Best Camera Sliders for Filmmakers & Content Creators
Having a gimbal/stabilizer in your filmmaking gear kit is great for going handheld and looking for smooth footage while you are walking around with the camera. But what if you want to create smooth shots when you are not going handheld with your camera? With a camera slider, you can keep the camera moving and remain stable while pulling off cool angles for complex scenes.
But where do you start? With so many sliders to choose from today, it can be frustrating figuring out which slider is the right fit for your workflow.
But what makes a great slider is a combination of ease of use and durability. You want to be able to set it up quickly, accomplish a beautiful shot with it, then move on to another shot with urgency without worry. You also want a slider that blends well with a variety of other filmmaking tools and systems filmmakers use on set. Plus, you want a slider that will last a long time.
So, if you are looking for the right slider for your filmmaking kit, this list of the best sliders for content creators today will help you be able to pull off cinematic shots without completely slowing your production to a crawl.
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5 Best Camera Sliders for Filmmakers & Content Creators
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How We Picked These Camera Sliders
The camera sliders on this list are based on how they are for getting the best shot quickly, and being reliable each time they are needed on the film set.
We tested these camera sliders through on film-set experience from a handful of short-film features in recent months, as well as we at reviews, both consumer and professional, paying attention to ease of use and durability reports.
Best Overall: Syrp Magic Carpet PRO Short Slider Kit
The Syrp Magic Carpet PRO Short Slider Kit builds on their original Magic Carpet design, incorporating strong alloy materials and quick-release components to give filmmakers a practical and easily assembled solution for cinema cameras.
The kit includes a 2′ track section. Additional track segments are available separately and with enough support, you can construct a slider of any length.
The included Pro slider carriage features an integrated flywheel. The weight resistance of the flywheel smooths out the sliding motion, so immersive tracking shots can be accomplished with both light and heavy cameras.
It does come at a substantial price when compared to the lower-end sliders, but our team believes it’s worth it when working with heavier camera systems like a fully kitted Red Digital Raptor or Arri Alexa. If you are working with a smaller package, you can consider the original Magic Carpet and Magic Carpet CF for carbon fiber, which is also great.
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Best Universal: The Dana Dolly
The DanaDolly Original Kit with original style track ends is a heavy-duty camera dolly platform that rides on 16 custom modified soft polyurethane wheels that resist flat spotting and use ABEC-7 rated precision bearings providing you with extremely smooth dolly shots.
The wheel trucks swivel, allowing the dolly to ride on available straight or curved tracks, which you must source separately. The manufacturer recommends using standard speed rail or Schedule 80 aluminum pipe of compatible size.
The dolly includes two original style track ends, which accept an inch and a quarter pipe (standard speed rail) and fit into available standard Junior stand receivers. Center support is included for long track runs or when using heavy cameras.
The dolly platform is machined from aluminum and features a standard Mitchell mount including a 2.75″ center hole with a machined keyway. The included 75mm and 100mm bowl adapters allow you to mount fluid heads with standard 75mm or 100mm leveling balls.
The platform incorporates one 3/8″ through-hole, one 1/4″-20 threaded hole, and one 3/8″-16 threaded hole on each side of the dolly platform for a total of 6 accessory mounting holes. The Dana Dolly is designed and manufactured in the USA.
This Dolly is one of the most beautifully crafted pieces of art I ever worked with. It doesn’t only do its job well but the craftsmanship of the product can seriously be felt all over. You can feel the actual film set experience of the designer when you set the dolly up. Everything about it just works flawlessly as if it was on every single set you’ve been on and solved all the issues you had on set over the years. I cannot believe how inexpensive this product is.
Do not be fooled by what looks like skateboard wheels this is much more than that. The universal kit and the way it packs up is wonderful there is no way the creator wasn’t on a film set the way this thing packs so swift and easy.
It’s made for the filmmaker who doesn’t want to waste time fiddling with anything. Every single piece has an easily accessible place in the case. The smoothness of the shot isn’t even worth talking about, this thing is butter smooth. I will never ever get on another set (both independent and Hollywood) without this thing.
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Best for Timelapse: Syrp Genie II
This Syrp Genie II 3-Axis Pro Slider Kit provides you with a motorized motion control linear slider with a combination 360° pan and tilt head. The included PRO track is three feet long, made from aluminum alloy, and features two tripod attachment supports. The PRO track ends incorporate collapsible legs with feet that can adjust to most terrain.
The PRO carriage features a built-in bubble level to aid in leveling your track, a built-in flywheel, and a quick-release system for mounting and securing it to the track.
