I love me some RedRock Micro gear, but unfortunately i'm just one of those poor souls who can't afford even their entry level stuff. As seen in the image below, this is just one bundle in the line up of RedRock Micro's Nano rigs called the Running Man. Pretty solid piece of gear that doesn't look quite overkill. Light weight, sturdy, sets up fast, and packs down small. Nice little stabilizer for the frequent traveler. You can find the Running Man rig here: Redrock Micro nano - RunningMan
Having a few spare parts around the studio, just decided to mount the Calumet Mini Tripod / Handle to a Manfrotto 361 Shoulder Brace for Monopods. The bearing on the shoulder support spins freely, but by adding a handle under the camera, you can keep it steady. It's also handy having the handle break out into a Tripod to rest the gear down (gotcha on that one RedRock..JK).
Would be an interesting travel brace for a smaller camera like the GH1, GH2, Sony NEX, or A55. I don't know..all for fun...
The SpiderTrax Rotational video dolly is an interesting little product with a long personal history. I recently caught several articles on the web about the SpiderTrax dolly and how I (myself) have been dabbling in DIY versions of this. I've even received several emails about what I thought about the product and 'reviews' i've done. If you don't know the history, I actually created this product and design. Before this simple 4 wheel design hit the Internet, the most common 'skater dollies' were based on a three wheel design by P+S Technik which ran over $6,000 dollars.
[Above] P+S Technik Skater Mini
DIY'ing a three wheel rotational dolly isn't as easy as it looks. After sitting at home for many months seeing what was available on the web, I decided to tackle the project more simply - Just use four wheels. I tested different designs for several months and then finally placed the product into the hands of PhotographyAndCinema.com. After my initial video showcasing the simple design with upside down axles (to get lowest possible angle), tons of new rotational dollies have spun up. So even though I did a great job at separating myself from this product, just remember that every single knock-off four wheel rotational dolly with upside down axles stemmed from a tiny little blog called Cheesycam.com.
[Above] Sample use of P+S Technik Dolly
[Above] Sample from my own personal SpiderTrax Rotational Dolly - over a year ago.
The SpiderTrax Dolly project for me was successful in making a very simple, low cost design and still be able to replicate all movements of P+S Technik. Forward, back, side to side, and rotational shots were just as fluid. Now before you start searching for a SpiderTrax Dolly, i'll let you know that the original version is out of stock. It's a discontinued item [will there be a v2.0?? Hmm...].
So if you're shopping around for a rotational dolly, there are other versions out there mostly found via eBay. You can tell homemade stuff just by looking at photos, I would stay away from that stuff. If you're looking for a solid product, check out this new version. Smaller than my original design, and cheaper by a few bucks. Anodized plated with fancy markings and graphics. I wanted to see how they went about copying my design and decided to check it out for myself.
Ok not bad. It's actually pretty nice compared to what's out there on the current market. A finished looking product. They took the round axles and shaved them flat underneath. This not only brought the axles lower to the baseplate, but allows it to lock down fairly snug with more contact area. Instead of using the 52mm skate wheels, they went with RollerBlade type wheels. I didn't go this route because I wanted the lowest possible profile. It also added more contact area when turning. I personally like the wider skate board wheels. Outside of a few differences, this Rotational Dolly should be a solid option to replace the now discontinued 'SpiderTrax Dolly'. So if you've been waiting for the original to come back online, sorry it's not, but good news is that here's a great alternative above all the other hundreds of rotational dollies now on the market.
Ok, I have to keep adding 'Roller bearing' to the description of this DSLR slider. Everyone keeps throwing in names like Igus and GlideTrack, but it's not the same. Those guys don't use actual 'Roller bearings'. I know all about the Igus based sliders, and you can find my version on this blog. My current fixation is about this particular 'Rolling Bearing' slider. If you've ever tried an actual roller bearing slider, you might not go back. The problem is that even the cheapest Roller bearing slider will run you close to $500 bucks. This is why I was excited to see something a lot cheaper show up online.
So here it is, and what do you need to know? For starters, it's a great deal. Even after posting this slider up, I haven't seen anything else that can come close to this as far as features, build quality, and price. I'm sure i'm going to start getting some 'I made mine for this price...' comments, but unless you're selling it, i'm not considering it as a readily available option.
This slider has a solid rail, no flex. It has 1/4x20 & 3/8" threaded tripod mounts in the center, and on each end. It also has 1/4 x 20 & 3/8" threaded mounts on the sides for 'vertical' mounting. It comes with adjustable legs/feet that can be removed. There's also padded platforms that allow it to be used directly on any surface without worry of scratching or marking the area. There's a brake to lock down the carrier when it's not in use. It also comes with a very slick looking quality travel bag. The Slider moves very fluid with zero lash and can be adjusted if need be. It's also very lightweight, but feels like it can slide even heavier cameras than a DSLR.
