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  • Hi I need a slider that do not weigh a ton and can be fun to have around for personal videos. This not pro work. It should be able to mount on to a tripod head. Other than that I do not know whether one with bearing or other types are desirable. Among what Vitaliy recommended in another post, I am eying the following. I am unable to see any reviews for them..so I do not know.

    1. http://cgi.ebay.com/SmALLism-SCS-Camera-slider-1M-dolly-track-DSLR-HDV-/140562830295?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20ba3293d7

    Other than this I get a lot of recommendation for

    2. Konova Slider

    http://konovaphoto.com/index.php/affiliate/index/listCategories/program_id/3/?429b1823f5a2afe=3&df08b0441bac900=c81e728d9d4c2f636f067f89cc14862c

    3. Zaza Slider (Igus).

    Then there is the Philip Bloom one, but do not know if that one is good value..

    How does these compare? What would you recommend? Thanks in advance.
  • 8 Replies sorted by
  • you can of course always attach a hole for tripod mount, look at it, its cheap, works and is fun to build (my first diy project, its not so hard.)

    if youre interested, i can send you the stuff
  • Thanks, fatpig...DIY makes my limbs go weak. I can boil eggs, that's about the only DIY stuff I know :)

    Can you please send me more details. May be the price could just tempt me and make me a man :D
  • I think first. Only seller rating is not that good, check his feedback.
    Konova price went high after introduction.
  • First, are you sure you need a slider? I'm not the one ofcourse to tell you you probably don't need one as there are very limited cases when it can be actually useful and very handy. But generally speaking, I think it's one of the most useless/unnecessary/non-cinematic/cliche type of grip equipment and it is definitely the last on the list out of all. This is just my opinion and briefly my reasons are that 1.extremely overused 2. 90% of occasions it is superfluous but the main reason for me is that as a camera movement it is just silly and it usually confuses more what you are trying to say visually. And this is because it covers a very small horizontal distance so 95% of times when you want to reveal new information (which is the reason why tracking/dolly shots are used) the 1m length is of little use and very limiting. And in the very rare case when you need to cover more space than a static shot gives and the dolly gives you too much length that you don't need, why not just do a small pan to reveal whatever you want to reveal and say what you want to say?

    just my 2 cents
  • @stefanos

    How many sliders you owned?
    used them on actual shots much?
    Or this opinion is based on abstract thought?
  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev. well, as you can see from my 1st response, I'm not a fan of sliders so I don't own any sliders since I've got way more important things to spend money on. My opinion is based mainly on observations and common sense but I've used a few sliders a couple times and sure they're convenient but once you get over the initial hype I don't see much use since i find the slider always too short to be useful for wides or medium close ups so the dolly is the necessary tool (depending on situation, steadicam too) if you need that kind of motion to reveal a subject or an environment. A slider could be long enough for perhaps close-ups, but it would most likely look ridiculous; if you're not cutting from CU to CU then 98% you need a pan, not a track. And as I said earlier, if let's say you have a low macro shot on the floor and you are showing a knife and u want to reveal a hand covered in blood that's 50cm from each other, then yes u could use a slider, but you can just pan from one to another and have the same final effect. And if you have big wide shot, then either have just a sweet and simple static tripod shot or if you want to emphasize the environement or reveal sth, use proper motion using a nice big pan or a nice dolly shot, not 80cm of sliding. However, there are quite a few examples where I think sliders are really cool and help give depth.
    -timelapses (I'm not a fan of timelapses) can really benefit from slider moves to add depth and help audience from sleeping. this is a good example of what I mean here like at 0:30 and afterwards(but even the slider he used is about 6 feet)

    -stop motion can benefit hugely! from a motion controlled slider, since in stop motion u usually expect only static shots cause motion complicates things very much but these new sliders could be awesome for stop motion. I mean sth similar to this at 0:43-0:55


    I will refrain from posting bad examples of slider moves as it will take too many pages:)

    *but this again is what I think, If you know you need or want one, then you know you DON'T need my opinion.*
  • Thanks Vitaliy..I will recheck on that seller.. What do you think of the Kinovo for its current price?

    Stefano..thanks for the post and videos. You have me in thoughts. I get your point as I am not a pro and I do not want to sit with unused rig that I paid for because I got tired off. But then I suspect a video head on slider may give more dimension than using slider alone. Ultimately it is not the gear, but one who is using it is what matter and I am having hard thoughts about myself the the movie maker and whether I should be allowed to indulge :)

    It would have helped if I could find something cheaper..but my experience with buying very cheap gear have been that you regret not buying a better one...I have two tripods that I am about to throw away to prove this..

    Anyway, i will be happy to get more feedback. Thanks..
  • I use the konova with a manfrotto head. It's a nice tchotchke to have in the trunk to bring some production value to a one-man-band or small crew shoot. I find it difficult to get smooth shots when I'm sliding, panning, and pulling focus all at once. And the vertical shots are extremely challenging. A more expensive slider with a crank might help there.