Randall Miller & Mini-Crab #139

Just received this message below from a soon-to-be-new member of our esteemed group. Welcome Randy! Looking forward to seeing some pics of your Mini-Crab!

Hi Greg, took delivery of my dolly yesterday. I'm really excited, it is in pretty good shape. 

It's missing the latch for the cover for the CO2 tank. I will start cleaning it later today. Lots of oil in the tank compartment, not sure where it came from. 

The prior owner was using compressed air. Planning on getting the five tanks filled with CO2 to make sure everything works. It is Mini-Crab #139 and I think it was originally owned by the GM photographic department, the cylinder cases have GM photographic stickers on them. 

If anyone knows of any parts let me know. I will send pictures soon!

Thanks, Randy

Josh Zach and Mini-Crab #175

Meet Mini-Crab Dolly #175, owned by our new friend, Josh Zach, of Raleigh, North Carolina. Looks like a nice, clean dolly with some great accessories, including factory front and side boards. 

Josh shares his story on how he acquired #175, "I'm a radio news correspondent in Raleigh, and spend my spare time as a photographer and videographer. In 2009, I was working as a freelance DP for a marketing company on a TV commercial shoot. One day of the week-long shoot was on the green screen stage of an area corporation (they use the stage for many things, one of which is motion capture for video games). Anyway, during the course of the shoot, the CEO of the marketing company noticed that the stage was in the process of updating equipment and getting rid of items they didn't want anymore. He had his eye on a pair of reel to reel decks, but in order to obtain them he had to buy a tagged lot. The Colortran Crab Dolly was in that lot, and when I saw it, I fell in love with it. He held on to the dolly until recently, and when he asked me if I wanted it -- I jumped at the opportunity. #175 is in complete working order, a smooth ride, and really just needs a good cleaning".

Josh will be made a member of the exclusive Sarkell Society. The society's membership list will be updated soon as we have a couple of new members to add.

On behalf of the Sarkell Society, we welcome Josh Zach to the brotherhood of Colortran Mini-Crab Dolly owners! Welcome Josh!

Colortran Mini-Crab Dolly Operating Manual

After receiving many requests to post the Colortran Mini-Crab Dolly Operating Manual, here it is! All 17 pages! 

Unfortunately, I only have a copy of a copy of a copy, etc. So, the quality is not the best, but hopefully you can get the info you need from this posting. I will also work on trying to convert this file to a pdf file for anyone that needs it. If someone out there has an original copy of this manual, please let me know. Click on any image to enlarge.

David Rakoczy of Emerald Coast Filmworks

David Rakoczy, CEO of Emerald Coast Filmworks, a member of our distinguished society, recently shared this image of his Sony F3 system.

David's beautiful F3 system, outfitted with premium Cooke Primes, was paired-up in the above photo with his Colortran Mini-Crab Dolly, #148. Although David's Mini-Crab is not shown in the photo, you can find his Mini-Crab archived on this site in an earlier post. It's posted under October 2, 2010.

Many DP's are now shooting on Super 35, 4K and other digital formats. The film cameras of yesterday are becoming relics of the past.

It's good to know that the Colortran Mini-Crab dollies are being ushered into the new age of digital cinematography. Just another testimate to William Sargent's ingenious and compact design!

Check out David's website at: www.emeraldcoastfilmworks.com

Send us images of your Colortran Mini-Crab outfitted with your current camera system to: gregoryz@centurylink.net

Mini-Crab #157 on location!

We're waiting to hear back from Kyle Jones who was involved with the following production shown here. What we do know for sure is that the Mini-Crab pictured in the following photos is #157, owned by my friend Steven Mahoney, from the Seattle area.

Kyle, who incidentally used #157 through Steven, recently took ownership of his own Mini-Crab #24. We'll find out the back-story to these pictures and what he has to say about his Mini-Crab.

We're looking at a very interesting track system with the Mini-Crab #157 riding on a 'sub-dolly' skateboard-wheeled system. It's good to see that modern camera technology such as the RED system nicely integrated with William Sargent's 50+ year old Mini-Crab design.

You may remember, #157 was once owned by twice-Academy Award winner and producer, David L. Wolper.

Click on any image to enlarge.

Kenneth Mackenzie and Mini-Crab #71

We're welcoming Kenneth and his Colortran Mini-Crab #71 to our exclusive society. Pictured here you see Kenneth's Mini-Crab in action. Click on either image to enlarge!

A cool shot of Kenneth on the set of the feature 'Warm Bodies', shot last year in Montreal. Jonathan Lavine, Director, Javier Aquirresarobe, DP. More on Kenneth's work to follow. Welcome to the Sarkell Society, Kenneth!

William Sargent the inventor of the Mini-Crab Dolly

Recent photos of the prolific actor, voice-over artist and inventor of the timeless ColorTran Mini-Crab Dolly, William Sargent. These two awesome images were taken by Mr. Sargent's beautiful wife, Patti.

Joseph Tawil, former president of Berkey-ColorTran once told me that William Sargent was a "brilliant inventor, bar none". Designing and building the Mini-Crab Dolly was only one facet of Mr. Sargent's incredible and facinating career.

William Sargent is seen here on board his beautiful Aquila motorcycle just outside his Salt Lake City home. Click on either image to enlarge.

Mr. Sargent acted in many beloved TV shows including; Star Trek, My Three Sons, The FBI, Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Streets of San Francisco, The Twilight Zone and many, many more. To see more of Mr. Sargent's work click on: William Sargent - IMDb