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This showed up at the door the other day.
Let's check it out.
First, I'm all for getting better gear to shoot better videos.
I do however object to "gadgets" and poorly manufactured gear that breaks.
By gadgets, I mean, you're told all the "Pros" use them, when in fact, they don't, and they
usually end up in a closet somewhere.
There is no way, for example, that I am going to show up and shoot something with a sub-standard slider.
It has to have ball bearings, move as smooth as glass, be well built, and not fail me,
or the crew using it.
Second, I'm not a gear junky, and I don't do advertising.
I created this channel to help other filmmakers out.
Period.
You'll never hear me tell you something is good, just because I am making ad revenue.
Which I don't.
I already have or can rent whatever gear I need, and if someone wants me to hock their
products on this channel,
it better be good, something my viewers can actually use,
and it better not be a "gadget".
(old commercial plays)
I usually don't do gear reviews.
I leave that to other channels that specialize in them.
Doing a thorough review of something is a lot of work to give it any real justice.
I pride myself on being honest, but hate being critical, which is why I don't like to put myself in that position.
So, imagine my surprise, when someone from Konova emailed me, asking if they could send me something.
I thought, "I don't think so!"
Then I noticed they didn't ask me to review it, or offer ad revenue, or infer I had any
obligation to them.
Just, "Would you be interested in receiving this thing?"
Interesting.
Now, I must admit one of the reasons I paid any attention to this, is because I own Konova sliders.
They are extremely well built, use ball bearings, get amazingly smooth shots, ARE PRO quality,
and have never failed me, or anyone else.
Although I decided this was probably some new filmmaking gadget, I kind of yawned, and
more or less said, "Sure, why not. Send it."
I had forgotten about all this until this box showed up the other day.
It was from Konova.
(old movie clip) "The mailman knows everyone in the neighborhood, and everybody knows the mailman."
I opened it, and here's what I saw:
A really great looking bag, well labeled, made out of thick canvas, just like their
slider carrying bags.
Now I'm thinking, heck, maybe this is something really useful.
So I unzip the bag, open the top, look inside and I see...
A skateboard with wheels and some shiny knobs.
Crap, it's a table dolly!
A gadget!
So I'm ready to walk this off to my "closet of crap".
That's where I keep all those worthless gadgets I was talking about.
Then I decide the least I can do is give Konova the courtesy of taking a look.
I mean, someone took the effort to send it to me, no strings attached.
Now, I've handled a lot of gear in my time.
It takes me ZERO seconds to know if something is well built, and can withstand the rigors of filmmaking.
So I got curious, took it out of the nifty carrying bag, and took a look:
Thick, solid anodized aluminum,
including the axle bars,
large well machines knobs with no burrs,
high quality labels, coated, and machined into the base plate,
ratcheted angle markers, which we'll get to later,
thick coated wheels,
and smooth movement.
Among others, I have a filmmaking and engineering background.
The engineering brain won out.
My first thought was, "I wonder how much weight this thing will actually hold?"
I mean, if I mount a heavy camera, tripod head, sound gear, a monitor, and a few other
things, what's going to happen?
I have no idea what the actual load specs are on this thing.
So, I threw it on the floor, and, I used it like a skateboard.
"Whoo-hoo!"
Of course, there's no way would mount 140 pounds of camera gear on this thing,
OK, maybe that's 160.
The amazing thing is there was no bending or deformation after riding it.
And it was pretty fun.
Next, I'm looking at these angle markers, and the wheel axle assemblies.
They are adjustable to varying degrees, and ratcheted.
In other words, they click, click, click through the angles.
In my mind, the first place the engineering is going to go very wrong, is the cuts for
the ratchet angles.
So I set the front wheels to 45 degrees, and the back wheels to 45 degrees, and rolled
it down the floor.
It ran totally straight and true.
How about ZERO degrees?
Again, it rolled it across the floor, straight and true.
I also noticed that the knobs had more than just a "screw and unscrew" feel.
I looked under the knobs and found they were spring loaded.
Nice touch.
On the top of the board plate is a 3/8" screw, and it has pads on both sides.
That reduces camera shake, and protects marring the bottom of your tripod head.
Next, the screws are all stainless steel, so they won't rust.
The other screw holes are 1/4" and had no machining burrs.
The wheels have almost no play in them from side to side, and as shown, ran true and straight.
My engineering brain was very impressed with the quality and workmanship.
And then, my filmmaking brain started in on this thing.
"Is this useful?"
"So now what...put it on a table and shoot salt and pepper shakers?"
"Put it in the closet of crap!"
I told my filmmaker brain to shut the hell up.
I've never used a table or skater dolly in my work.
I never seen the need and besides, there's always some kid on set with a skateboard.
"Whoo-hoo!"
So I decided to see what I could do with this thing and if it was useful.
First, I mounted my tripod head and camera.
That's what the 3/8" screw is for.
You wouldn't mount your camera directly to this, as cameras don't usually have 3/8" mounting threads,
and there'd be no way you could control the angle and tilt of the camera.
Next, I decided to mount my monitor to this rig too.
That's what the extra 1/4" threaded hole is for, extra gear you need while shooting on this thing.
Space is a little tight here, but you can make it fit and still work with it.
So, let's see if this piece of gear is actually useful.
I didn't have a lot of time, so I just shot a few things real quick around the house.
The out of focus salt and pepper are awesome.
I could see where you could get some cool effects with a shot like this.
Here's a 180 degree shot in focus.
Apparently the cats think these are cool too.
Here's a dolly in shot.
Normally I'd use a slider but this can work too and is much easier.
I could see where I wouldn't have to worry about how long a slide I need.
Here's a side to side shot which also works and I don't need a slider.
Just for fun, I decided to take this out on the concrete.
It was much better than I expected.
Especially when I pushed down a bit on the dolly, which took the shake out.
Of course, the best shots you'll get from this is on smooth surfaces.
Well, I've got to say I'm impressed with this table skater dolly.
It pretty much meets all the requirements for me to take on a shoot:
it's exceptionally manufactured,
it's not too light or too heavy, about two and one half pounds,
it's got a carrying bag with a handle that actually protects it,
it's smooth and fluid,
and it can get certain kinds of shots a lot easier than other types of gear.
There's plenty of other skater and table dollies out there, including DIY solutions, and they're good.
But I'm pretty sure this one beats most all of them for quality, durability, and usability.
I've included the link below.
And there you go.
My first real product review.
My thanks to Konova, for actually making quality gear that is actually useful.
I hope this helps, and thanks for watching!
"Whoo-hoo!"
(sound of crashing into a wall) �