budget slider

S

stefanocps

Well-known member
what are you suggestion for a budget slider that i will use with my panasonic gh3(with some option, like monitor and may be matte box, all in the same cage))
 
those with wheel are all short in lenght is it? how do you use the wheel?i mean i supopose you use in the pavement, and the camera is it very low positioned. is that?
 
The Kamerar sliders use manufacturing rail with bearing blocks, like the Igus that was popular on DVX a while back. Got fed up with that, its fine for a small DSLR but gets hung up if you want rails and a follow focus. And that size of rig is really unstable for bigger setups, it's such a narrow base. (It's great to bolt a slab of bearing rail on a wall or ceiling for special uses though).

I'm building a new one this weekend, 1/2" steel pipe with these dolly wheels, wide base, 46" long. I want a camera platform of about 12" square and an 11" or so wheelbase, but I'm making the cross rails where it will be collapsible and mount to 2 photo tripods. More like a mini-dolly than a slider. No idea how well it will work, but it will look legit at least. You could use stainless pipe from film tools, but they were out of stock when i started. Conduit will sag under that weight (at least 1/2" will, wider conduit won't work with those wheels).

Most of the small sliders I've played with are a big fail if you want your whole rig on there, and I've done too many slider shots where a focus pull is needed. (Tip: get a focus whip for those shots, too).
 
I would have recommended at least 1 inch black iron pipe, and 2 inch would be better. The problem with this pipe is that it isn't perfectly smooth so you will probably see little variations as you slide. It's close and you may be able to make a poor man's vertical lathe to shape them smooth. The big thing is the black iron gas pipes are fairly thick which gives good strength.
 
Greg_E said:
I would have recommended at least 1 inch black iron pipe, and 2 inch would be better. The problem with this pipe is that it isn't perfectly smooth so you will probably see little variations as you slide. It's close and you may be able to make a poor man's vertical lathe to shape them smooth. The big thing is the black iron gas pipes are fairly thick which gives good strength.
Click to expand...

Nope, 1/2" is almost too big for the wheels I linked to. And black pipe has a coating on it (that's the black part, it's just galvanized steel pipe with some glop sprayed on it, though it may have a thicker wall for all I know) that usually isn't smooth (I replumbed my entire 1930's 2-story house, gas, supply and drains). 1" would be fine for skate wheels, for now I want to try those concave wheels and see how it goes. I have a nice case for my Igus slider and want to be able to use that for everything but the camera base.

Galvanized pipe is very smooth, once you clean the UPC tags off it.

By the way, it would take a really big rig to make the 1/2" sag at the lengths I'm talking. I tried an 8' piece today and it would have worked for my setup (good to know if I ever need a longer pull with this thing). I have a lot of galvanized in the garage, use it for pipe clamps. Last thing I want to do is haul 2" thick steel pipe around for a simple slider!

Anyway, mine will be done tomorrow, I'll see how it goes.
 
That s what i am going to do.use a small rig. Not much weight, a gh3, 7' monitor, matte box and followfocus...all on a couple of rail with handle...do you think will not work in common budget slider?
stefanocps said:
those with wheel are all short in lenght is it? how do you use the wheel?i mean i supopose you use in the pavement, and the camera is it very low positioned. is that?
Click to expand...
 
someone told me that a follow focus will never work in sucha cheap slider as the pressure will cause too much unbalance
what do you think?
 
If you have all the pieces, give it a try and see. Ultimately might need a wireless servo unit, but it generally costs little to try things.
 
i have all the gear but not slider..would like to avoid to buy a slider that i will not use because movin all over...
 
stefanocps said:
someone told me that a follow focus will never work in sucha cheap slider as the pressure will cause too much unbalance
what do you think?
Click to expand...

I can use rails and a follow focus on my manufacturing rail (Igus) slider - there's really no "pressure" from the FF that I can think of, other than DSLR lenses often bump up or down when you first move the focus, due to the lens mounts not being designed to be rock-solid - but that happens on tripods too. A lens support and whip usually fix this. The problem is that once you get a fluid head, rails, camera and FF on a small slider, it's too small a platform to hold all that stuff without rocking, swaying, or getting hung up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top