Tripod dollies - I need your advice

G

gianx80

Active member
I'm going to buy a new tripod for my Sony FS100 (and it will be also my first TRUE tripod). A year ago, with the help of one of my friends, I've built a dolly like this one:

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However mine is less refined, it does a lot of noise and it does not go straight. So I have two option: refining it or buying a tripod dolly like thi one:

MKS-HQ-DL10.jpg

However before I choose the second option I'd love to ask: are these tripod dollies any good? Do they made any noise when I push or pull them? Do they make any noise or produce any vibration when their wheels pass over floor tiles junctions?

I know the best option would be a dolly on rails but at the moment I can't afford it.
 
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The only practical use I've ever found for the spreader-like tripod dollies is that they make it much easier to reposition the camera between shots when working in a studio or another relatively large space with a smooth, flat floor.

The wheels are small, so they do not roll smoothly over cracks, seams in floor tile or other minor obstructions. And with all the casters free to pivot, the dolly doesn't have any natural inclination to roll in a straight line, so you're always fighting with it to make it go in the direction you want. Following a curved path is especially difficult -- sort of like drawing curved lines with an Etch-A-Sketch.

Noise hasn't been a problem with the ones I have used.

Even when you're only using it as an aid in moving the camera around between shots, there are compromises. The casters can pivot slightly during a shot and shake the image a bit. It raises the whole rig a few more inches off the floor and reduces its stability.

I have a couple of these things for different sized tripods and I use them quite a bit when I'm working with students in the makeshift shooting space we have at the high school where I teach. Rolling them is safer, I think, than having the students pick up and move the whole camera and tripod assembly, and saves time. But they're not really suitable for on-camera moves even in that undemanding setting.

- Greg
 
A few comments:
Like the cat
A spreader dolly is pretty useless to actually shoot with, you need tracks.
Bigger wheels will go over floor irregularities better than the little wheels on the spreader.
If you did want to use a tripod spreader; if you go to a metals supply house you can get aluminum channel in different widths and leg heights. You might find a nice fit for the wheels on the dolly and running in tracks would be a huge improvement.
You may be able to add dolly wheels to your existing tripod and skip the spreader by replacing feet or spikes with wheel sets. Check out the Kessler dolly trollies. They are top shelf with very quiet wheels, sealed bearings everywhere; simply beautiful hardware. With these, you can run on pipe.

Grant
 
Thanks for your precious advices. I contacted that friend of mine, we'll refine the current dolly and we'll build custom tracks for its wheel (only straight routes for now, but it's a beginning).
Thanks again.
If you have any other precious advices I'm here to learn.
 
I have a dolly that has a hole cutout in the center for strapping your tripod down. Does anyone know how I strap it down and a link to the type of strap I should get?
 
I've been using one of these for years. Easy to transport and only a couple of minutes to set up. Often use it with a lightweight jib. BTW I answered your question re the hole in the dolly for a strap on your other post.

Chris Young

 
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This system is all but forgotten these days, I still have mine from a good 15 years ago and just used it on a small job a few months back. The articulating wheel system is quite clever along with the Flextrack. Overall I prefer it to a Dana Dolly when working on floor (vs uneven ground etc), I think it's more stable resulting in less jitter in the frame. http://www.porta-jib.com/spider_dolly.htm
 
In practice there are common issues that have little to do with the brands. Small diameter wheels mean rapid variation in height from lumps and bumps in the floor. The bigger the wheel the velocity change upwards is reduced. Tyre materials do similar things. Soft tyres deform under small obstacles, hard ones ride up and over. Any unlocked castoring type wheels will introduce random directions. Tracking dollies where all the wheels are locked together are the most predictable. Types where two castors lock and the other freewheels are a good half way house. The saving grace to all of them is the lens angle. A dolly close in on wide is smoother than one further away on a narrower angle. A good test of any dolly is to raise one wheel off the ground and see how much play is in the bearings. Does it only rotate smoothly, or does it have the unwanted ability to also move around the plane of the vertical axis, as in tilting a little bit away from vertical. The large trolleys at diy stores for carrying sheet material usually have two fixed wheels and two castors. They can often make great camera platforms if you fit the camera at the fixed wheel end. I got one from a business closing down. Big enough to mount the head on one end and have enough space for the operator to sit on it too.
 
CharlesPapert said:
This system is all but forgotten these days, I still have mine from a good 15 years ago and just used it on a small job a few months back. The articulating wheel system is quite clever along with the Flextrack. Overall I prefer it to a Dana Dolly when working on floor (vs uneven ground etc), I think it's more stable resulting in less jitter in the frame. http://www.porta-jib.com/spider_dolly.htm
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I have used the Kessler K-Pod with trolly wheels on rubber track a fair amount. Works great, though heavy. It is quick to setup though and with the Kessler trollies and the VERY heavy tripod, rolling is very smooth. In this case mass is your friend. My back however, may never be the same.

Question: I wonder how many small production companies still use tripods with tracks, or dollies in general. Has the whole world gone to gimbals or the like.
 
ggrantly said:
Has the whole world gone to gimbals or the like.
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I think it has.. but what confuses me is the swaps between storyboard and on set tools.

If you have an 85 and whant it locked off for 20s then to pull out or along or whatever then you need track because no one can hold a 20s lockoff with a gimbal

But maybe producers can storyboard adequate content without such a shot.

As an operator Im all about pleasing the director/fulfilling the board and it seems one needs a dolly in your truck to do that.

I was involved in a bag of fertiliser shoot.. clearly the camera needed to be 18in off the ground (the height of the hero) and slowly move around the hero bag

Absolutely a round track shot and the client was a $$$ national brand

The shoot went ahead without me.. (and I dont think a rival) .. I wonder how it looked and if the client was pleased?

Did they do it with a 27 year old stumbling around with a low mode gimbal and no monitor for the director?

Did it need fixing in post at exhorbitant cost?
 
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