When you’re watching a movie or TV show and you see the camera slowly pan across the screen, you’ll notice how smoothly the camera moves. Now when you try recreating this with your own video camera, you’ve no doubt noticed that your movements are much rockier. The reason for this is that the professionals actually use a track system to move the camera very precisely. Naturally, this sort of thing is rather expensive, unless you go the DIY route.

A modder by the name of JP Pasterjak set out to build a cheap camrea dolly that could help him with panning shots just like we mentioned above. While he did end up making one that worked, it was only recently that he perfected the build. Using some skate wheels, perforated steel tube and an assortment of nuts, bolts, washers and a few other pieces, he constructed a very versatile dolly. In fact, you can use a variety of material for the track, such as a simple 2×4. You can even flip it over and use a smooth surface to roll it along. Check out the video below for full instructions, or, if you don’t have the time to build one, head over to his site and order one for $80.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TooCLPYdGNk