Have you been looking for a low-cost, easy to set up DIY dolly? Then you should definitely check out the tripod dolly that Justin Leyba of ImagineNow Entertainment whipped up using nothing more than a few furniture sliders. The results look rather impressive:
Some of the shots are a bit shaky, but for the most part they are smooth and dynamic. I could see this being especially useful in cramped interiors where a dolly track might not be feasible to set up. Conversely, unless you're shooting MOS or stick felt sliders to your tripod feet, there is probably going to be a significant amount of noise when the plastic sliders are scraping over a hardwood or tile floor, and if you're on concrete, you're pretty much going to need to have a roll of carpet handy. So it's not a perfect solution; there are definitely situations where it would be better to use dolly wheels/track of some sort, but it looks like a nice cheap and effective option to have in your kit.
Leyba used EZ Sliders from Bed, Bath & Beyond for his dolly, but aside from the little covers that come with them to protect hardwood floors, they don't seem to differ much from cheaper alternatives that you could get from Amazon or your local hardware store.
Have any of you used this approach for dolly shots before? If so, what was your experience?
Via [CheesyCam]
