I was searching ebay a few weeks back for a few lighting supplies when I came across the Konova Slider. After looking over the pictures and reading more about it, I pulled the trigger.  At a price tag of $285 this is one of the best deals I’ve seen on the market. The only thing that comes close is the DryLin® W1080-C Linear Motion System with clamp for Camera Sliders.

But even that unit doesn’t have legs, leaner bearings, or any of the mounting options. For a price difference of about $100 between the home made version and this one. I think the Konova slider has a lot of value added. If your handy with tools and good at building stuff you might be able to turn that slider project into something as good. But for the hours of work it would take, I don’t know if saving $100 is worth it. That choice is up to you.

If your interested in taking a closer look at the Konova slider you can swing over to their website or (for some reason its cheaper on ebay).

I spent most of my day messing around with this slider and the only thing I have to complain about is that the friction adjustment really seems like it is either on or off. You can’t really feather it like you can on some of the higher end sliders. But remember this thing has a price tag of $285. It would be hard to cram much more value into this thing and still turn a profit.

I think the Konova Slider is a great deal at its current price. Lets hope that demand doesn’t send it up to the $500 range.

One other Slider I’d like to mention while I’m on the subject is the ULTRASLIDER SR5. It’s 5 foot long and clocks in at a price tag of $249 (plus shipping). Many people have asked me in the past if a 2 foot or 3 foot slider will be enough. I normally answer that with another question, “how big is your car?”.  I drive a sub compact hatch back so if an item gets much longer then 3 feet there might not be room for it in my car. Would I like to have 5 feet? Heck yea! Can I live with out it? Sure.

2 or 3 feet is enough motion to give your shot a moving camera effect and depending on your lens a more or less dramatic feel. 5 feet gives you the ability to fallow your subject across the room or pull off some classic Hitchcock slide and focus.  I haven’t used the Ultraslider SR5 so I don’t know much about its build, the type of bearings, or how smooth it slides, but the price is just low enough that it might be worth taking a chance on. If you pick one up shoot me an e-mail and let me know how it turns out. I would love to find out more information on its build quality.

Equipment used in this video:
Canon 7d and t2i
Canon 35mm f1.4
Sigma 24mm F1.8
Zoom H1
Konova Slider
Manfrotto 501 & 503 heads
Sennheiser G2 wireless mic

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Canon 7d, Canon t2i, Filming, Slider