Another practice run on the Electric Skateboard. I'm determined to learn how to ride this thing, and I think I'm getting pretty comfortable. I picked up quickly for someone who never really knew how to skate. I had to warm up a 21 year old car and decided it would be fun to chase it around. Surprisingly this car still gets her 35+ MPG and passed the smog so clean, the Smog techs were in awe. Keep in mind i'm still not shooting with a Video camera Stabilizer, this is all with a short Velbon UltraStick monopod and the Sony HX9 point and shoot camera. The full 1080/60p helps with these moving shots. I'm almost pretty comfortable to take out my Steadicam Vest and Glidecam setup, so that should yield much better results.
Video Dolly
Sony DSC-HX9 Digital Camera Full 1080 60p
DIY Adjustable Ladder Type Dolly New Mods
Future mods on the J.G. Pasterjak's DIY ladder type dolly make it much more functional than before. The new materials used to assemble the dolly allows for it to be used on flat surfaces (when flipped upside down), or on a variety of track widths. The ladder dolly design allows you to use almost anything for tracks such as two conduit pipes, two square tubes, or even one solid wooden plank (as seen in the video). Personally I really like this design, as it's still a DIY, but has a much more professional look to the build. The extra heavy bars probably add more stability to the rig too. J.G. Pasterjak mentioned that these units might soon be available on the big auction website, so stay tuned for that. [Thanks J.G. Keep us posted on those units]
DIY Mini Camera Track Dolly
Submitted by YouTube member detomaso4ag, here's a simple method to create your DIY Mini Video camera track dolly. For those who don't mind the skate wheels on a pipe track it's a cheap solution to getting smooth gliding camera movements. The trick is getting the wheels drilled in perfectly to the angle iron. If you're slightly off, then the dolly will wobble down the track. For those who aren't ready to tackle the DIY, these mini dollies already exist, found below.
Camtree Micro Dolly IGUS Slider with Pulley System
Roller bearing sliders have a love/hate relationship. Some people love the smooth no friction action, and some people hate the inconsistencies they might get without friction. Thanks for Martin for tipping me off on this review. YouTube member AYFilms gives us a review of the Camtree Micro Dolly. We've all seen IGUS Drylin based sliders
The IGUS rails work on dry (plastic-like) bearings that actually slide (not roll) across the rail. One thing to keep in mind with these friction sliders is you want to center the weight as best as possible. Too much over the side and you'll have unequal tension. The pulley system not only offers additional tension to make sliding more consistent, but pulls the carrier from the lowest point to provide less binding. As mentioned in the video, with the pulley crank removed, you're pretty much 80% the way to making a motorized slider or motion controlled timelapse rig. The Camtree Micro Dolly comes with Pulley system, Quick Release Adapter, and Foam padded Travel Case.
DIY Camera Ladder Dolly
If you have the means, the space, and the transportation, ladder track dollies are a great solution for camera movement. Rod shows how he's picked up a set of ready-made 'bolt on' dolly wheels to a simple plywood board to create an 8ft dolly capable of carrying a good amount of weight. In smaller more confined situations a slider is a must, but there's plenty of benefits to using a wider platform for stability in your shots.
These dolly wheels are designed to run on pipes as well, but when possible using a Ladder will provide a very firm solution that can be laid out in just about any type of terrain (gravel, grass, mud) and still maintain a super rigid track - unlike long PVC pipes. In this older article you can see how a ladder was used for a DIY Timelapse rig: http://cheesycam.com/diy-motion-controlled-timelapse/
If you're intersted in building your own dolly system, you could try some angle iron and at least 8 skate wheels + bearings, but if you're slightly off in drilling it's going to cause you quite a bit of wobble. To make things easier, these wheels that Rod is using are an inexpensive solution.
Opteka 23″ Slider Video Sample
Opteka's new 23" Slider video sample from Vimeo member skooKILLfilms. Camera used was the Canon 60D + 18-135mm kit lens and Samyang 8mm. The Opteka 23" slider is based on the IGUS rails, and offers a decent start for those who aren't looking to modify or DIY their own. It's an inexpensive slider that can provide excellent results, especially if you're shooting on a smaller format camera like the Sony NEX or Micro Four Thirds system, these linear rails should work fine.
Camera Dolly Skater – Three Wheelin’
Is a three wheel dolly better than a four wheel SpiderTrax dolly? It's definitely more difficult for the average DIY'er to tackle, and unless you have clear markings on the wheels, setting the rotation can be a bit tricky. There's one thing that a three wheel dolly can do that a four wheel can't, and that's rotate in 360 degrees without changing the center axis. Not super helpful as a camera movement since you can already do that with a basic Fluid Head, but if you place a stage and a product, you'll have yourself a nice 'lazy susan' style rotating table. Outside of that party trick movements are pretty much the same. Here's another version of a three wheeled rotating camera dolly (technically 6 wheels) by the same guys who make the iPad Prompter on 15mm Rails, and looks like a pretty solid build.
DIY Cutting Board Camera Slider
We all DIY with what's available, convenient, and affordable. One of those materials is found in the household section in your local grocery mart. I tell ya, IKEA must be making a killing on cutting board sales. First seen on a DIY DSLR Rig, and then played a small part on a Slider, and now here's another DIY camera slider from Vimeo member TaQ Inoue.
I'm not sure it's an actual IKEA cutting board, but you can get the same hefty material there in large sizes. It's cheap, easy to cut, carve, drill, and shape. Not very clear on the details or specs here, but it's a good excuse to creatively shoot the project from beginning to end. Overall costs stated at $30 dollars. It also seems to be working out fairly well in his example video 'Littlest Mountains 2 Trailer'.
Easier than DIY IGUS – Video Camera Slider
The Konova Roller bearing slider is still one of my favorite Video Camera sliders, but with demand comes rising prices. The IGUS linear guide rails are no secret and are extremely efficient for the price (Much better than the $99 dollar 80/20 aluminum extrusions). For anyone looking to DIY an IGUS rail as a camera slider, there's some options available via Amazon
Here's an interesting recent DSLR Slider item listed. Opteka's released an entry level portable IGUS based camera slider with FREE SHIPPING. Opteka's got all the necessary pieces and features you would normally have to DIY yourself. Included in the cheap slider is threaded taps for your quick release plate, pre-drilled Fluid Head hole in the carrier, a Brake/Stop screw, a few added legs to set it off the ground, and an included Spirit Level. So if you've been thinking about that DIY IGUS setup, but were afraid to tackle the details, you might want to check out Opteka's version available from 23' to 47" length. The Manfrotto 700RC2 Fluid Head would work great on this small slider as well.