Idea for a steadicam

[drevil915]

Hello everyone,

I was browsing the DVX forums all of last night and this morning on the DIY steadicams. There isn't a real wealth of info out there, unfortunately. I've looked at homebuildstabilizers but the pictures are way too cryptic for me. No plans. And that 14 dollar steadicam I'm sad to say I built but was unhappy with. So...what I'll probably end up doing is buying a used steadicam JR or glidecam off of ebay. Before I blow a few hundred dollars though, I had this idea and I'd like some discussion about it.

Right now it's just an idea and I'm not even sure if it'll work, but what about a cross between a microphone shockmount and a PVC figrig? SOmehow isolating the camera in suspension...would that be enough to isolate movement? Would I still get the side to side movements?

What do you think?

-Jason

[J.R. Hudson]

Jesus

Another steadicam stabilizer thread. What's going on around here ?

[Jeff Anderson]

It's steadi-fever! I think it would be enough to make the camera bounce around violently. And it would be heavy as all get out. A real steadicam you can run and jump and not have tired arms while still having a steady shot. Cody Deegan has plans available I thought for a HBS. Check out Shred444's diy steadi thread - he used some form of those plans I think. Quite the monster he's built.

[drevil915]

Thanks. I'll take a look. But I'll probably just end up buying a real one.

-Jason

[Rodney V. Smith]

it's actually quite doable is you can bend your mind around it and realize that most of the parts are available in some form or the other. I'm currently building my arm based on a modification of Cody's design (no pics yet, gotta borrow my friend's digicam). The plans are definitely worth it and by building you get to understand quite a bit about what makes the whole system work and of your own limitations. Of course, if you have the money to plunk down for a real Steadicam, then go for it.. but if you really want to DIY, the HBS site is a real wealth of information.

[charles]

Well Jason, I guess you can't be bother reading the HBS forums, uh ;) HBS was never intended to put plans up for people to build from. It's basically an information center that has more info than anywhere else on the net. I guarantee you that. ;)

The info on the Website and forum will definitely help to guide you on constructing your own. But please do not take HBS to be among all the crap that are out there, that offer you cheap and easy way to build rigs. HBS is not for everyone and in your case you should just buy one. It will definitely take out the hassle of building one :) It takes time and definitely patience. So if you're not the reading type than just save yourself the work and purchase system. You'll be happy that you did.