Thread: DSLR Camera Slider

Heya everyone,


I am back with my first Camera Gear Review: 4Ft Camera Slider


Have a look and let me know what you think.





Cheerz,
Ruan
Twitter: @ruanlotter

It's not really a review of the product or a tutorial of how to use one or getting the best out of one. It just seems to be look what I've got, you should have one as well because they look good. Which isn't very helpful.

Everything looks nice in the video as I would expect from you but I found the content lacking.

I'm with ^

Heya - thanks for the feedback, I actually do agree with you guys. This was my first "try" at a review style video and I know it's kinda "thin"... My greenscreen is now setup and I am ready for more in depth videos I am planning a video / tutorial taking you through all the steps of producing a music video. From shooting / converting footage / importing to FCP / syncing to music / colour grading / to final export.

Keep an eye out

cheerz,
Ruan

Originally Posted by ruanlotter

Have a look and let me know what you think.

I have never used one, but it must be difficult to move the cam at a constant speed, perhaps whilst the operator has to take a footstep or two. I am sure I sense some minor changes in the speed in some of the scenes; - perhaps when the operator's body and wrist were both having to move at the same time?

Provided you move the camera slowly, the viewer won't notice that the movement isn't quite constant. I find slow movements, and particularly slow movements that decelerate towards the end if the track, provide visually superior results (at least that's my preference). To achieve the smoothest movement, I move the slider at the base of the mounting point, rather than the camera. It also helps if you have weight (which is added by a tripod head, see below).

Placing the camera directly on the slider (without a tripod head) limits your range of shots. I have a cheap tripod head on mine that gives you greater flexibility. I also have a cheap monitor mounted on the top of my dslr to view the shots clearly. It's all of these little additions that provide the wow factor.

Originally Posted by Marc Peters

Provided you move the camera slowly, the viewer won't notice that the movement isn't quite constant.

That surprises me. I'd have expected the opposite. Certainly those videos I've seen where I've notices jerky movement have been slow ones. Surely the faster you move over a .75 - 1.75 stretch, the less oppostunity there is for varying speed. Sadly i don't have the kit to experiment, but I'll make sure i do before I ever use one.

Probably should have caveated that with "what works for me...". I find it easier to move at a constant speed when the slider is moved slow and steady. And as an operator, you can instantly feel when there's a twitch, so you repeat...

It seems to me the 'wow' factor is most closely linked to the amount and duration of the movement in the foreground objects. Perhaps, given the limited length of these gliders, to get a clip of reasonable length, this limits the speed the operator can use. And that, in turn, tends to produce gliding shots all start looking extremely similar.

Certainly interesting to see shots specifically for a limited-travel slider, but the vid shows that point post 9)... about foreground objects. For me, they dominated the scene despite being dark (which tends to reduce eye-aware), so I'm guessing these objects being sharp were demanding attention - yet - I couldn't fathom why I needed to ignore the background.

Maybe there's more to setting up slider scenes - as so often the case, the scene/action needs to require it.