As I continue on my quest to find the most efficient and most portable slider that is also a great “bang for the buck”, I have been looking at the foldable Crane Slider from Axler.
The first feature that catches my attention is its small size and therefore portability. The next feature that is attractive is how it moves and maintains the subject in the frame, while managing steady and smooth straight slides and parabolic slides. All of the movement is performed by simply moving the rounded knob handle left or right.
The Crane Slider is designed for medium sized DSLR cameras, and mirrorless cameras, with the ability to support almost 5lbs. Once the slider is mounted to a tripod, it has a range of movement of 14 inches on each side for a total of 28 inches of movement. 1/4”-20 mounting screws are available for positioning the included aluminum ball head for both parabolic and linear movements. The bottom of the slider has a 3/8”-16 tripod mount threaded screw hole, so that it can be mounted directly to a tripod.
If you would like to learn more about this slider, you can head over to B&H Photo Video and check it out. It is available for purchase for $299.
Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
Anything that requires hands on to move runs the risk of introducing camera shake and resulting blur. Which is why pros use something like the Syrp Genie and the 2 rail magic carpet that allows pre programmed movement and shooting for seamless video or time lapse photography. Pulling off high quality video with a DSLR involving a slider is not easy, and you need the best tools:
https://syrp.co.nz/products/genie-kits
I will hand it to Axler, the Ninja video is amusing in a cheesy sort of way.
Hi Robert,
I would have to try it to let to know. I use a traditional slider quite often for video, and there are times when I do so in handheld mode. I am frequently able to do so without any visible shaking. Practice makes perfect I guess.