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For my next projects, I am considering getting either one, but do not want to buy both, if I don't have to.
I was told in the past that when using gimbals (using another person's, when I did), that I shouldn't be using them to try to achieve dolly moves, cause a dolly is a dolly and a gimbal is a gimbal, and I shouldn't be trying to substitute one tool for another, that does a different job.
Mainly when I try to do slow push in or push out moves, it doesn't look as steady, or level with the gimbal.
However, gimbals are selling more than dollies now it seems, and I am wondering, why is that, if both tools have different jobs? Why is the gimbal more popular, or is there a better reason to choose it over a dolly, if you can just have one?
Dollies only work on smooth/flat ground, or on a track. That's probably 90 percent of the reason gimbal rigs have become so popular. No, a gimbal can't truly replace a dolly, but of the two, a gimbal can do far more things... including a good fake of dolly shots. You can't dolly up stairs, through a crowd or in tight spaces.
Okay thanks, but I don't know if I would need to dolly on stairs or tight space. Aside from stairs or really tight spaces, what's so bad about a track, that everyone is willing to get a gimbal over a dolly?
Even with a hard track, you can still go on stairs as long as you zoom past the track, and you don't let it roll down the stairs accidentally, can't you?
Another thing is, sometimes when I go for slow dolly shots, like a slow push in to the face, it doesn't look as good on a gimbal. It looks a little wavy like it needs to be leveled more, like a dolly. Is it possibly to make slow push ins look good on a gimbal as well, or is that too much of a dolly's job, to get good results?
Gimbals are smaller, cheaper, easier to set up and break down, and more flexible. But no, you can't get glass-smooth dolly motion from them without superhuman reflexes.
Are gimbals really cheaper though? On B & H, you can buy a tripod dolly for around $200 and you can by tracks for around $300, so doesn't that add up to the price of a gimbal?
Both have a very wide price range. You can also rent both (usually higher quality and more capable ones) and see what works for you, then buy with some ideas about price point and usefulness for your needs.
Okay thanks. I have worked with people who have used both so I have seen them both in action while working, and I feel I am good with either one, just don't know which one would be better. Like even if I rented both, that still doesn't tell me why the gimbal is more popular.
Basically there is a pro and con to each I find. With a gimbal, you don't have to zoom past the track and can allow for wider lenses therefore. With a dolly, you get more steady shots if you want.
So it depends on what is more important, but they both seem just as important.
I've been kind of scratching my head over these questions.
They are different tools, each with a different set of strengths and weaknesses, that do a similar but not identical job. Neither is "best" in any real sense. Most current small filmmakers probably use both, in turn, as the particular characteristics that each brings is needed. It seems like you understand how both are used; use the tool that does the job you want done.
If you only have one, learn to fake the other with it.
Okay thanks. I wanted to get one, but didn't want to spend money on both if I don't have to.
Sorry if the questions were too much, I just want to get the most for my money and make the right decision. Here is a scene I directed, in which I had a gimbal operator, fake a dolly shot:
But do you think the faked dolly moves are too unsmooth, or uneven, since it's a gimbal though?
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