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Matthews Roundy round dolly


kris wallis

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I have been looking at getting a Matthews Round d round Dolly, its like the doorway dolly but with a roundy round steering function, as a second dolly, I have a pee wee, in Australian TV they often wont pay for a second dolly and its a good option for other purposes, such as moving gear around etc, unfortunately there are none that I have been able to test over here and we dont really have rental houses, what I'm concerned about is the quality of the hot button track wheels, I have heard mixed reviews and I thought maybe I'd buy a sey of porta glides and perhaps modify them to use with the matthews dolly. Am I being overly concerned ? all my gear is in good shape I just dont want to be let down by what is perhaps 'indie' level gear

 

Your thoughts would be appreciated

 

I should add that we dont often use speed wheels (or centipedes etc) over here as we generally own our own track and dollies and therefore have an interest in keeping them in excellent condition.

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Modern Studio has one as well. I used to own the Modern version and loved it. I found it useful in tight spaces making turns around desks and other obstacles. I always just used the Skateboard trays with it as it was faster than switching wheels on the dolly. I have always preferred the skate wheels with all dollies but the chapmans. They smooth out most improprieties in the track. You shouldn't need to modify them (the portaglides) to use with the Matthews version.

 

If you have the money buy the portaglides and then buy the modern 4wheel steer.

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Thanks for the reply Robert,

 

are you saying that the modern dolly is better?

 

I have bought quite alot of stuff from modern, maninly rigging bits and pieces, they are great manufacturers but I find them a little tricky to deal with, they have new management that promised alot but have been slow getting their website up to date, when youre on the other side of the world you need pictures, I just bought some rag bags from them that are bigger than I would have liked and a seat riser to junior adaptor that I done know what to do with, I could have called and gone through each piece like I have in the past but I needed something else urgently and I just tacked a few things on the order.

 

The Matthews dolly is being imported by a company here in Sydney, so I can look at it and will probably get a better freight price, my plan was to build a trolley that allows me to bring the dolly to set with the track wheels on and only put the porta glide to use for long lens stuff.

 

I'll certainly look into the modern dolly as an option

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Matthews is a great company, Making great stuff. Their doorway dolly is an industry standard that is reliable and strong. Its pricey compared to moderns. I just saw that Norms is also making a roundy round dolly.

 

I Had the Modern version and loved it. Sorry to have let it go. It was The right price and worked great. I haven't dealt with Modern since it changed hands. I will miss Seno. I hear Jiro is still there in the office.

 

Lately I have been dealing with Sean @ Norms. He has been revamping the brand. Sean is Norms son. great guy and happy to deal with. His stuff is better than the old norms stuff. Give him a call. He'd be happy for the opportunity to gain a new user.

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Ive owned the Matthews one and the Panther Twister and the Quad Dolly from GFM. I would rank them:

1. Quad from GFM

2. Twister from Panther

3. Matthews Round D

 

The GFM dolly is in a different league from the Matthews. Its a little more expensive but way better.

 

http://www.g-f-m.net/camera/dollies/quad-dolly/filmdolly.html

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Thanks again everyone for the input, I have also used the GFM dolly and I agree that it is the superior dolly, I haven't used the twister, the way things are here I could probably pick up a panther for the price of a GFM dolly, for some reason getting things frieghted from europe is stupidly expensive.

 

Its a bit of personal taste thing, the thing I dont like about it is that the floor space is quite small and its not great for carting gear around, because the budgets are getting so tight I need something I can just throw an tripod and some boxes on and chuck it on the track or in the back of a ute (pick up), but I also need a good platform for heavy duty rigs, which is where the matthews looks the goods.

 

I have just heard that a new matthews will be arriving after a long delay on the wharf in LA

 

I should add that I am trying to fit out a truck with a 4 tonne payload, not a full size truck so I'm trying maximise the usefulness of what I can fit in.

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