There is one thing to note. The platform is designed only for a 3/8" mount. This means you need a fluid head or some type of camera mount. You can't mount the camera directly to the platform. Not a deal breaker since most sliders require this anyway. The unit slides so easily, it would work perfectly for motion timelapse rigs. Any small motor can easily pull a heavy camera through it's entire rail. Overall it's more than I expected for the price. The first actual 'roller bearing' slider to break this price point, and here it is.
So another great cost saving product first introduced here on Cheesycam.com. If you want to show some support for what I do, hook a brotha up and link back to this article!
Just got notification that something from Korea has touched down at the UPS store....I don't remember ordering anything else..So could it be the slider? Stay tuned, i'm on my way... http://cheesycam.com/budget-slider-back-online-next-batch/
[Update] Yup, let me unbox this thing..I should do a live stream..Hahah.
[Update][Update] Oh snap...I think when you guys get it, you're going to really like it... Let me set up my camera now..
There she is. She's my Eleanor. That mystical Unicorn. The legendary beast that constantly eludes me from capturing her as my own. (Referencing 'Gone is 60 Seconds'). Anyways, that's the Manfrotto 504HD Fluid Video Head. It looks good and works awesome, but the fluid head alone will run you $399. Grab a set of legs with it and you're running yourself close to $900 dollars. Sure i'd love to have every single tripod in my stash to be the best, but the truth of the matter is, it wouldn't be practical. At least, not for what I do right now. For bigger projects where you think you'll need the best of the best, you can always rent. (Check out BorrowLenses.com)
Last minute, we decided to do a live shoot with different camera angles, and we wanted a shot that was done in one take all the way through. I needed a few more tripods to station cameras around the subject. In a small studio space I don't need to have every single tripod to be an expensive one. I'm finding that many times we set the camera in it's position, start the recording, and forget it. There may be some light rack focusing involved and slow pans, but we're not chasing fast moving athletes. So for the many stationary cameras, I decided to order a few of the FT-717 Tripods + Fluid Head combo kits. It's exactly the same as the WF-717 re-branded. This fluid head is almost the same as the 717AH I use for the DIY Slider, except that it is ball mounts. If you're not familiar with the ball mounts, it's basically a super fast simple way to get that final adjustment into leveling your camera.
This is a three stage Tripod that has a very wide rail design common for Video tripods, and also has a center brace for extra sturdiness. Three stages of adjustments means that it can collapse shorter to make traveling easier. I've seen some monopods with 5 stages that allows it to collapse down to less than 16" for traveling and cheaper tripods may only come in 2 stages. Once the tripod is extended to your liking, leveling the camera is fast with a simple turn of the knob at the ball head. This particular design is also available in plastic if weight is a concern, but I opted for the metal version mainly for durability.
I have several different tripods, and one is a beast which can extend to 7ft high. If this WF-717 / FT-717 would be your only tripod, there's some things to keep in mind. Getting the camera to eye level is important for some shots, and because this is a ball mount head, there's no adjustable center neck with this particular tripod. You'll lose about 1 ft compared to the other types of tripods. With the legs fully extended the base of the camera will sit at 53" inches. Bringing the legs close together and 'cheating' a bit, you'll gain maybe 2-3 inches of additional height. This type of tripod is perfect if you're elevated, shooting low shots, if you're at a distance from your subject, or if your subject is seated.
Panning horizontally was a bit stiff right out of the box, but performed very smoothly after working them in. I believe it's because there is just random fluid thrown into the head before shipping. Once you've worked it in, it's very very smooth, especially when adding the weight of your camera and lens. A few nice additions too. The WF-717 Ball Head + Tripod also has a built in retractable bungee hook used to wrap it up and keep the legs from opening up as you carry it. It also ships with a pretty nice travel bag that includes a sling strap for hands-free carry. It's no Eleanor, but I was able to grab three of these for about the price of a single Bogen 504HD Fluid head.
Since that first article, these lights have made their way around the world and in different projects. Yet to this day I get asked several questions about posting up a sample of power output and sample videos of them in use. I had a bit of free time, and a walk-in volunteer today so I thought I'd put this together real quick for you guys. (Thanks sister-in-law). There's no style in the lighting setup, I just threw them up very quickly. This video is mainly just to show you how much power these things are capable of along with the quality of light. The main camera was set to the Daylight White Balance setting with no color correction in post. Hopefully that should give you an idea about how close they are to daylight temperature. The camera was set to ISO 250 with the lights at 1/4 power. DSLR's can provide clean images even up to ISO 1600 and with 3/4 of power to spare they should be able to cover most of your small projects. You can also tell how whisper quiet these units are. Don't be fooled by other versions that include some type of internal fan, that will ruin your audio (if you ever decide to use the audio).
