New Dolly Built - Some DVX Dolly Tests

these look smooth!

I built a dolly and it sucks so far. I need better track. we were using plastic pvc connected with brass nipples and the pipe goes all wonky.

I'll be posting a short with a sucky dolly shot soon. I know you can't wait!
 
I actually use the pvc right now as well... and had those same metal nipples that screw in the track... and it works like you see in the vid...
but I don't like that kind of track so I'm going to go with a metal track next.

to keep your track straight you might want to build some sort of seperators from wood and screw them into the track...
and make sure your dolly is properly aligned for both sets of wheels... did you use a ruler or straight edge to mark everything off correctly?
 
lol i'm thinking about building one too but i have no idea how. will be checking your tutorial
 
iamloser said:
wesly, (and anyone else interested..) you can buy high quality custom wheel sets for DYI dollys from me here:


http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?t=29983
Click to expand...

Those wheels look great! but man thats expensive...

I went to modells and bought their cheapest roller blades (that were going out of style) for $10/each... bought 4 pairs
each pair of roller blades had 8 wheels... so I spent 40 bucks for 32 wheels...
my dolly uses only 8 of them, the rest are for other dollies/projects...
the vid you saw is shot with those 8 wheels... but man I'd like to see the difference by using your wheels... and it also looks like you made it to support a person from you pics... this one is only for a tripod/camera.
 
bokser said:
Those wheels look great! but man thats expensive...

I went to modells and bought their cheapest roller blades (that were going out of style) for $10/each... bought 4 pairs
each pair of roller blades had 8 wheels... so I spent 40 bucks for 32 wheels...
my dolly uses only 8 of them, the rest are for other dollies/projects...
the vid you saw is shot with those 8 wheels... but man I'd like to see the difference by using your wheels... and it also looks like you made it to support a person from you pics... this one is only for a tripod/camera.
Click to expand...


That's exactly what I did. Onsale rollerbaleds were cheaper than wheels by themselves. My dolly is quite satisfactoy, but my current track sux.
 
.. thanks for the compliments.. but expensive? they may have cost more than what yours did, but good skate wheels are more expensive. and the hardware is all very very nice. and the whole setup is engineered very well. an good offset skate wheel setup like this is very very strong and very very stable, looks killer too..and yes i can ride on my 24 wheel setup. in fact , me.. my wife, and both my kids can ride on it no problem. anything from 1/2" to 1 1/2" track. smoooth as silk and so quiet you cant even hear it unless your really quiet and listen. so you get what you pay for and of course a little goes to me to put it all together for you as pro as possible .. what can i say.. they are worth the money . when i have the website up there should be some clips of it in action including a sound recording of the dolly in motion... not that youll hear it.. but thats the point!

try not to gag on all the promotion in there... lol
 
wesley said:
unfortunatly i have have about 0$ in my bank account :D



:(
Click to expand...

Hey Wesley, me too.

There's a great book called Killer DV rigs that you can build. It costs $40, but saves money in the long run. One of the rigs is a dolly.
http://www.dvcamerarigs.com/
One of the ways is it saves money is that this guy has done all the screwing up for you. In otherwords, he nose exactly what size brass nipple fits in exactly what size of pipe and has done is best to make sure all of teh itmes are pretty redily available -- I think you can make his car mount for less than $20 ( I think, as I haven't made that one yet, but it's cheap). I see you are in the Netherlands, I think the latest vesion of the book includes metric equivalents for everything.

And if you are broke, here's a poorman's light kit, might be different costs in Netherlands, but a good reference none the less.
http://dvinfo.net/articles/lighting/spears1.php
Only don't buy worklights with stands as it recomends, buy the lights without the stands and then get pro stands which you can get for about $30 each at B&H for example./ The work light stands only go to 2 meters and the pro stands wil go 2.5 to 3 meters. They also recommend frosted shower curtain for diffusion but you can get umbrellas for $9 - $30. I got three - 1 white that you shoot throuogh for diffusion, and a silver lined one that you bounce of off, and a black lined one that you bounce off of or use to keep back spill down. Put the black one and the white one back to back wit the light in the middle and you've just made a soft box.

Sorry if you already have lights, I saw you joined this month a year ago, but had a brain fart and thought you joined this month so you night just be getting your gear together.

here's a link to a temporary site of mine with links to the light article, book and other stuff I've found useful as I've been starting out this month. Its outdated however as it talks about making a film, but we've already done that at this point
http://live-theater.org/jdandvlinks.html
 
jdanstan said:
Hey Wesley, me too.

There's a great book called Killer DV rigs that you can build. It costs $40, but saves money in the long run. One of the rigs is a dolly.
http://www.dvcamerarigs.com/
One of the ways is it saves money is that this guy has done all the screwing up for you. In otherwords, he nose exactly what size brass nipple fits in exactly what size of pipe and has done is best to make sure all of teh itmes are pretty redily available -- I think you can make his car mount for less than $20 ( I think, as I haven't made that one yet, but it's cheap). I see you are in the Netherlands, I think the latest vesion of the book includes metric equivalents for everything.

