Just a quick video I’ve done while on a day out in Painshill Park, Surrey, UK. Shot on Canon 550D/T2i at 60fps and then converted to 25fps for smooth slow motion.  Full Review of Camtree Micro Dolly can be found here.

At the time when I reviewed it I didn’t know anything about Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly; no surprise, I buy most of my gear on eBay :-)  Turns out is very similar to Pocket Dolly, but much cheaper, which what I’m always after.  Great slider at a very good price. The main advantage of this dolly over many other Igus Rail based sliders\dollies is the crank and belt drive system it has. I’ve seen people on Youtube modifying their sliders with similar belt drive systems, but as mentioned before, I’m not the DIY guy, so try to buy the best I can at a reasonable price. The crank and belt drive system opens up a great potential for a motor. Unfortunately that is where DIY comes in again and I’ve been struggling to add a motor myself. I bought one of these and haven’t really got around to attaching it, too much work. I’ve seen one of these being used on a similar dolly, but I wanted more control over speed so picked up the more complicated one (probably should have gone for a simple option).  Unfortunately neither of them would provide enough power for using it in real time video mode, they would only be powerful enough for time-lapse videos. That is one of the reasons I’ve decided not to bother with the Telescope Motor, although I’m not saying it is a bad option to have, especially if you are into time-lapse photography.  It is certainly the cheapest option for motorizing your slider. I still haven’t found a more powerful motor that would allow me to control the speed and that wouldn’t be too complicated to fit.  If anyone has any good advise on this matter, please share it.

P.S.  I’ve seen all the Youtube videos of DIY geniuses making great motorized dollies, unfortunately I’m not one of them, so need a more straight forward solution, like Kessler Crane’s elektraDRIVE motor’s but much cheaper to fit into my Budget Filmmaker bracket :)