Your favourite dolly?

[Larry Kelly]

I am in the midst of designing a camera dolly for the film industry. I thought I might run this by those of you who have used dollies in the field and studio environments to see what attributes you enjoy/hate about the current offerings as well as a wish list.

Here are some of the attributes of the dolly that we are building.

1. under 300lb.
2. all steering options, crab, roundy, standard, all steering lock and all free. Rear wheel locks.
3. drive onto track from air tires on the floor to track with no wheel changes.
4. all electronic boom lift with joystick control for either dolly grip or camera operator to control. 80 to 100lb. capacity 38 to 40" lift.
5. Very affordable for small production companies and rental houses
6. As bullet proof as we can make it.

 

[NateWeaver]

I think it's time, and possible to build a market for this, if enough care is taken. So bully for you! An idea I think worth considering is leveraging the asian bicycle contract manufacturing companies. They can do some pretty trick things now, and hold some good tolerances. Things are QUITE different in manufacturing now from the days when Elemack tried (and arguably failed) to crack this nut.

My fave dollies are the Fisher 11 and Chapman PeeWee for "conventional style", but my soft spot is really for the PeeWee, which I consider very clever and useful, even though it has more than 1 or 2 faults.

I own an Elemack Cricket that I'm fond of too. I like the center post design much more than I thought I would, and the way the legs fold up (not a new idea, but very nice) make it excellent for tight interiors, which I think needs to be considered for newer filmmakers that will be using practical locations over stages/builds. Mine weighs about 280lbs stripped down, and it seems to be a great weight...transportable by 2 people.

Any dolly I've seen in the market you're speaking of (Premiere) I think has been hampered by crude (by today's standards) manufacturing process. I think there's HUGE room to make a dolly the way, say a $5000 mountain bike is made, and really get somewhere with it. (and yes, I know the market size is drastically different, but I disagree that this should cause price differences on order of a 10x magnitude)

 

[Eric M Hurt]

Whatever you do make sure to think first and foremost about how the OP sits / stands / kneels etc on the thing while shooting. Forget weight, size etc when you start and just think about how useful it is for the OP. How easy is it to get into a position to shoot? How handy are the leveling controls? How easy is it to add a step on the boom (like a Fisher) so you can stand on the boom. How far can you extend the seat or the boards? The more options it has the better it will sell....imo

 

[Marc Wielage]

Streisand wasn't bad:

 

[Larry Kelly]

Thanks for the input guys, our goal is to bring a few new ideas to the market but at the same time ensure that a seasoned dolly grip doesn't feel that they are playing with a toy and the operation of the tool is familiar to them. We are building this prototype in our own shop for the most part and only subbing out a few components that we can't produce but it will all be local. Most of the components are made from aluminum and bolt together as opposed to welded steel. If the electronic boom control works the way we think it will, operators will be very happy. Eric, your point is well taken and that is what is keeping me up at night right now. I'm working on the walk boards and how they will fit together around the front wheel assembly. I don't think we will be able to lift an operator with the boom but we will be able to support their weight when it is locked. We do have independent swing out wheel assemblies which allow you to change the width from about 25" to 39" as well as the ability to swing the chassis left or right to hug a wall or offset weight on the track if the operator is hanging off one side.