And if you are broke, here's a poorman's light kit, might be different costs in Netherlands, but a good reference none the less.
http://dvinfo.net/articles/lighting/spears1.php
Only don't buy worklights with stands as it recomends, buy the lights without the stands and then get pro stands which you can get for about $30 each at B&H for example./ The work light stands only go to 2 meters and the pro stands wil go 2.5 to 3 meters. They also recommend frosted shower curtain for diffusion but you can get umbrellas for $9 - $30. I got three - 1 white that you shoot throuogh for diffusion, and a silver lined one that you bounce of off, and a black lined one that you bounce off of or use to keep back spill down. Put the black one and the white one back to back wit the light in the middle and you've just made a soft box.

Sorry if you already have lights, I saw you joined this month a year ago, but had a brain fart and thought you joined this month so you night just be getting your gear together.

here's a link to a temporary site of mine with links to the light article, book and other stuff I've found useful as I've been starting out this month. Its outdated however as it talks about making a film, but we've already done that at this point
http://live-theater.org/jdandvlinks.html
Click to expand...

thx for all the info, i'm going to look into all of it. i haven't got anything besides the dvx100 & glidecam 2000 yet. didn't need it at first cause we could borrow redheads and tripod from school, but i recently finished. now i want to make 1 or 2 shorts to submit to the dutch film academy. and i'm gonna buy some proper lights from b&h or evs. don't know if anyone got tips, there are so many :-).

And i'm also interested in getting some dolly shots cause it can really add to the visuals and style. but those things even the cheapest are insaneley expensive so I'd like to build something.
 
Dude!

Dude!

At the bottom of this post is a link showing some grabs from the short I did last week with the poor man’s light kit that’s linked from my site.
http://dvinfo.net/articles/lighting/spears1.php

Again to see my grabs click link at bottom.

Remember when buyinhg a kit that the extension chords and all that crap will add up!

Are work lights sexy? No. Will they accomplish what you need them to do and are they a reasonable choice for someone just starting out? Yes. This setup will totally cover you until Speilberg Calls and then you won't need your own lights.

So what do you need?

-You need some directionality (buy some black wrap from EVS – use instead of barn doors or French Flags.)
-You need to be able to color correct (buy 2 gel packs from EVS)
-You need to be able to control the softness and harshness of the lights and level (3 umbrellas for 12 – 30 bucks each, and 4 hand dimmers for about $30 bucks each).
-You will want to be expressive enough to manipulate mood and atmosphere (tell the story) (buy 2 gel packs from EVS).
-You will want to be able to motivate your key light. (buy $30 tall lighting stands from EVS? – got mine from B&H before I knew about EVS.) Get three of those stands they are worth it.

Lights
- buy three or four 500W halogen worklights WITHOUT stands for $9 each
- You can also get the same type lights in 250W with clamp, a stake, and a hook mount for like 7 dollars. These make great fill lights and clamp easily on interior banisters etc. I have 2 in addition to four 500w's.

Extras
-To attach the Gels you will want wooden clothes pins.
-To steal power on outdoor locations, get a light bulb socket power adaptor.
-To attach the umbrellas and lamps you will need these $13 swivel mount thingies. (there’s a hack to marry the worklight to the swivel mount thingy – PM me to get the exact mount things and the hack if you go this way. The rest is universal.)
-You will need lots of extension chords and powerstrips and a bin to carry it all in.
-Gaffe Tape to attach the gels or black wrap when the clothes pins won’t do.
-A roll of black plastic from the hardware store for masking out windows.

All of this will be under $300.

To see what a few knuckleheads who never lit a movie before accomplished in only one day
go to:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?p=262020#post262020
 
 
actually -- just checked my math.

my kit was abouty $350 before ext. chords etc.

Mounts 3 X 13 = 39
Stands 3 X30 = 90
Umbrellas 3 at various = 60
Lights 4X9 = 36
Gels = $100
Blackwrap =30
Gaff Tape = 15

Buy work lights with stands and - $170 out of the budget and add back in $60, so tat takes it down to 180 before ext. chords etc. You can get buy with the worklight stands but they are heavier and you can only get to 6' unless you put it on a table or something. Now how will you attach the umbrellas? You can take some more money off the budget and forget about them or you could try to rig them somehow, but you'll have to figure out some way to diffuse the light.

IMO, though, the light stands, etc. are wirth it because they are an investement and you can add real lights as your budget allows.
 
I bought 4 steel stands 13 years ago and still using them. No brand, no name. Replaced all the lights I bought them with, but kept the stands :grin:

I agree stands are crucial.
 
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