Can you Dolly in/out with sliders..???

[Steve Das]

Wondering if you can do a slow dolly in or out with
some of the 3-5ft. sliders out there w/o seeing the rails.

Is at all possible with 50mm and under lenses ?
And would elevating the camera above the slider
with a small high hat device help much.

 

[Liam Hall]

Yes, of course you can. And yes, a hi-hat helps. And yes, it is possible with 50mm and under.

 

[Stefan Ciupek]

Hey Steve, It depends on the angle of your camerahead. If youre slightly below the eyeline and tilted up a fraction it should work with a 50mm and i even think with 35mm. Elevating the camera would help you additionally, but then you should consider a small bazooka which lifts the camera up. If you have a robust slider i would consider using a long camerabaseplate and a counterweight. then you can slide th baseposition 1ft forward. That should make the shot even easier possible. all best!

 

[PatrickFaith]

Wondering if you can do a slow dolly in or out with
some of the 3-5ft. sliders out there w/o seeing the rails.

Is at all possible with 50mm and under lenses ?
And would elevating the camera above the slider
with a small high hat device help much.

I do a lot of that with a pan/tilt head on top the slider (camera is about 2 feet off of the slider) with a 18mm RPP ... with that with a slight angle up. I also reverse the system flipping it over and have the camera "hanging" down ... so i'm looking downish with the slider being around above 8 feet high off the ground ... for overhead dolly shots when i need to see the floor. "Timescapes" has a ton of good examples using the smaller dolly stuff. you can also have the slider on a slight angle to (i.e. it isn't flat to the ground) ... if you need a straight on shot (kessler has some new "joints" to do this which are really nice).