DitoGear BD Slider – motorized portable slider

DitoGear has released another product, adding to the never-ending list of camera sliders. Known for their motion-controlled devices compatible with Cinevate products, DitoGear are also continuing to push their own grip. Introducing a new recruit to their line up – The BD Slider.

As you’d expect from DitoGear, the slider is designed with time-lapse photography in mind, offering an inbuilt motor into the slider’s sledge. The BD slider comes with carbon or steel rods in a variety of lengths. Add two removable ends to the rods and sledge and that pretty much completes the component list for the BD slider. It’s built with simplicity in mine, so it’s easy to be stripped down for portability.

Aside from this easy-to-strip-down configuration, what else does this slider offer that sets it apart? Well, the fact that it’s easy to strip down like this means that upgrading to a longer/shorter setup is easy. Simply buy additional rods. You could even travel with a variety of length rods and use whichever ones suit your situation best.

Next would be what DitoGear specialize in – motorization. The sledge with inbuilt motor is a nice touch; it keeps components to a minimum, and simplifies the whole set up. It allows both manual and motor operation. In order for the latter, you’d need to purchase the BD Slider with a DitoGear controller and battery setup (more on these later).

However, there’s a fairly hefty flaw in this simple design, you can’t mount it to a single tripod! From the product pictures, it looks as if the slider ends have 1 1/4 20″ and 3/8″ threaded hole each, which means with two tripods you could get this thing level off the floor. This de-values the portability of the device slightly, but without re-designing the whole slider there isn’t a way round this.

DitoGear boasts compatibility across its product range, and the BD Slider is no different. It’s compatible with all but one of their current controllers, and also introduces a new entry-level controller – The BD Controller. Each controller offers a variety of functions, here’s a breakdown of DitoGears current controllers.

The BD Slider has a maximum payload of 25kg (55lbs) in horizontal operation (both manual and motorized) and 4kg 8.8 (lbs.) in vertical operation motorized. The slider comes with 3 choices of length – 0.5m, 1m and 1.5m in steel or carbon rods. The weight of the device depends on choice of rods, a breakdown on the weight of each part can be found here.

The BD Slider is currently available for pre-order, with predicted shipping day starting on the 7th October. In this pre-order period, DitoGear are offering a 15% discount on BD Slider bundles. Prices start at $556.26 ex Tax.