Has anyone anyone here tried a non-tracked manfrotto dolly?

If you really want to save money, build your own. I drilled out 2 lengths of aluminium angle iron to which I mounted 16 roller blade wheels (4 each corner), mounted to a doubled sheet of plywood. Carpeted the top, drilled a hole where I use one of those t-bars from a kids scooter for gripping the dolly, and it runs on 6ft lengths of 1.25'' plastic water pipe. Smooth as silk. Cost me about 110 gbp and gets used all the time. Google will show up any amount of on-line plans/videos if you want to give this a try..
 
The only problem with the tripod dolly is that it must have an absolutely smooth surface to work. If you are on anything other than a smooth floor, you're going to see a lot of bounce as it rolls. So... a pretty big challenge, actually.
 
I've tried with carpet, plexiglass, wood, and even after i solve the smooth surface problem (which is never really solved i always have trouble) I have the problem of getting the thing to move in a planned path. I would check to see if the wheels swivel, locks on the wheels could help, but I would go the tracked route anyday. I never had success with those things unless I was in a dance studio or something, and even then to get the thing to move without straying off all over the place is hell.
 
Simple have your own built. I went to a metal supplier in the industrial area bought light weight aluminium & skateboard wheels, found a aluminium welder gave him my plans and he built it for me. Cost me $375 for a professional looking 12 meter dolly that runs silky smooth even with the full weight of an operator & camera on the platform.
 
Nicholas_SA said:
Simple have your own built. I went to a metal supplier in the industrial area bought light weight aluminium & skateboard wheels, found a aluminium welder gave him my plans and he built it for me. Cost me $375 for a professional looking 12 meter dolly that runs silky smooth even with the full weight of an operator & camera on the platform.
Click to expand...

Still have those plans? :)
 
I have a similar large caster tripod dolly that i use for photography in my studio when I'm doing plain corporate head shots or when i'm filming static interviews and stuff. I like it on my tripod mostly so i can quickly slide over BETWEEN shots. The wheels on it on my very slick studio floor are still not smooth enough for a shot. Each wheel (and they could just be my old wheels) has a line in them from the casting that has not worn off. This like gives you a bump every rotation of the wheel. Makes for a crappy dolly in my eyes.

If i were to change it or make my own i would want it to either have much larger much softer and smoother wheels or be on a track.
Ive worked with dollies made out of skate wheels on pvc track that are far superior and cost about the same or less.
 
I've never used mine with my T2i, but that dolly has worked really well in the past with my XL2, providing tracking shots that looked like they were taken by a skilled steadicam operator. With the DSLR rolling shutter issues, the Uline flooring looks like it could smooth things out just enough to make it work. BTW, Uline sells a nice selection of janitorial carts that can be modded into functional ATV location sound carts.
 
If you plan to buy that product with the hope of getting smooth tracking shots then I would say (my experience) that you would be waisting your money.
You would ultimately need a lot of weight, larger pneumatic tires and a glassy path to have any success without tracks.

In all seriousness, your money would be better spent on a wheel chair and/ or a decent slider (depending on how professional you want/ need to appear).

For many, DIY is a great way to go with dolly & track set ups as there are lots of plans out there (of varying sophistication) that can be built by someone with mechanical aptitude.
 
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