I'm shooting shoe box sized products - is it possible to create a 360 track and go around the box? I was going to have a snoot lighting up the box on a black floor.... if the track is wide enough then I shouldn't get it in the shot.... at least that is what I have in my head.

Thanks for any insight!

Shouldn't be too difficult to find a US version of this Hague HTD device.

HAGUE UNIVERSAL TRACKING DOLLY D5 (http://www.b-hague.co.uk/Universal%20Tripod%20Tracking%20Dolly%20D5.htm)

Pretty sure I've seen a couple advertised but can't remember where.

Save you laying track tho' circular track can be had.


CS

PS: It's the Hague Hi Hat Table Dolly, not the first one on the list

Dredgeing the memory banks, I did use this to achieve the same effect for a crisps commercial I shot in London quite some years ago.

The shot was of a large circular table with a large bowl of crisps at it's centre.

About 7 or 8 people standing around the table diving in taking handfulls of crisps.

It was shot very tight so the effect was just seeing hands diving into frame then pulling back out again with a handfull of crisps.

The problem was, they wanted the camera to be tracking around the table - fast.

Some head scratching, a bit of lateral thinking, a tripod dolley and a length of rope did the job.

(Luckily for me, the table was one of those cafeteria type things with a single central support column).

Tied one end of the rope to the bottom of one tripod leg, threw it round the table central colum and tied it to another tripod leg bottom.

Pull back to keep it taut, frame on centre of table and start walking around the table.

Worked an absolute treat, tho' it got a bit hairy as the speed increased, had a couple of occasions when the talent couldn't get out of the way of that scything rope just at shin height.

Does require a good quality dolley and a pretty smooth floor (both of which I had).

Be a heck of a lot easier without the homo sapiens talent too.


CS

if the product is shoe box size - why not fix the camera and rotate the product with a lazy susan type of setup?

if the product is shoe box size - why not fix the camera and rotate the product with a lazy susan type of setup?

That's what I was thinking, but it won't work if the background needs to be seen changing as the subject is circled.

-gb-

Thanks all! Great replies. I'm working on a solution now....

I really am having a lot of fun doing this - trying to create new and unique angles to shoot stuff at.

You must be phsycic.

What I left out of my post in the interests of brevity was that I had raided our favourite Chinese restaurant for just such a thing, a large metal turntable with a huge clear glass top, and an unseen hand was spinning it the opposite way to the travel of the camera.

Made so much noise we couldn't hear ourselves think but the finished product looked pretty flash.


CS

Hello Steve,

If your products are this small, why not using a turntable where the center-axle stays fixed? Your product will be on the (fixed) axle while your camera is on the rotating platform.

Easy to a DIY! I will send you a pic of a rig I made some years ago if you need some more info on this.

Good Luck,

Onno
Solid Grip Systems Amsterdam (http://www.solidgripsystems.eu)