Relative size next to Canon 5D Mark II
In the rear I have a 500 LED light camera left on Full Power. In the front, I would normally have a main and fill light setup, but they are both on only 1/4 power. You could probably just setup one light to the side, and use a simple bounce as a fill on the other. I'm also including a few images that were shot by just lighting the product with the 500 LED panel. I have it next to a Canon 5D Mark II to compare the relative size. It's very small, built with a solid housing, and makes it perfect for travel. These lights also stay super cool with ZERO heat so your subject doesn't start to sweat. If you have any other questions about these super cheap LED light panels, just drop a comment.
There's many versions of these types of lights online which look similar. Some come with a fan which you don't want when doing Video shoots. Those fan units are very loud and I don't think are needed in LED lighting. Others units being sold may also be a slightly different build quality. I have not had the chance to use some of the other units out there, but I can tell you that I'm happy with the ones that i'm using here. There's 500 LEDs, 1000 LEDs, 500 Dimmable, 1000 Dimmable, 1000 Color Temp Changing Dimmable, sold in kits with several lights, and a few more options. These particular light panels come from the ePhoto seller found here: Portable Cool LED video Light Panel Solutions
[Update] Looks like they got too much attention on the close copied design. This product is gone....
Proaim is the Video camera equipment company based out of India. They've got a ton of shoulder supports, shoulder rigs, matte boxes, follow focus systems, and more. This time around it looks like they're stepping on some toes with their latest product, a Carbon Railed Roller Track Dolly, which is an obvious design knock-off from the big guys in Black and Yellow. In one direction, the rails mount to tripods, and on the flip side, it can be used on the ground. Claims to be an all Aluminum design with rubber coated steel roller bearings and lightweight Carbon rods. Comes with it's own foam cut travel case and weighs under 5lbs. Quality and Customer service? I'm sure you know how dealing with over seas companies go, but you're probably also familiar with why prices would be so darn cheap.
Proaim Carbon Roller Camera Track Dolly
I've seen the real deal up close and wheeled track dollies are a beautiful thing. Especially if you're dealing with harsh dirty environments like sand that can get caught up in other types of linear track systems. Wheeled dollies can also be taken 'off track' for some short rolling camera movements. If you're looking for the original high quality stuff, you can check out the Pegasus Carbon package via the Cinevate website here: https://www.cinevate.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=108
Your inquiries have been answered. Not long ago Greg Royar mentioned on this blog about a DIY DSLR bearing based slider he made. Here's the video explaining how it's all put together. Of course Greg does mention he's had some help from his Machine Shop to get everything a bit more accurate. Sounds like you'll all have to pressure Greg in pricing out a quote to get a few more of these things run off for sale. [Thanks Greg]
Details from the video:
The slider was built with some simple C-Channel aluminum acting as a rail, and the block is solid aluminum that's been ground down and bolted together. I picked up a box of replacement skateboard bearings from the local sports shop. The bearings were $8 for all 8. Right now I have the slider bolted onto a saw horse from home depot, but I'll probably be buying the popular fold away version so that I can get dolly shots from the ground.
A rep from EA Sports dropped in today for a quick interview about the new video game 'Need for Speed - Hot Pursuit'. Can be found here: Need For Speed - Hot Pursuit
Just thought I'd share a quick clip of an interview I thought went fairly well considering the time constraints. The rep came earlier than expected so I rushed to get something setup for the interview. Woohoo, yeah that audio is the Zoom H1 portable Audio recorder with the cheap ATR3350 LAV microphone. Not too bad for a rushed Audio interview, pretty happy with that. I had a Zoom H4n off to the side to see how that would sound, but there was too much ambient outside that ruined it. Camera left is Canon 5D Mark II with 100mm Macro IS F/2.8L (see it's not just for Macro), and camera right is Canon 7D + 24-105mm IS F/4L (the video footage isn't in this clip). The BTS footage i'm showing you was shot hand held with the Canon 60D. For lighting just used one of the cheap 800 watt Lights as the fill light, I talked about it in this article: http://cheesycam.com/new-800w-barndoor-softboxes-3pcs-lighting/
There were two other lights with a red gel to give the plain garage door something interesting. Instead of a plain background, the garage added more texture to the simple interview shot. This video hasn't had any processing done so i'm sure it looks pretty flat, soft, and desaturated. That was the profile setup on the Canon 5D Mark II. The Canon 5D Mark II was also being monitored on the Vizio LCD with DIY mount to cheap Light Stand. Well, there you go. Hope this setup is informational and helpful as the audio came out decent and the lighting added something different for a super cheap budget.
Calumet Mini Tripod Handle
