I'm looking to upgrade to the Canon XH A1 early next year after seeing so many great samples of work done with it. And, now that I've seen your wedding reel, I am seriously considering getting a steadicam to go with it.
I love dolly shots, but can't afford a professional dolly system, and need something more portable for when I'm doing weddings. Do you find the Glidecam 2000 is a good compromise for a dolly system?

A steadycam device isn't a replacement for a dolly, in my opinion. You can follow somebody around with a steadycam, go up or down stairs, walking through the tall grass, etc. But you can't do the slow precision moves of a dolly. They are two entirely different tools.

I appreciate your feedback. It definately seems to make a marked improvement over simply handheld shots at least. I've heard some people have had decent results substituting a wheelchair for a dolly, but I've never tested that method out myself.
I was an extra in The Perfect Storm (Don't blink or you'll miss me), and I couldn't believe the beautiful precision dolly system they had for that movie. I was drooling over it.

I don't think the 2000 pro is a good glide cam for the A1. I used with every wedding I shot with my PD170 and it worked amazing. But the A1 is heavier and the lens is longer so it makes it hard to get acceptable shots. Also your arm gets super tired using it. I'm going to get a articulating arm stedicam when I can save up the funds. They produce perfect shots, but of course you need to be trained on it first.

I wonder if the Glidecam 4000 would be a better fit for the Canon XH A1 since it can hold up to 10 pounds.

Dana, you don't have to have a Fischer dolly to get good dolly moves. There are lots of systems out there for lightweight cameras. We have two dollys. One is a western, or doorway dolly, ie., like a cart with big flat tires and a rack and pinion steering system with push bars on each end. I can mount a tripod or pedestal, with a jib, on it.

We also got a Losmandy Spyder dolly with Flextrack, and I use it more these days. Flextrack is their solid rubber flexible track. It comes in 40 foot lengths. You can use one piece and loop it for a nice 18' run, so you don't even need two pieces. The dolly itself can be the tripod-mount configuration, or you can add a leg and put a platform and pedestal on it. There are numerous other systems with small, easy to set up track. And people make their own out of skateboard wheels and pvc pipe.

The wheelchair is an old trick I've used since way back in my 16mm days. If the floor is smooth, you can hand hold the camera and do quite well. Hand holding with somebody pushing the wheelchair looks more like a steadycam type shot. I've even used grocery carts in grocery stores...and for a conference table shot where I wanted the camera dollying down the middle fo the table I used a skateboard with my beanbag gaffertaped on, and the camera on that held by bungee cords. If it's got wheels, somebody is gonna make a dolly out of it somewhere sometime.

Thanks for the tips! I've been looking at a few possibilities for makeshift dollies. There is a nice cart at work with big rubber wheels and plenty of room for a person and a camera to ride on it that I plan to test out soon.
Joe Simon, I apologize for taking this thread somewhat off track, but seeing your smooth shots got me thinking about how I could get the same results.

Stedi cams are great but they get expensive quick. I have an Indie dolly that has worked great for me. But to set it up at a wedding is difficult. I might try it for some pre-ceremony stuff later this month and see what happens.