One of the best ways to add production value and create more dynamic shots in your video production is by adding a slider. Unfortunately, quality bearing-based sliders can be quite expensive. If you don’t mind going DIY though, we have a great build to share with you that you can make for under $100.
DIY Camera Slider For Under $100
I love a good DIY build, especially one that looks as good as it works. This DIY camera slider, which is based on parts from a shop called OpenBuilds, was developed by Jones Oliver.
The idea was simple: to make a camera slider for as cheap as possible, but still worked well and could be used in front of clients without giving off a bad impression. Oliver did just that, and he was kind enough to share his build over on his blog.
The parts amounted to about $68 from the OpenBuilds.com inventory, in addition to about $9 in parts from his local Home Depot. So, for roughly $77, Oliver was able to build this functioning camera slider that looks good and performs well. The video below is a quick demo on how to put a similar bearing setup together and attach it to a rail.
[REWIND: DIY: BUILD AN ‘INSANELY BRIGHT’ LED LIGHT PANEL FOR $70]
If you like to DIY, and are in need of a good slider, then this is a build you may want to try out. To get the full list of parts and the how-to on putting them together, make sure to head on over to Jones Oliver’s blog to get the skinny.
If you aren’t into DIY, but are still looking for a decent slider, B&H has a great selection of sliders which you can find for as little as $149 (friction based) all the way up to higher end sliders that likely cost close to what you paid for your camera.
[via DIY Photography]
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Sturdy and simple, nice design. For a motorized DIY build on the cheap this one is nice: http://ow.ly/Sv4Lu
Inspired in your project, here are my cheap version of DIY Camera Slider. Only $8 USD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYcdmeezMyA
Great idea for a DIY video slider. Thanks for sharing. I’ve seen many ideas for motorizing sliders. Some are rather complicated. This past weekend I noted the motorized unit by Digital Juice. It’s by far the simplest motorized unit I’ve ever seen. I have all the components with the exception of the ‘dive wheel. Search everywhere in South Africa but cannot find anything close to it. If someone could assist me in sourcing this wheel or something similar it will be appreciated. Here’s the link to the DJ motorized unit. http://cloudfront.public.digitaljuice.com/Support/UserGuides/Digitaljuice-SlyderPowerUnit_UserGuide.pdf
Awesome great job
I definitely want to give this a try
Any video showing some shots from the DIY slider? thanks for sharing Anthony.
I would be very interested to see some video from the slider too.
thanks for sharing! maybe i can modify my own diy timelapse slider with some of this parts. but it seems, that this slider is primary for videowork. i think it is not as stable as a timelapse slider should be.