCO!

Speaking of which...we've made some new improvements to the Paintedsheep Dolly...
The wheel assemblies are now a one piece welded aluminum assembly and all our dollies are coated with a rubberized protectant (truck-bed liner) which is water proof and scratch/dent resistant. We'll be updating the website with some new pics and video shortly.
Also, we will be selling an all-metal curved track, in sections, in the next few months (no really, this time).

Keep a look out at www.PaintedsheepDolly.com.
Take care and many thanks to all our loyal customers!
Paintedsheep
 
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