Interesting Alternative to a Tripod, Especially for Rough Ground

**Paul Ron** · 30-Jul-2021, 04:56

use your walkers!

**r.e.** · 30-Jul-2021, 06:05

Originally Posted by Paul Ron

use your walkers!

Here's how I hit on this idea. I photograph and film on New York streets and I was trying to figure out a way to walk around with a tripod and camera assembled. It can be done with a cart, but it's very awkward. I decided that a cart falls into the "more trouble than it's worth" category. A good, dedicated tripod dolly is expensive, and in any event the small casters on them won't cut it on city streets.

I had a Matthews Slider Stand, and came across two Matthews 8" wheel sets that someone had purchased from B&H. The purchaser either returned the sets or sold them back to B&H. Anyway, I bought one of the sets.

The next week, I filmed at a New York Greenmarket with a Blackmagic Cinema Camera mounted to what was now a compact, heavy duty roller stand with proper wheels. I also hung an external camera battery and an audio recorder from the stand. Moving around the Greenmarket to film and record sound was effortless.

From there, it wasn't much of a jump to realise that I could use the stand with an 8x10 camera.

**Drew Bedo** · 31-Jul-2021, 06:00

I may not be looking at the right video. I saw the one that setsd up on an apartment balcony. Looks like there are two substantial tripods to hold up all the other stuff. Not sure just how useful this would be outside the studio. Maybe I'm just not seeing it.

Seems that an assistant is also required.

**r.e.** · 31-Jul-2021, 07:04

Originally Posted by Drew Bedo

I may not be looking at the right video. I saw the one that setsd up on an apartment balcony. Looks like there are two substantial tripods to hold up all the other stuff. Not sure just how useful this would be outside the studio. Maybe I'm just not seeing it.

Seems that an assistant is also required.

What the thread says may be clearer if you watch the two videos in the first post and re-read the thread. The point of the wheels discussed in this thread is that they are not studio casters, but rather 8" wheels that can handle outdoor terrain.

The thread talks about using one Slider Stand, not two. I included the video that you watched because it shows how compact the stand is, and shows why it is called a Slider Stand. Not everybody knows what a slider stand is or what a slider/dolly setup is. Including that video, and Mark Wallace's, is probably more helpful than just using grip jargon, as in "a Slider Stand is a compact Low Boy with Rocky Mountain legs and a Junior Receiver, but no Baby Pin"

**Drew Wiley** · 31-Jul-2021, 16:07

Rough ground use????? You'd never even get that thing onto rough ground. It's for studios and sidewalks. But I have set up actual tripods many many times in truly rough terrain. Apparently there's a different definition of rough, lost in translation. Come West.

**r.e.** · 31-Jul-2021, 17:04

Originally Posted by Drew Wiley

Rough ground use????? You'd never even get that thing onto rough ground. It's for studios and sidewalks. But I have set up actual tripods many many times in truly rough terrain. Apparently there's a different definition of rough, lost in translation. Come West.

My hands-on experience with this wheel set says otherwise. So does the second video in the first post, which you apparently haven't watched. The title says "rough ground". I'm not talking about going through the woods, and I've already said that it's not for climbing rocks.

What is this? My place is rougher than your place? Thanks for explaining to me that the "West" is rougher than New York City. I'll keep your erudition in mind when Canada opens its border next month and I go to my seasonal home in Newfoundland, also known as The Rock, in the North Atlantic. Where this stand and wheels will come in very handy.

It appears that your point, in part, is that you're a he-man who "has set up actual tripods". Cool. Drag around your tripod while doing the Stations of the Cross. Don't forget the hair shirt. I'll pass

What's funny is that Matthews is a "Western" company making this gear for "Western" grips working on "Western" outdoor location shoots.

By the way, I grew up in part in the "West". In California. About a hundred feet from the ocean. I left. It was too far from civilisation, starting with too far from Europe

**Drew Bedo** · 2-Aug-2021, 05:28

Originally Posted by Drew Wiley

Rough ground use????? You'd never even get that thing onto rough ground. It's for studios and sidewalks. But I have set up actual tripods many many times in truly rough terrain. Apparently there's a different definition of rough, lost in translation. Come West.

I am in agreement with that pot.^^^

A significant part of working with my view cameras outdoors centers around getting a solid support and locking it all down so that there is no movement when manipulating the film holders and camera controls. The only application for sliding the rig around that I can think of might be in studio based macro work or possibly cresting stereo pairs. I cannot imagine moving that hard case around outside. . . .even when working from the car trunk at a scenic overlook. I am continually looking for ways to streamline or lighten what I take into the field.

With all that Said: The slider setup looks well made and seems to work as intended.

If a still or video photographer finds a need to move their gear a few feet while creating images, this looks to be a fine system. Obviously, the OP finds it to be useful and likes it.

Nothing I have said here is intended to denigrate the gear or those who us it.

**Drew Wiley** · 2-Aug-2021, 11:53

Nor was I trying to denigrate its quality or potential uses on FLAT ground. Oversized shop casters are nothing new. They technically differ from wheels not with respect to potential size, but by the configuration of the axle mount. And casters are what are depicted in this case, though they certainly wouldn't be classified as industrial duty casters, but of the home garden equipment variety. The gridded rubber pattern would help with traction on a wet surface.

But by implying "rough ground" use, that automatically opened the door to a big question mark. Take it with a bit of humor. Go watch the movie, City Slickers, and get a good laugh. I've seen a few instances where somebody did try tug or push their camping gear using analogous devices, but never got very far along a trail, and it sure did provide a good laugh for me at least.

Wheels were never invented for rough ground to begin with unless you're trying to compete with the Mars rover, which I understand to be at a dramatically higher price point, especially delivered! But even that wouldn't get three yards up the average hillside. They didn't land it just anywhere. The 49ers pulling wagons with mule or oxen teams got closer to the rough ground concept. Hannibal used horses and elephants to cross the Alps, and not chariots. But if people want to trying pushing and pulling carts by themselves, over rough terrain, I guess that would constitute legitimate exercise.

Most people leaving the California coast is due it getting too civilized. And the only hair shirt I wear is covered with cat hair after they jump all over me when I'm watching TV. Needless to say, I don't wear that shirt in the darkroom.