Sliders are the poor man’s dolly, and while you can add seriously high-end look to your productions, you don’t have to take out a home equity loan to make a purchase, nor do you need to run tracks down the middle of the ballroom.

I bought the Glidetrack compact and I couldn’t be happier with it.  It is a little too light weight for use with a 35mm adapter, but Glidetrack has also created the Glidetrack HD which is more heavy duty and can handle the weight of a 35mm rig.  I have used the compact and the HD and they are both great products. There are a lot of other manufacturers of similar products, but I couldn’t find a better quality product for the money.

I had a job come my way a few months back to create a spoof of the beginning of Father of The Bride in a Save The Date video. If you don’t remember the movie, you can see the intro below (fast forward to 1:30):

I used the 5D Mark II for the dolly shots and MAN! it worked so easily. You can skip forward to 1:26 in my video below to see the Glidetrack in action. 

The glidetrack comes in handy during wedding shoots.  Using bogen quick release plates on EVERYTHING, I can shoot with my steadicam and pop the camera off and quickly attach it to the glidetrack.  

In addition, I have a quick release plate on the bottom of my glidetrack, so I can quickly attach and take it off of my tripod. The glidetrack also has rubber feet, so you put it directly on a table top to get your close up detail shots.  I use it for the cake, tablescapes, exterior, ring details, and much more.  

One caution – don’t over use it or the shots can loose their luster! 

You can check out a bunch of other cool glidetrack clips here:

Glidetrack from Alastair Brown on VimeoHAPPY SLIDING!!!

Joey Mathews
31Films