Wheel the cam op on a luggage trolley.

I don't do this with my best camera, but I can get really good motion shots on smooth pavement and a pair of rollerblades.

See if you can get a Matador or Dinky dolly. Great for moving kit and as a dolly. Zero time messing around rigging. Fit straight into a 'compact' station wagon. The Shooter Scooter looks good too.

Bob.

As Laurence said: Mercalli (http://www.prodad.de/gb/host_plugins-sony-vegas.html)
does do a decent job.

The problem with dollies is the track and if you are pointing the camera parallel with
the track the track could be seen in the shot if you are not careful. Trackless you still
can get bumps from the floor and some what from the dolly's tires/wheels.

I looked at Mercalli - pretty amazing. Obviously I'd like to kill the movement during shooting, but that looks like a sweet utility.

I'll have a look at the other rigs. Thanks for the input.

K

There are a number of fairly inexpensive trackless dollies with low pressure "tundra tires" that can handle just about any surface including also sand.

You can roll these at high speed across a parking lot say, and it will look great even without stabilization in post.

That sounds really expensive.

When you buy one of these, they let you use it to transport the money bags to pay for it from the back of your Ford Expedition.

Disbursing the necessary funds for it from the rear area will also improve the steering of the Expedition as soon as the front wheels make contact with the road surface again.

:O)

(They're usually about 1/7th of the cost of a Sony EX1).

depending on your shots, you may want to consider a slider dolly such as this one

http://t-jib.com/products2.asp

Very nice and in many cases you can get the shots you need sans rideable dollies.

Hmmm.

The same company also has rechargable no-memory fully sealed 12V power packs in Pelican cases with XLR and cigarette lighter jacks:

18AH for $399, 35AH for $549.

Great for field production!

Does anyone know where you can actually buy either a Matador or Dinky Dolly in the US? I've found many rental offerings, but no sellers.

Ted

try Alan Gordon Enterprises in Hollywood, CA.

www.alangordon.com

Sometimes having broad interests throws up ideas. Have a look at these devices. I'm not saying that they're good for more than moving telescopes around, and I'm sure you don't want the motorised ones.
http://jmitelescopes.com/buy_wheeley_bars.htmwheeley bars[/link]

this is the one that may be of interest
http://jmitelescopes.com/images/tpw_lb16.jpglightbridge[/link]
http://jmitelescopes.com/images/tpw_lw10.jpgor[/link]

Matthews offers a great doorway dolly.
But it's not just for doorways.
I've used it indoors and outdoors without tracks and with great results.
It rides on neumatic tires and works reasonably well if you have a reasonably bump free surface. It also has enough heft so it's not bouncing around.
I rent one when needed
I have also used my RigPro to absorb bumps and shot bikers and skaters from the trunk of my Honda Civic while on my arthritic back.
Sound goofy, results are amazing.
Also used a dolly that consisted of a square peiece of plywood with Shepard casters on each corner. It cost a bottle of Tequila for one day.
Sounds pretty basic, but it was build many years ago to shoot the tricycle shots for the move "The Shining".
Goes to show you that stuff that works doesn't have to be complex or expensive.

http://www.msegrip.com

I have an Axis Dolly which works on or off a track. I have both the standard casters and the track casters but you can also get the pneumatic casters for use outdoors. This is probably the casters you would want. The nice things about the Axis Dolly is that you can set it to circle an object and it tracks very accurately. No need for curved tracks.

There is also the MicroDolly. I haven't use one but they seem really nice. The guys at Digital Juice said that they use them to produce their DJTV videos. (they have an episode on it and recommend them)

~jr