This kit enables motion control shooting with programmable 360° of panning, tilt, and linear motion along the slider track. This allows you to program and control your camera moves from a downloadable iOS or Android app, for creating short dollies or tracking shots. The app supports keyframes that allow you to create complex moves with more precise control than just entering the start and stop positions.
If you have always wanted an automated slider, then this is it. Smooth motion and dynamic movement. You need a stable foundation from a good set of tripods, but once you have that this works like a charm! Take your independent filmmaking to a professional level.
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Best Slider For Smartphones: Rhino RŌV PRO & Backpack Bundle
This camera slider is ideally suited for DSLRs, mirrorless cameras, smartphones, action cameras. Extremely easy to use for the beginner filmmaker right up to the advanced.
The Rhino RŌV PRO & Backpack Bundle features the portable RŌV PRO motorized aluminum slider with an 8″ travel distance and remote iOS/Android app control.
Designed for everyday use, the lightweight slider comes with a quick-release ball head, smartphone mount, and smartphone variable ND filter. The camera slider is bundled with a compact RŌV backpack designed to hold the slider and its accessories.
The ROV takes DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, but also ships with a phone mount. Specifically, phones that feature three optical zoom ranges (such as the Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Xperia 1 III, can take the limited sliding range of 20cm and work wonders with it. Alternatively, even if you’re on rough terrain, the fact the Rhino ROV Pro is a motorized slider rather than a dolly will mean you’ll still get smooth footage.
If you’re after a great automated choice to elevate your mobile videography, it’s definitely worth checking out the Rhino ROV Pro.
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Best Alternative Slider: Edelkrone SliderPLUS v5
If you are working primarily with smaller mirrorless packages, and want to integrate motion and motors into one compact unit, we have to mention Edelkrone.
The edelkrone SliderPLUS v5 PRO Long is designed with movable rails that travel during a slide to give you extra travel distance while keeping the slider compact.
When used on the ground or other surface, it has a travel length of 1.3′ and supports up to 40 lb. Mounted on a tripod, it provides a travel length of 2.6′ with up to 20 lb loads supported, meaning you can work with heavy camera rigs. The movable design also works for dolly shots, because since the rails move along with the carriage, they won’t get in the shot when you dolly in and out.
The SliderPLUS v5 PRO Long is a manual ball bearing camera slider, but it supports the optional Slide Module v3 attachment for motion control, and other edelkrone motorized add-ons can be incorporated for fully synchronized multi-axis motion control operated via a single iOS/Android app. When paired with the Slide Module v3, the SliderPLUS v5 PRO Long can be mounted on a tripod at an incline of up to 22.5° with up to 5.5 lb loads.
The camera slider carriage features a retractable 3/8″-16 mounting screw so it doesn’t scratch up your bag or anything else during transport. On the bottom, the slider offers a 3/8″-16 thread for more robust tripod mounting. For tripod-mounted use, edelkrone suggests that the space between the tripod legs be 47″ or more.
Other features include lockable fold-out legs, an instant-lock button on the slider carriage so you can safely move the slider from place to place, and magnetic belt clips. The belt clips of the included belts simply push in onto the slider carriage for efficient use.
The SliderPLUS v5 PRO Long is made of aluminum and stainless steel components, steel ball bearings, and temperature-treated aluminum rods. Some of the parts are made from a single block of aluminum to ensure a longer life span.
The edelkrone SliderPLUS v5 PRO Long is an amazing piece of equipment for the price. You can set start and stop points and place it on a loop. The movement of the slider is very smooth and consistent based and based on the speed set. Also able to use an auto-pan as well. The quality of the build is great and the size is perfect. The compactness of this slider makes it very portable. And the setup is very quick and easy.
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Summary
If you are shooting in small spaces that don’t allow you to use a gimbal, a camera slider can easily replace a dolly for getting moving shots. But even when working outdoors, sliders are amazing for how small they are to pack up and transport.
We think most independent filmmakers are going to be very satisfied with the Magic Carpet Pro, and filmmakers working more on larger productions will be happy with either Magic Carpet Pro or the Dana Dolly.
For those looking at smartphone filmmaking, you can’t go wrong with the Rhino RŌV PRO & Backpack Bundle. This is the perfect camera slider that can be used for the independent filmmaker on the go that loves the flexibility of shooting with either a smartphone or mirrorless camera.
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About the author: Trent (IMDB | Youtube) has spent 10+ years working on an assortment of film and television projects. He writes about his experiences to help (and amuse) others. If he’s not working, he’s either traveling, reading or writing about travel/film, or planning travel/film projects.
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