Microdolly gear?

[Danny Grizzle]

Smarter guys than me don’t get pinned on specific product recommendations.

I’m not all that sophisticated anyway. I don’t get out much and have zero experience with Cartoni.

But it sounds like you are in the ballpark for a small camera, a lightweight jib with short to medium reach, and thus not a huge amount of counterbalance weights.

[Jason Jenkins]

Fair enough, Danny! Thanks so much for your help.

[Danny Grizzle]

One more good piece of advice: If you are planning to buy a Microdolly jib, call Microdolly and ask Jerry Johnson what he thinks about your tripod choice. Jerry is the Founder/CEO of Microdolly, but he will take your call. Tell him I said hello. We are not old pals by any means, but he knows my name because of our shared interest in log homes.

Jerry is the kind of guy I really like because of age, experience, maturity, and temperament. He is a straight shooter. No embellishment, no marketing hype, no exaggeration. And he knows tripods. When I first told him I was using a carbon leg Gitzo, he detailed all the particulars of how the leg tips would ride on the Microdolly, and how my model of Gitzo tripod would be secured to the dolly. Jerry is the kind of guy who knows the chronology of engineering changes over the lifespan of various makes and models. Don’t be surprised if he tells you to avoid a certain used tripod if it was manufactured between 1998 and 2001 because the locking collets had a reliability problem during that period. He knows his stuff. He may say, “Look for a black rolled pin in the leg pivot, not a silver pin. That’s how you can tell the tripod you are buying has the problem fixed.”

Whatever Jerry Johnson says, you can take to the bank. And he will not try to sell you something you don’t need. Whatever value my comments have had in this thread is based on experience not 1% of Jerry Johnson. Anything he adds or takes away from my comments, don’t bother to verify here because he is the master.

[Kc Allen]

I gotta chime in here. I went to NAB looking for a dolly/track and thought Microdolly would be the way to go. Then I found the Indie Dolly. It’s priced a lot less, the track is thicker and more sturdy, you can sit a man on the dolly itself, and the people who run the place are really easy to get ahold of and work with. As far as travel, the dolly portion is a little heavy but it comes in a rolling suitcase. The track comes in 4ft sections and has their own case and are very lightweight. They can also be used in two widths…super skinny, or you can fold them out for a wide, sturdy dolly. We used ours right out of the box for an indie feature, and then have used it for some commercials and the production value is awesome. Indie Dolly also sells a tripod that can go with the system so you don’t have to use your normal sticks. You can pull the camera over to the dolly and back, and the tripod is as heavy-duty as my Sachtler. I got the 100mm bowl, so it’s just a quick change and we’re ready to go. The tripod is meant to sit in the dolly, but it can be used elsewhere too. As far as tripods, we have the Sachtler two stage. I would always recommend a 2-stage tripod…always. For jibs we bought the JonyJib with the Turret pan/tilt head. It works okay, but I don’t love it. It’s not adjustable, it’s bulky and it’s 12ft length (9ft beyond the fulcrum) makes it tough to use indoors. It’s great for outside and overheads of car lots though. He ended up using our jib for that feature more than we did the dolly, which surprised me. I was actually looking for another jib, and this forum has been helpful. Anyone wanna buy a used JonyJib?

KC Allen
Allen Film & Video

“Who’s the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows?”

[Jason Jenkins]

Thanks for the input! As far as jibs go, I ended up getting the Porta-Jib Traveller and let me tell you–it is a very attractive and well built piece of equipment. I used it on a commercial shoot and the director liked it so much he got me some work on an infomercial. One of the grips on the infomercial liked it so much he asked for some biz cards. So, anyway, it’s been very popular wherever it goes and it certainly adds production value. I’m still debating on the dolly issue. I’ll have to take a closer look at the Indie Dolly.

[Todd Terry]

Congrats, Jason….

I bet you will be happy with it. Our Porta-Jib has been going strong for about ten years.

Except for occassionally tightening some of the little allen bolts (maybe every couple of years) and once having to retap the threaded hole that one of the telescoping handles screws into (don’t worry, this was after many years of constant use) it has worked like a charm with no other maintainence required.

Happy jibbing!

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Jason Jenkins]

Thanks Todd! Do you use the Losmandy Spider Dolly? If so, do you always use flextrak or do you use PVC tubing?

[Todd Terry]

Hi Jason…

No, I don’t have a Losmandy spider dolly or flex track. I will probably get one someday, I just have just not really had the specific need for one yet…. or quite enough to justify the purchase.

There is an eBayer that also sells sort of a Canadian clone of the Losmandy dolly and flex track. His equipment looks good and the prices are much lower than Losmandy… but he kills you on shipping.

