By site editor Dan Chung:
Rigwheels had one of my favourite products at NAB this year. Shown as a prototype at the show, their dolly in a Pelican case is such a simple idea that it’s amazing no-one thought of it before now. The product now has name – the Passport. It is available for pre-order at a price of $1899 US and in a special promo will be shipped free in the US or for just $99 worldwide. If you travel all the time and need to be able to check-in your gear without paying high excess baggage charges then this is perfect dolly system for you.
NAB 2014: Rigwheels from Teradek on Vimeo.
This from the Rigwheels website:
The Passport Camera Dolly System is tailor made for traveling professionals and remote production. The all-in-one design and rock solid build quality make the system ideal for international documentary and network news style production where larger/heavier camera systems are being used and a stable, reliable platform is needed.
Transporting long pipe or tube for a suspended rail system like this has been prohibitive in the past for both cost and convenience reasons. RigWheels goal in designing this system was to provide a professional solution for traveling production that does not require carrying additional bags or a bunch of extra hardware and stands to operate. Portable dolly systems where the rail is placed on the ground have achieved this in the past but the Passport suspended rail dolly offers a lot more flexibility in where and how you can use it such as uneven terrain or placing the system over objects.
The entire kit is flight ready at 50lbs (23kg) an won’t incur expensive excess charges. 6.3′ (1.95m) of track collapse into 19″ sections that pack along with the camera dolly carriage, end-brackets and ball-head adapters into one Pelican 1610 protector case (with wheels & handle). The track/tubes are interchangeable with the larger 40″ PortaRail systems so if longer range is needed, you can always add more length. Sections of track connect seamlessly via threaded connectors and are constructed from high-grade 6061 aluminum for rigidity. At the included 6.3′ length, the rails have less than 1/8″ of flex with a 40lb load placed at the center.
Like all of RigWheels products, the Passport is multi-function and the included components can be used to configure other types of movement and mounting tools like the RigSkate Tabletop Dolly or magnetic camera mount.
