I am interested in this skater dolly

Hi i am interested in this skater dolly.
no clue how much it will go for right now its a hundred bucks.


But before i bid on this i want to know if anyone has a cheaper solution or knows how to make one maybe?

I want to be able to put a Beta Cam on it. Will be larger than there DVX 100 on it.

Thanks.

the link
[cgi.ebay.com]

It's cute looking, but it looks like it won't move in a straight line, which is odd. Look at the overhead of the two right hand wheels. If you push that thing forward, surely it's gonna pull to the right.

You can make a dolly pretty easily with a couple of lengths of piping and some skateboard wheels.. actually, surely there's a demo somewhere ..

yeah - here you go [www.jorenclark.com]

Most incarnations I have seen are very similar to this idea. Sometimes with just a tripod, and the camo walks beside, sometimes just a low camera mount.

By way of comparison, the P&S Technik Skater-mini is around $6000.00:

Skater-Mini

So if that one on Ebay actually works and you can get it for whatever you have in your budget, at least you know what the real deal costs. That one appears to be home-made so if you don't know how to make one yourself, whatever that guy is charging is about what a cheaper solution goes for.

Caveat emptor.

Oh wait - on closer inspection it looks like the wheels can rotate, I thought they were fixed. Would a betacam fit on it OK?

great, looks like it doesn't matter if you think it's a good deal, Jude is gonna steal it from you.

Nah not me. I'm completely crap at camerawork. I'm exactly the kind of camera person I yell at for messing up the shoot so badly.

If this guy got his angle increments correct, that thing is probably worth a lot more than the $500 it's now at. All you need to have with you is an interior door blank from Home Depot and two saw horses and you can do 6 foot camera moves.

My concern would be the wheels.
They are very small and hard, making a smooth track very difficult unless the surface is perfect.

Johan Polhem
Motion Graphics
www.johanpolhem.com

The PS Technik Skater Mini is a gorgeous piece of engineering, designed by a cameraman primarily for tabletop product work for commercials. I watched the entire DVD of the product. The eBay item (funny, now I can't open it) looks like a knockoff-- but it could be a budget version by the same PS Technik, dunno.

In the PS Skater Mini, the wheels can be adjusted very precisely for arc turns, straight runs, etc. Yes, you can put all kinds of big ole film and video cameras on it.

www.pstechnik.de

If you have the money, here's a toy.

- Loren
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ive done a ton of digging around on the PS dolly. and this thing looks pretty close to it as far as function goes. as long as the wheels are infinitely adjustable you can get any curve youd like as long as you have a smooth surface - and thatd be super easy to construct and as long as you have good bearings in the wheels that'll help as well. and it looks like they are just roller blade wheels so thatd be easy to find

what we cant tell about this one is build quality. it LOOKS fine in the pix, but it would be hard to be sure without first testing it.

id be a bit concerned about putting a betacam on it as a beta is about 3 times longer than the pictured dvx and about 5 times as heavy. i dont know that a beta wouldnt tip it over...

what i find odd is that i cant find ANY info on it on the web. so i wonder if someone built t as a prototype "ps skater killer" and didnt have the followthrough to bring it to market?

i was the first bidder at $100 - but at the current $500, not sure its worth he risk...

This is what I made and it works perty good

I got 3 lengths of 10 Foot X 1 1/2" PVC- Layed them next to each other-
in the center tube I shoved a straight 1X2 wood board into it the whole length-
the wood make the PVC very ridged -(no wiggles -)

Then I screwed 3 " sheet rock screws into the PVC from the sides into the wood-
many screws- both sides--

Then I made a carriage from 4 peices of 1 1/2" by 12" long pvc--

The carriage PVC Slides in the valleys between the the 3 long PVC tubes
2 on top and 2 on the bottom --

On the top of the carriage I mounted a board that I can mount a tripod head to-
Screw the board into the top 2 PVC tubes of the carriage

The carriage is in a C shape with a hinge on it -
the hinge connects to the bottom 2 pvc tubes to form a C shape

On the open side of the C shape carriage I put a Long bolt that is
used to adjust the tightness on how hard the carriage squeezes
on the 3 pvc tubes and makes it into a Box shape so that the carriage
will not fall off--

The PVC carriage Slides Very Smoothly and dose not wiggle or jerk--

the Long pvc rail can be hooked to C stands or Tripod legs ledge ect.
both ends -

The rig can be put at angles -( people walking down stairs ect)
or can be mounted at any hight - it works best for side shots
but can be used for head on shots if the cam is mounted
higher on the carriage (Hi Hat)

Make sure the the print (Label paint)on the pvc is not in the Valleys where the carriage rides-
Cost me about $20 to make

I tried using skate wheels to make a dolly like you are looking at
but I found skate wheels are not very round and did not work well
--Jay--

jay, thats not what this thing is for. this things wheels are rotatable (is that a word?) so that you can move it in any sized fixed arc around an object on any flat surface.

its not a scenic dolly/track setup. what you describe is a whole other animal.

i have a small dolly with very supple rubber wheels. its not infinitely adjustable 0-5* the by 10* after that. i haven't used it much because the guy who sold it to me is trying to invent a shock system for it so that when you are on asphalt the vibrations are cut in half at least.
the problem i have with skaters is that i film a lot on concrete and asphalt. very small grooves in concrete create certain cut points for editing. when on a paved surface the constant vibrations blur details even when stabilized (which takes an ass of time in shake).

i have somewhat relegated myself to wait until i can invest in a tracked system. the system that jude linked almost looks like a better bet for smooth strait shots. it may take a bit of set up but i think the extra time is worth it. it doesn't looks like it is too conducive to curves but i kinda think that rotating wheels would solve that.

i would not know what could be used for a curved track but i am sure there must be something.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

guys, this thing is NOT made for shooting on the ground! its not for shooting large room or outdoor scenes.

its made for use on a tabletop or large smooth dedicated surface - its a product-shot/tabletop tool. like shooting on a curve, around a box and bowl of cereal on a countertop

Wow, if this isn't manufactured by the licensee PSTecknik, I'm thinking this is trademark (trade dress) or (design) patent infringement. I mention it because it says "NCD" on it, and is identified as a "Sweet Dolly RJ" by the seller. Won't be the first time eBay's been accused of being a dumping ground for grey or illegal products.

- Loren
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ya know, ive been thinking. you could bolt say a bogen 501 head onto a skateboard. put some kind of rotating plate between the deck and each of the trucks to create the fixed steering. then really crank the trucks down with some high durometer cushions (or better yet, replace the cushions with metal washers) and achieve reasonably the same thing...

test

well ricky, you and another guy posted this same question over at dvxuser.com it went from $100 to $500 overnight. pretty much blew your opportunity to get it for a song...

it was mentioned over in the dvxuser forum. the head on this unit is big and sits up pretty high. one big thing about a skater dolly is its nice to be as low to the shooting surface as possible.

you can always ADD height f you need to, but you can only go as low as the mounting plate.

that pretty much kills my interest in this unit.

but i do suppose that having a taller plate gets you a greater range of tilt...?

You'd typically use a periscope lens to get really low:

Skater-Scope