A roundup of 6 skater dollies
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
I’ve thought many a time about how much fun it’d be to have a very minimal but smooth little dolly, which I would use to move my DSLR in lines and curves on a smooth surface while shooting video. A number of products have popped up over the years. Here’s a list of the ones I’ve noticed:
Click any image thumbnail to see it embiggened.
| Item | Price | Image | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| The P+S Technik Skater Mini Camera Dolly | $5400 |  | The one that started it all, I think. Costs a little less than the last used car I bought and undoubtedly moves more smoothly. Out of my price range until I start shooting for Spielberg. |
| Omni-tracker Slim-Line “LITE” | $495 |  | The Omni-tracker looks a bit like a P+S Technik carved of purest PVC plastic and endowed with a carrying handle. This may be the only item in this list that will float in water1. They make heavier duty models as well, it costs $1500 for their top model. |
| KONOVA Scaled Rotational Axis Skater Dolly | $125 |  | This looks a lot like what I’d probably build if I were to make my own, but I’m not sure that’s such a good thing. Something about them doesn’t appeal to me, but I can’t put my finger on it. If I put my foot on it I could probably skate. +Who named this thing? |
| DIY Skater Dolly | $20-$∞ + time |  | Pictured is dvxuser forum member Texanite’s rather gorgeous acrylic skater dolly, he sells them for around $400 when they’re available. This is an example of the kind of thing one could build with infinite time, materials, and skill. |
| Cinetics Cineskates | $275 |  | An innovative skater dolly consisting of a set of super-engineered wheels that connect to a “GorillaPod Focus”. It’s a Kickstarter project, so the pricing will change soon. I’ve quoted the cost of a full kit, with tripod and ballhead. The wheels by themselves are $150 for a set of 3. I’m a little curious how rigid it’d be, but 930 kickstarter backers can’t be wrong. My resistance to spending $50 per wheel keeps me a step short of buying, but I’m tempted by its bizarreness and quality. |
| Pico Flex Table Dolly | $65, or $90 with friction arm extension |  | I give up. This newcomer looks like it will be too much fun. I’d probably spend $65 or more building my own, and mine would be less well engineered. Check out a video of the item in use here. It’s a very simple-looking item, but it does appear to be flexible enough, small enough, and smooth enough for my purposes. Their price for the friction arm is also very good. Ordered. |
Cineskates popped up on the net the last week of August and got me interested in thinking again about skater dollies after more than a year of ignoring the category. The Pico Flex, which appeared on the net a week later, is where I’ve ended my search for now. I’m excited to play with the thing when it arrives.
- I’ll keep that in mind for nautical use [↩]
