Slider review: The Cinemover

As long time readers will know, I have been trying to build a slider rig for a while with varying level of success. This is in this context that I was approached by Move Your Camera to do a review of their product. Priced under 90$, it really looked like a deal. Lets see how well it performs.

Setup

As you can see in the picture above (next to my RigWheels slider, for size comparison), the rig is quite adjustable, this mean that there are a lot of screws and nuts you can adjust to get a perfect fit on your rails. This is great because it gives you a lot of flexibility but it also means a longer setup time compared to prebuilt solutions.

Setup is easy, just put the slider on top of your rails and push the side parts until they are flat on the side surfaces. The difference between this rig and the others is that you have 8 wheels to check instead of 4. Tighten everything up and move the slider around to make sure none of the moving parts are loose. This is the rig with the longest setup time I have played with but it is still very manageable. The biggest issue is if you have to move the central camera plate. In this case, you will have to unscrew/screw 4 more bolts.

Also note that you can reverse the camera plate and use the slider on a flat surface (ex: table, ground, etc), without the side wheels. I have a lot of fun playing with it this way on my quartz counter top.

Smoothness

This has to be  the slider strongest point: thanks to its big wheels and 8 points of contact, it is nearly impossible to get a rough slide. In fact, your biggest limitation wont be the slider but the rails you will set it on. It will have to be perfectly straight with a a constant width.

Build quality

Lets be honest, the slider does not have the polished look of something made by Kessler or Cinevate. It is all screws and nuts. Then again, we are not in a beauty contest! We want something durable and in this department, the all metal construction of the MYC slider fits the bill. While you may have to tighten the nuts once in a while, this thing is build to last.

One of the big plus of this slider is that it can be used for timelapses. While you can technically used a video slider to shoot stills, most of these are too small or have too much drag which is not a desired feature when working with time lapses where you have to be able to move the slider fractions or millimetres between shots.

Conclusion

I like it! On top of being one of the cheapest slider solution, it gives great results. Its only flaw is its size and setup time which make it a bad choice for event videography. But for films, real estate, concerts, etc.. It is a great tool.