Microstock Photography Forum - General > Photography Equipment
Camera slider to shoot footage, time lapse...
christiano:
Hi, I am shopping to find a motorized slider (or not?) Not too expensive, to have fun and try things (amateur, not pro). I started looking and it's pretty expensive to have a motorized one! moreover, I would like to have one that allows me to film from top to bottom with a certain angle ...
Does anyone have any advice or suggestion?
thanks
increasingdifficulty:
I got the Nebo slider from Capture Beyond Limits in 2016, which is lightweight, portable and a great motorized slider for timelapses. It was also not very expensive ($475 + shipping).
It was a Kickstarter project but now their website seems to have disappeared. I suppose they're not in business anymore unfortunately...
I also have the Syrp Genie and the Genie Mini that you can put on almost any slider. They work great, but I guess the Genie is a bit pricey. It's also quite heavy and bulky.
The Nebo system is really lightweight, but too slow for real-time slider movement. I can use just the slider part with the Syrp Genie for real-time shots.
The slider can be disassembled and fit in my camera backpack (40" assembled, 20" disassembled). Something of great value to me.
I used a Konova slider before, but it's more for studio use. Very heavy and doesn't fit in any normal bag. I ended up not bringing it on most excursions. The motion timelapses I did make with it are great sellers though. It was extra hard work as I didn't have a motor then, and had to move the camera 2 mm manually between each shot.
It's nice to look back on the hard work though, but so much easier to have a motorized system doing all the work. ;D
Getting perfect real-time shots manually is harder, especially on cheaper sliders. There will almost always be a bump or something ruining the shot, and it's very hard to move the camera evenly.
A motor can take care of that, but it will ruin the sound (if you need that).
Brightontl:
--- Quote from: christiano on January 24, 2018, 10:23 ---Hi, I am shopping to find a motorized slider (or not?) Not too expensive, to have fun and try things (amateur, not pro). I started looking and it's pretty expensive to have a motorized one! moreover, I would like to have one that allows me to film from top to bottom with a certain angle ...
Does anyone have any advice or suggestion?
thanks
--- End quote ---
I have an Edelkrone one. Very good slider (motorised of course, for time lapses it is a must).
I pulled out a few very good timelapses with it, but....
It is a nightmare to carry them around, really a bad one.
The situations when you want to use a slider are extremely rare: you need a subject in the near proximity and something else very interesting in the background. You are not going to use it very often (and it is a lot of money).
In some situations the same effect can be pulled out in post production with After Effects.
If you are starting out with video, I would spend my money on something else (for example a drone)
increasingdifficulty:
--- Quote from: Brightontl on January 24, 2018, 14:22 ---I have an Edelkrone one. Very good slider (motorised of course, for time lapses it is a must).
--- End quote ---
Not a must, but of course a nice luxury. :) As I said, you can do it manually. Just a bit more work. The end result will be the same.
--- Quote from: Brightontl on January 24, 2018, 14:22 ---It is a nightmare to carry them around, really a bad one.
--- End quote ---
Yes, I agree, heavy sliders are a nightmare, which is why the Nebo slider I mentioned is great (weighs less than 1.5 kg WITH motor). 1 meter / 40 inches long.
--- Quote from: Brightontl on January 24, 2018, 14:22 ---
The situations when you want to use a slider are extremely rare: you need a subject in the near proximity and something else very interesting in the background.
--- End quote ---
Well, that depends. You need to look for situations that have a nice foreground. Any landscape photographer would do that, as the most interesting landscape photos also have a nice foreground element. The same with timelapses. A motion timelapse with nice foreground can look really extraordinary.
--- Quote from: Brightontl on January 24, 2018, 14:22 ---In some situations the same effect can be pulled out in post production with After Effects.
--- End quote ---
Well, not quite, but almost. In 3D software you can do it very convincingly with parallax and all. It takes a lot of time though.
--- Quote from: Brightontl on January 24, 2018, 14:22 ---If you are starting out with video, I would spend my money on something else (for example a drone)
--- End quote ---
That's nice, but if high quality motion timelapses is what you want to make, that's not going to help. Although you can make cool hyperlapses over greater distances. But the quality suffers...
StockbyNumbers:
--- Quote from: christiano on January 24, 2018, 10:23 ---Hi, I am shopping to find a motorized slider (or not?) Not too expensive, to have fun and try things (amateur, not pro). I started looking and it's pretty expensive to have a motorized one! moreover, I would like to have one that allows me to film from top to bottom with a certain angle ...
Does anyone have any advice or suggestion?
thanks
--- End quote ---
What price range are you looking for specifically?
+1 to the Syrp. Really like it and have found it to be quickly deployable and rather light compared to Kessler and Edelkrone.
I used to use a slider constantly before the rise of gimbals. Bulb ramping intervalometers in combination with sliders can yield some amazing timelapse.
I'd also suggest trying some slider shots by hand - just pushing it across the rails rather than using anything motorized (not for timelapse of course...).
Having a few foreground elements closer to the lens, between you and the subject, can often yield great looking shots as well.
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