Review: indiSLIDERmini by indiSYSTEM

I first heard about the indiSYSTEM indiSLIDERmini while browsing the forums at cinema5d.com.   I really wanted to try out a portable dolly system but the majority of the one’s I found online were out of my budget starting at $500 and up.

I was pretty impressed with the sample video’s others had posted so I quickly logged into their website and placed my order.  A few days later  my new slider arrived and was waiting for me at my desk.  Packaged securely in a cardboard box, I open it up, took a quick look and placed it back in where it would have to wait until I got home to play with it further.

It has been a couple of weeks now and I feel like a have used it enough to write a quick review.  Before we begin, let me start off by saying this is my first introduction to any type of dolly system, so again, take my words with a grain of salt, I am a hobbyist and not an expert. 

First the bad stuff, below are a couple of issue’s I found…

1) Wobble – With the camera attached, there is a slight wobble front to back.  Nothing show stopping, but it doesn’t give me that secured warm feeling all over.  I am thinking of adding some weather-stripping on the inside of the slider, this may cure the wobble.

2) Puck – The camera attaches to the slider with a quick release mount they call a “puck”.  It does its job, but again, it does not give me that secured feeling I mentioned above.  I worry that my camera could fall if I accidently hit it, especially while on a tripod.  But as long as I’m careful it has been working well.

Even with the above problems, overall, I like it a lot!  It does its job, slides very well, and at 24″ long, very light and portable.  At its current price point,  below $100,  it is a great tool.  However, I would not consider this an item a professional would carry, but for a hobbyist like me, it’s great.  It allows me to get those sexy dolly shots that I was looking for, and it didn’t break the bank!  Like everything, nothing is perfect, and at this price I wasn’t expecting it to be!

Below is a quick video I shot of the indiSLIDERmini in action:

Hope this helps and as always if you have any questions, please post them below in the comment section.

Aloha,

Rod

This entry was posted on Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 9:22 am. It is filed under REVIEWS/TIPS/Q&A and tagged with dolly, indislidermini, indisystem, portable, review, slider. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.