tripod dolly

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windedsailor

Active member
i'm in the market for one, and I was wondering what your guy's experiences with tripod dollies has been. are they worth it? which ones are good? which are a good bang for the buck? what type of wheels work better and on what surfaces? ect. also if you know of other websites that have reviews that would also be helpful
 
I have the Manfrotto/Bogen one. Very nice, very stable and sturdy, excellent smooth wheels... but small, so small ! And so, so hard !

Bottom line : once you know how to drive it, it does the job just fine... as long as you make it run on a perfectly smooth surface ! As there is no shock absorption, every little bump you run over will show on the footage.

I have in my home a very large room with an old parquet floor. Visually, that floor is in excellent condition, but the tiny gaps in between the wood planks are enough to create a bumpy ride, and sometimes to even throw the dolly slightly off course.

Picture here : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/cinedv/images/dolly2.jpg
 
I have one of these and I have a track dolly as well. These types of tripod "dolly's" aren't really intended to be used to move the camera when shooting. Rather, they are great for getting from one setup to the next without having to pickup the tripod and reset it. Not really much of an issue for a lite camera like the DVX, but with a big film camera, they are really a labor saver.

If your looking for a track style dolly, but don't want to use track, then consider a doorway dolly with pneumatic tires. At least then you will have a reasonable degree of mechanical compliance to disappate the bumps in the surface you will be dollying across.
 
NO CA$H said:
and what about the noise? They seems like they would be noisy.
Click to expand...

Since they are not intended to be used while shooting, they don't even attempt to make them quite. A real doorway or track dolly is much better choice.
 
yeah the problem with the doorway dolly is that i can't afford it, i'm looking for a cheap way of doing it... i'm still in college, i'm not shooting for perfection as much as i am looking for practice with a moving camera... start thinking in motion ya know... are there any that would suit those purposes?
 
I work at the local PBS station as a student worker and we have one of those tripod dollys. It really really isn't meant to be used as a dolly at all. Even on the relatively smooth surface of the studio floor, it picks up every bump which almost makes just going handheld probably a better way to get smooth motion. Also those things ARE very loud. Well maybe it's not THAT loud but it sure seems so on the soundstage.
 
One option to make it quieter is to lay out a length of cheap wall-to-wall carpeting, and have the tripod dolly run on it. By "cheap", I mean "not thick", because it will not run well on thick carpeting.

The wheelchair is a very good option : can be rented or bought secondhand cheaply, folds for easy storage, and although there is not built-in shock absorption, the operator him/herself (plus a sandbag) will provide some measure of absorption.

One possible makeshift setup is as follows : operator sitting in wheelchair on a thick cushion, large tray affixed horizontally to the arms of the wheelchair, sandbag on tray, mini tripod on sandbag. Thus, the camera will be able to move *and* also to pan simultaneously (limited pans only, because the mini tripod is unlikely to have a fluid head !).

Hope this helps. Never tried it myself, but in theory it could be good (with fair amount of WD-40 lubricant on the chair's wheels).
 
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