Playing with a TARION slider
I asked and TARION* were kind enough to let me play with their 60cm dolly slider.
Firstly, I am not a “Blogger” Vlogger” or host of a review/tech site! This is just something I’m currently involved in and of interest to me personally! Watch the video, which has a couple of quickly processed scenes at the end, but the main points are:
TARION TR-SD60 60cm 24″ slider is available from Amazon in the UK, USA, and various European countries (Search in your home country).
The mount plate screw is a standard 1/4” with a 3/8” adapter and you can mount the camera body directly to the plate.
It comes almost fully assembled, and the simple wheel and leg attachment process takes just a few seconds. The wheels are silicon rubber and spin freely, and the overall attention to detail and quality of materials is very reassuring.
As a dolly:
The dolly was remarkably smooth and the silicon wheels allow a tiny amount of cushioning, but of course any dolly really needs a smooth surface. If your shoot has a smooth flooring, then long dolly shots are a real possibility.
The wheels can be turned to give a circular motion, so the camera can pan smoothly around a subject, be it a person, product, or anything else of interest to the video.
The whole idea of moving the camera in the video is to add depth and interest with movement, and creative videographers will have a great time with this in their toolbox!
As a slider:
When “locked” it was solid. The ‘brake’ adjuster wheel holds the camera plate firmly, but can also be applied just a little to give better slide control. It works, but it’s not a variable controller. It will go from almost friction-less free, to slight resistance, to not moving; but still a useful feature.
The tolerances were tight, leading to very fluid movement of sliding plate on the rails.
A sturdy tripod is a must, as this is the potential weak point, and certainly not the slider, which was always smooth for me. At first, I had to re-tighten the column grip and it helped to put a weight under the tripod on its provided hook.
Overall:
Despite this being my first attempt, I really loved playing with the slider and will be using it in future productions. It’s light, solid, smooth, and easy to use. Getting smooth slides and the correct angles will take practice, but I think it’s easy to see that great results are available with minimum effort. It’s well designed, engineered, built, and great value for money; if you ever doubted whether you could use one, the question should probably be: how could you not?
*(Disclosure: I currently work as a part-time consultant for TARION and have been impressed with their commitment to quality control and their love of all things photographic. They do take their quality control and reputation seriously. I have seen first hand that they are themselves imitated and have their own hard work copied. I have no direct financial incentive to promote their products and earn no money from these links. I do, however, have a genuine interest in photography and video, and am naturally curious and interested in playing with any of their products as I come across them during my consultancy work. My reputation and integrity is also very important to me, which is why I am lucky enough to choose with whom I work and will continue to promote quality, and be sure to mention any deficiencies.)
I hope you enjoy the video! (China Youku link – please click here!)
David.