Are hydraulic dollies passe?

[Jess Haas]

Or are you saying that they should use the dolly as a tripod and just push it in to place between shots???

Ding ding ding.

 

A dolly such as the PeeWee is a huge time saver in this respect. Most shoots that have one will rarely use a tripod even if only doing static shots because setting up for new shots is so much quicker.

 

To the OP: if you can lease a PeeWee for your students they will come to love it and learn skills that are extremely useful in the real world.

 

~Jess

 

p.s. Don't just let them use it in the studio. On location is where a PeeWee really shines.

Edited November 14, 2007 by Jess Haas

[Ken Martini]

I know it isn't up to the pee-wee or arco level of features but has anyone here used a Premier studio PD-1 dolly? If so was it worth a look or is it just an also ran?

 

http://www.premierstudioequipment.com/index.html

 

I own a PD-1 dolly and love it. The grooved center wheels have gone off track on occasion, especially on curves. I am contemplating putting a set of skate wheels together and have the dolly ride on those. It may take a bit of work so that it does not raise the overall height.

 

The PD-1 is a great sloution to small production companies like mine: www.ecstaticfilms.com

[Chris Keth]

Or are you saying that they should use the dolly as a tripod and just push it in to place between shots???

 

There you go! That is a wonderful feature of a good dolly. You can just push it into place, it will already be basically level. Just jib up or down as needed. It's much quicker and your ACs will love you for it. It's much more pleasant than moving sticks around all the time.

[Rob van Gelder]

Actually the Fisher 11 is one of the most unstable dollies on the market. The arm doesn't have the lifting capacity to handle a standard 35 mm camera. it is slow on the up and rushes the downs. Also, the design makes it inherently unstable. The Fisher is a "box" meaning the wheels are under the chassis. The Chapman peewee and Hybrid wheels are on outriggers making the chassis more stable.

Due to a problem, my name has been misprinted. It is Darryl Humber

 

 

Having done a training at Fisher last month, I am not so sure if your experience comes from a properly adjusted Fisher dolly.

The hydraulic system allows for a very precise adjustment, and though you have to get used to the control, it should not rush down and can be controlled with finesse. The down-movement of the arm is gravity controlled, so a heavier load gives a faster descend, but with some practice very easy to control. The arms are checked and adjusted with a payload of 80 pounds/40 kgs ( I have handled this lead "dummy camera" myself) which is a good 35mm camera package.

 

As this company has been in business for about 50 years and builds new dollies every week, I think their system must work well or they would be out of business a long time ago..

With the current writers strike I saw the return of all the studio dollies (mainly 9 type) and they had to stack them 2-3 high, so many are in use.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like the Peewee too, I also went to Chapman last month and we want to rent one Peewee 3+ system from them.

I see good and lesser characteristics in both system, some experience and practice is needed to work well on both of them, and this is something not all people and grips allow themselves.

 

Your theory about the "box" can only be partially true, as these 2 dolly types, the Fisher and the Chapman types are using the same track size and have therefore the same footprint.

Yes, the Peewee might have some more metal in the center but I am not sure that makes such a difference.

By the time you have widened the Peewee with its boards you will have a similar "box" as the Fisher starts with.

And if you want more stability but not on a track, you turn all 4 wheels in reverse on the Fisher: that gives you about 4 more inches wider footprint.

 

Rob van Gelder - Lighthouse Film Service - Bangkok

[Darryl Richard Humber]

Having done a training at Fisher last month, I am not so sure if your experience comes from a properly adjusted Fisher dolly.

The hydraulic system allows for a very precise adjustment, and though you have to get used to the control, it should not rush down and can be controlled with finesse. The down-movement of the arm is gravity controlled, so a heavier load gives a faster descend, but with some practice very easy to control. The arms are checked and adjusted with a payload of 80 pounds/40 kgs ( I have handled this lead "dummy camera" myself) which is a good 35mm camera package.

 

As this company has been in business for about 50 years and builds new dollies every week, I think their system must work well or they would be out of business a long time ago..

