Pocket Dolly: Normal or Basic?

[Chad Nikolaus]

Hey all, for anyone with experience with the Kesslercrane Pocket Dolly, is the crank something you could go without? I'd love to have one, but the Basic (non-crank) version is $150 cheaper. I'd spring for the crank if it's really useful though.

Any thoughts?

 

[Kennethp]

Make a DIY crank on it or maybe a servo, some wheels and a little battey pack. You got a lot of options!
Good luck

 

[colebennett]

I played around with the PB Signature series, the Kessler Pocket dolly v2, and the Stealth slider at ProFusion in Toronto yesterday. None of 'em had cameras mounted. But after weighing the options, the PB stood out to me. Portable, comes with outrigger feet, the crank, etc.

I don't think I'll use the crank for actually moving the camera along, but it's the centrifugal force (a word I learned yesterday from the Kessler rep), that actually helps with dampening the slide.

From the reading, and checking out of the sliders that I did yesterday, I'd go with either the PB or the Stealth slider. The Pocket Dolly doesn't have a resistance knob, nor a brake.

But to answer your question about the crank - it wasn't a selling feature for me. But the outrigger feet were. If you don't need outrigger feet, or the crank, I'd look at the Stealth. I think the resistance knob is a pretty sweet feature.

Just my thoughts from what I got at the booth!