DIY E-Slide

Macville

Macville

Well-known member
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 - 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.
 
Look for threads involving the skater dolly. This will give you the best results at the cheapest price.
 
>>> 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
 
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.
 
JasonFox said:
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.
Click to expand...

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
 
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.
 
So look what I've found on ebay today http://cgi.ebay.com/Quiet-Camera-Do...7QQihZ019QQcategoryZ30091QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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
 
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