GEAR // Sliders, Drive-ins & Dives

So on a recent shoot with Guy Fieri (MY NEW BEST FRIEND) at his behemoth Times Square restaurant, I yet again rocked the double slider set-up, marking the 8 billionth time I've used this set-up. So I figured it was high time I got my own. As I've mentioned in a previous post, I'm a huge fan of Cinevate's Atlas 10 slider.

At least,  that review was of what I thought was the Atlas 10... SAY WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? #PLOTTWIST

After receiving my Atlas 10, I opened it up and exclaimed, in the words of She, "WHY IS THIS SO THICK? WHAT IS THIS EXTRA GIRTH THAT I WAS NOT EXPECTING? MY THIS IS SMOOTH."

Side-by-side, the rail on the Atlas 10 that Adorama rents out (left) is essentially half as thin as the actual Atlas 10!

And the carriage itself is also only about half as big! (the Cinevate logos above are the same size) So what exactly is this bizarro anorexic Atlas 10 that Adorama is renting out? #SCANDALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

It seems like this thinner 35" rail is actually part of the vertical kit that Cinevate makes for the Atlas 10 (note the carriage sizes above). Now, I'm not sure why Adorama opted for a whole bunch of just vertical kit rails, especially since they'd have to then separately order the end caps and feet and re-build each slider... Oh Adorama, what a quandary of a business you are.

While it is heavier, I do actually welcome the wider rail and carriage. A MkIII with a 70-200 pretty much maxes out the Adorama Atlas 10, but the version I have now at least feels like it'll handle much, much more. I get a little less travel with the wider carriage, but it does let me put a beefier head on there as well as a larger camera package~

So those looking to throw down for an Atlas 10 after playing with Adorama's, BE WARRRRRRNED, it's not quite gonna be what you expect it to be...

...unlike Guy Fieri's restaurant, which is EXACTLY what you expect it to be:

TOTALLY. MONEY.   

GEAR // Cinevate's Atlas 10... AND STEAK

I was recently on a shoot for Bon Appetit Magazine and I finally got the chance to play around with Cinevate's Atlas 10 slider, which I have to say, has actually become my new favorite slider for lightweight HDSLR work.

I used to be Kessler all the way. I had tried both their Pocket Dolly and CineSliders on various past doc shoots, and while not perfect, their roller bearing system was miles better than the friction based sliders I had used before, like Glidetrack's. 

But an Adorama rental guy told me that they recently dropped all their Kessler sliders, opting for Cinevate's instead. "The Kessler ones are a pain the ass, they keep breaking for some reason!" he said as he used a stack of c-stands to bank-shot a lens bag into a returns bin. 

But I'm a fan! It's miles lighter than the old CineSlider and performs a whole lot better. It doesn't have a drag adjustment like the CineSlider, but it doesn't need it. The amount of drag is really quite perfect. You can feather in moves with a single finger quite nicely (THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID).

It's thin, but surprisingly rock solid (THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID). The rails are guarded so they won't get damaged during travel, and in the center there is a rubber dot so you don't clink against the ends of the track (THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID?).

It's a shame Adorama only carries the 36" version. There are longer and shorter versions that Cinevate makes, but at 30 bucks a day, you really can't complain. OH, ADORAMA, you shall forever be the Wal-Mart of rental shops... 

Oh yeah, and this was crafty on set today. Gosh these shoots are tough... UNLIKE THIS STEAK.

STEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK.

NAB '12 - Things that Slide and Things that go Boing

SLIDERS. I remember the first time I heard about these things becoming available on a consumer level. Someone in Europe slapped a camera on an industrial IGUS carriage rail and went, "Oh... a... mygod...

And thus the company Glidetrack was born. Of course, it didn't take long for people to realize, "wait a minute... that's just a slab of metal with a rail carriage on it." I can buy that straight from IGUS and make it myself! And then it didn't take long for people to try that and realize, "ugh, fuck, this is hard." 

The select few who weren't too lazy though did go on to start selling their own. Then more people started making sliders. AND NOW EVERYONE MAKES SLIDERS. Even Glidecam is releasing their own slider:

And not gonna lie, it's pretty damn solid. It has a good amount of drag and doesn't bend under the weight when you push the carriage to either end like most lighter-weight sliders do. At the end of the day though, it's a piece of metal with a thing on it that goes left and right. And that's...about...it. 


"WELL FUCK THAT," says Indie-Dolly Systems, who demoed their new slider prototype at NAB this year. 

They're sliders work more like mini-dollies, with 3 foot lengths of track that can be connected to one another. The carriage, while a roller wheel system, has a nice weight to it and good amount of drag. When you have carriages that just roll freely left and right, the operator has to do more to make it smooth. (UGH, I don't have to hone skills, c'mon) Having drag lets you feather in the start and stop. Imagine pushing an empty shopping cart vs pushing a shopping cart with an Asian man in it. 

The Indie-Dolly Systems slider will ship with 9 feet of track and the carriage with the option of 75mm, 100mm, or flat mount for around $800 and a target release date of July. It's a novel concept that at least gives you a little more flexibility considering its length isn't fixed. I think Asian Bike Cart Man will be a much more effective dolly though, but it's still in the prototype phase unfortunately...


And on the topic of Asian things by Asian people, the folks over at Nori in Toronto were showcasing this little doo-dad.

Oh that's right, it's a bounce board...

...AND AN UMBRELLA. Calm down Toronto, really. There's only so much innovation I can handle today after finally watching the highly anticipated video to Pitbull's "Back in Time," the official theme song to MIB3.


For $189, you get one silver BOUNCEBRELLA (my official new name forever because Square Bounce is not nearly as cool), one white bouncebrella, and a shoulder sling. So you can re-enact all your favorite katana-drawing scenes from movies where katanas or other similarly lengthy objects are produced from one's backside.


And none of this "expected release date" shit, YOU CAN BUY 'EM NOW.