Should I get a dolly or a gimbal?

[RealJasonBourne]

Whats more useful a dolly or a gimbal?

What would be more useful and provide better shots, a $3000 3 axis brushless motor gimbal or a $3500 total dolly set from blackbear studios? my camera is a bmpcc.

 

[trueindie]

What would be more useful and provide better shots, a $3000 3 axis brushless motor gimbal or a $3500 total dolly set from blackbear studios? my camera is a bmpcc.

The motor gimbal is really nice. It has a few software issues I understand that needs some tinkering around before you get it to behave perfectly, but when it does, it seems pretty cool. The only thing I actually thought about when looking at the demos is that the camera is always at the chest level. I've never seen any demo where the camera is above chest level, just the way people hold it. Just something to think about before you spend the money.

 

[wheatgrinder]

I don't know that black Bear dolly looks a bit clunky to me. Not enough mass for a proper ride on dolly, but too much money for something that has so many joints.

I dont know what you will be doing.. the gimbals are cool right now, but in the end they are likely a fad. Steady cams have been working for years, are more flexible and easier on the operator. Try cramming a red epic, cinema lens, batteries, matte box on one of those hand held gimbals and watch the motors die. Coupled with a BMPCC though, might be a great match.

Now if it were me, Id invest in a kessler crane gear... cine slider, pocket job, kessler tripod etc. And a good fluid head to match.

I was on a shoot, AC'ing for a red epic two weekends ago, there was some rental slider\dolly thing called a flow cam that really just sucked. When we moved over to the kessler gear, solid shots.