Camera slider

[57 Chevy]

I fancy doing some video work this year and was wondering if anyone had recommendations for a camera slider?

Was looking at something like this... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N0K88Y7/ref=wl_it_d...

I had looked at ones that roll on the ground but am worried they will be too affected by the surface they are on and don't give much flexibility in terms of shooting height.

Thanks

[57 Chevy]

[K12beano]

The tripod under that looks almost exactly like the Chinese one I got for about £60 off The Bay of Fleas last year.

The ballhead is, as expected for the price point, fairly average but I swapped on my much better one. The tripod is pretty poor, but - for me - had the advantage of being much lighter/more portable than my ancient 055C. Needs significant weighing down with something.

Overall, poor design and shonky build quality and I wouldn't be happy with it for heavy use, although as a lightweight occasional use it's just about OK.

Cheap. Fairly cheerful. Not great VFM.

YMMV

[57 Chevy]

K12beano said:

The tripod under that looks almost exactly like the Chinese one I got for about £60 off The Bay of Fleas last year.

The ballhead is, as expected for the price point, fairly average but I swapped on my much better one. The tripod is pretty poor, but - for me - had the advantage of being much lighter/more portable than my ancient 055C. Needs significant weighing down with something.

Overall, poor design and shonky build quality and I wouldn't be happy with it for heavy use, although as a lightweight occasional use it's just about OK.

Cheap. Fairly cheerful. Not great VFM.

YMMV

Thanks. I've also got a 55 too. This setup seems to be the same price as a slider on it's own. Actually that probably should be a warning sign! It's a slider I'm looking for really.

[Fordo]

I'd be careful of cheap sliders - they don't stay smooth for long, and can be a bit unstable to use. Especially on a photography ball head - those heads are just not designed to take the weight of a camera and a slider.

I saw this at BVE, and was quite impressed with the design: http://www.sevenoak.biz/products/show/591.html

Its a bit of a rip off of the design from a company called Rhino. The fly wheel on the end really helps make the moves very silky smooth. Saw it for sale at about 345. You'd also need a flat base tripod head to screw onto the slider.

Couple that with a big set of tripod legs, and your away. Either a big decent video tripod, or perhaps a large photography tripod, with no ball head - so you screw straight into just the legs. (then level it by adjusting the legs). That way, theres no risk of the slider 'slipping' as the camera moves towards the ends, as can happen when on a ball head or bowl head. If you bought a solid enough tripod, with a flat base head, you could unscrew head from the legs, but the head on the sliding part of the slider, and then screw the tripod legs themselves, into the bottom of the slider.


hope that helps

[57 Chevy]

Thanks Fordo, very helpful. I hoped you'd be along as the resident cameraman

I've not shot video for years and never did much before. I'm aware, as a photographer, of the need to get the camera moving a bit more than I normally do. Not sure how into it I will get so wasn't looking to make a big investment at this stage. Maybe I'll dig out my old skateboard and see how I get on with that

I'm looking to make short documentaries about the Kustom Kulture (hot rods etc) scene.