We usually use a skatewheel-type dolly (16 wheels) with PVC pipe for smaller stuff… for bigger heavy duty things we have a McAlister crab dolly (like a Fisher) that we often mount the jib on. It has studio wheels or track wheels but frankly it is usually overkill… and we normally just use it on stage as it is too heavy to easily take on location.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Cole Prine]

Just thought I’d chime in. I just skimmed through the other posts because there were so many, so forgive me if I talk about something already covered. I work at, Newcomer Young Productions in Monroe, Louisiana, and we have the Microdolly Jib and track. I do like this gear. It does everything we need it to. The track is amazingly compact and can be set up in a matter of minutes. It rolls very smooth. The only problem we’ve had with it is that it squeaks on carpet. It still rolls smooth but its a little noisy. But, you can always block it up if you’re shooting on carpet.

The Jib works great too. I can set it up by myself in about 15 minutes. And everything is very light weight so you don’t have to be in great shape to do it. Our system will go out six feet and we have the power head. We shoot with the panasonic hvx 200 and the panasonic varicam. When shooting with the 200 you’ll never have any problems. You have to be a little more careful with the Varicam. The jib supports it just fine, but it tends to be a little bouncier with the heavier camera, especially on starts and stops. And we shoot the Varicam with a big anton bauer battery on it, and audio and video cables running off of it, so there is a good bit of extra weight there. Microdolly’s power head works pretty well but it’s definitely no motor head. Just in case you don’t know, the power head works off of a cable system and you have to actually turn the handles on the jib to make the camera turn. Which it works well, and smooth, it just can be much more difficult to get big sweeping shots. For the small subtle moves it’s perfect. And be VERY CAREFUL with the cables. We have a fraid spot on ours where someone didn’t set it up properly and it hasn’t been the same since. Now microdolly told us at NAB one year that they were making a motor head and the put our names on the list to get one. That was about 2 years ago and we’ve heard nothing else about it. So, we’re actually in the market right now for a motor head that will fit on our Microdolly jib.

But if you travel a lot it’s great. The thing breaks down into three bags that are about 12″x36″ and it is extremely light. We’ve really liked ours and we’ve put it to the test. We’ve shot with it everywhere from warehouses, to hillsides, on boats and even in the back of a truck. It’s built well and pretty stable. if you’re on a hillside or a boat, then I wouldn’t leave it unattended but we’ve never had any trouble with it tipping over. Another thing that will help is to make sure you have it balanced perfectly. Watch the video that comes with it and learn to really balance the camera on the head. That makes a big difference in how well it performs.

So, all in all it has a few flaws, but i definitely fell we’ve gotten out money’s worth out of it.

If you have anymore questions about it, just let me know.

Cole

[Alan “cow” Jacobsen]

Hi Everybody,

I have a few points to add, as an owner of BOTH the Porta-Jib Traveller and Microdolly jibs.

One unique element of the Traveller is that it is the ONLY (I believe) jib in the world that can balance with LESS counterweight on the back, vs. the front. When its dual-telescoping rear tubes are at full extension, the jib has a counterbalance ratio of only .75:1! That means you can balance a 40lb camera/head with only 30lbs, as opposed to the typical 1.25:1 ratio that would require 50lbs- A helpful detail for travel… HOWEVER keep in mind this works only if you have the SPACE to extend the rear shafts the full 7 or so feet! Good for outdoors in the desert!

Yet the Traveller is also uniquely capable indoors: by intentionally shortening the rear tubes, and loading up on counterweight, you can really squeeze this puppy into some tight spaces! I’ll put double the needed counterweight on, and shrink the backswing by half! With the rear arm at less than the radius of the tripod, you can push the tripod right into a corner and still enjoy the full swing of the arm!

Now, you can do the same “shrink trick” with the Microdolly Jib, but keep in mind there is a limited amount of space for additional weights on the rear “T” tube. (and no, you can’t use the weightcage at anything less than full rear extension-it’s secondary tube does not telescope any shorter- which means that in “travel-friendly” weight-cage mode, one ALWAYS needs a good 45″ of rear clearance for backswing)

Finally, the Microdolly has a GREAT unique feature in its “automatic tilt compensation”! By changing the geometry of the front arms (slide the adjustable joint between the secondary arm and the tongue) the jib will automatically tilt the front tongue as the arm is boomed thru its range. This comes in very handy when you need to rear-operate a big boom up from ground level to above head height, and want to maintain the horizon in frame via a counter-tilt. No remote head needed!

So, two great jibs with unique capabilities. I wish they could be combined into a single perfect jib! Alas, they remain two unique animals, so here I am owning TWO expensive jibs! How did that happen?!?

Well, I love the stability and flexibility of the Traveller, and find I reach for it almost everytime when weight is not an issue. Alas, with recent airline baggage restrictions, I am getting killed traveling with the Traveller! So, the Microdolly pays for itself in a few dozen round-trip baggage fees. Paris next week saves about $200.

Anyway, I hope this adds some details to this very worthwhile discussion! Happy Jibbing!

Alan Jacobsen
NYC

https://www.alanjacobsenDP.com