With the current writers strike I saw the return of all the studio dollies (mainly 9 type) and they had to stack them 2-3 high, so many are in use.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like the Peewee too, I also went to Chapman last month and we want to rent one Peewee 3+ system from them.

I see good and lesser characteristics in both system, some experience and practice is needed to work well on both of them, and this is something not all people and grips allow themselves.

 

Your theory about the "box" can only be partially true, as these 2 dolly types, the Fisher and the Chapman types are using the same track size and have therefore the same footprint.

Yes, the Peewee might have some more metal in the center but I am not sure that makes such a difference.

By the time you have widened the Peewee with its boards you will have a similar "box" as the Fisher starts with.

And if you want more stability but not on a track, you turn all 4 wheels in reverse on the Fisher: that gives you about 4 more inches wider footprint.

 

Rob van Gelder - Lighthouse Film Service - Bangkok

 

Yes they use the same track and have the same footprint, however, the Peewee chassis itstelf is about 6" inches inside the wheels on each side. I know there are people who have used Fisher for years. So have I. Every Fisher 11 I've ever used has been appreciably too slow to do a standup on, once you get a 35mm camera on it., and the down is rushed. I had a conversation about this with a dolly grip on a series a few months ago. And I know that the down is gravity dependent, but it shouldn't rocket down when you put a 35mm camera with a full mag on it. Fisher has been in business so long because there are people who truly like their product, I'm friends with quite a few of them and we've had this ongoing conversation for years since the 11 came out. I didn't want this to turn into a bash Fisher fest. They do some very goods things and have truly the finest jib arm on the planet. (Fisher 9s, really?)

[Teddy Sapp]

Your theory about the "box" can only be partially true, as these 2 dolly types, the Fisher and the Chapman types are using the same track size and have therefore the same footprint.

Yes, the Peewee might have some more metal in the center but I am not sure that makes such a difference.

By the time you have widened the Peewee with its boards you will have a similar "box" as the Fisher starts with.

And if you want more stability but not on a track, you turn all 4 wheels in reverse on the Fisher: that gives you about 4 more inches wider footprint.

 

Rob van Gelder - Lighthouse Film Service - Bangkok

 

If I may, I think Fisher was somewhat lazy in their design of the Fisher 11. Rather than designing something from a clean sheet of paper they chose to just downsize a 10. Had Fisher instead chosen to start from a clean sheet, the end product would almost certinly not have ended up as inherently compromised and inflexible as the 11.

 

As I see it the 11 has two major problems, one is that the arm is very poor, it is weak and instable. The other is that the chassis is unable to shrink as small with as many options as the Pee-Wee.

 

"And if you want more stability but not on a track, you turn all 4 wheels in reverse on the Fisher: that gives you about 4 more inches wider footprint."

Factually incorrect. Reversing the wheels on the 11 turns them under the chassis. Default is track width.

[Rob van Gelder]

Yes, I stand corrected on the reverse position of the wheels, the wider position refers to the Fisher 10

[Warwick Hempleman]

The Eleven, with the wheels turned under the dolly, still has all steering functions and is considerably narrower than the PeeWee's smallest full function mode. Also, while gravity of course plays a role in the drop speed, the defining factor is the inside diameter of the hydraulic lines. The dollies can be trimmed to approximately equal speeds in both directions, and Fisher teaches the leaseholder technicians hoe to do this. If you have the time and the notion, Fisher will usually let grips sit in on training classes to learn what's really going on under the hood. Call'em and ask.

 

Both Chapman and Fisher make good dollies, it really comes down to what you want to do and what you're comfortable with.

Edited February 2, 2008 by Warwick Hempleman

[robert duke]

I am sorry Warwick but the Pee wee is actually narrower.

 

The Fisher eleven is 20 3/8" wide with all steering functions, while the Peewee is 20" wide. the wheels can be set in line with the dolly chassis and still steerable.

 

I like both dollys. If I had to have a small dolly my heart is with fisher, but practicality is with the peewee. I just dont like the registration on the wheels with the peewee.

 

Chapman also has classes.