$40 Steadicam...you seen this?

I built one of these for my little panasonic handy cam, and for those little cams, this works great. Their dimensions are so small that tilting them off-axis takes almost no force at all, so trying to hand-hold those is very jiggly. The point of this rig is to increase the force required to move the camera off-axis.

Because of the inherent imbalance in the base design, I added a second handle to form a cross, with weights on each side, plus the bottom. My only regrets were that I didn't practice enough before my shoot, and it could really, really use a quick release. Trying to unscrew it to move to a tripod took way too long.

What is important to realize about this device is that the samples you see on his site are as good as you can get with this thing. If you need smoother than that, you'll need a better rig. So for someone like Mikko, this is unmitigated $*!%, but for someone like me, it was worth the $20.
 
basically this just adds some weight to your camera . it can be replaced by carrying a $2 sandbag
 
i built one and it worked for me. it might not be as smooth as an expensive authentic steady cam, but when you have $2.00 budget you have to do what you have to do. some people in here sound like snobs.

and i do believe this is the DIY section.
 
I built one of these initially. The basic principle is that it changes the centre of gravity from close to the camera and your hand to a point lower down the rig. By changing the center of gravity you can definitely get an improvement when shooting handheld. It will dampen movements. Unfortunately there is limited control.

I have since purchased a Merlin Steadicam and would suggest investing your time learning the benefits of a true steadicam.
 
I made one of these this summer. These days $14 won't cut it since black iron has gone up so much, but I think mine was like $25. I used to work on a construction yard so cutting the pipe and drilling the caps wasn't a problem, I used their equipment. For a guy with no money that wants to get some decent footage, I think it is a great little device. I use mine once every few weeks. Best $25 and 30 minutes I've ever spent. I have also made and sold 2 of these things since I made my own. It's not professional, but not all of us are lucky enough to be professionals yet.

"...also, its a little handycam on that "murder device" , not a dvx or a hvx.... plus if you have a 35mm adapter mounted... plus a little lcd monitor... try to hold it up for more than 2 min and your arms are going to get really tired."

Well I mean, if you have a 35mm adapter and an LCD monitor, you can probably afford something a little nicer than this glidecam.
 
dvx100b
used the same equipment but I painted my pipes
and i added bicycle grips

with more practice im getting better. I forgot to mention also on that shot i had a radio stuffed in my waist band so he could lip-sync to, which made it harder to control the thing.

im flying out to vegas today to film a commercial, but when i get back ill up;load a different version of the same sons with alot more walking and tell me its not really smooth
 
jasondexter...

that was good. i have one and i say it's worth having. besides as pointed out by someone else this is the DIY section. so everyone else who's basically hatin must realize they're making no sense at all :) i mean seriously why even have a DIY section just to hear somebody say "go buy the real thing" :grin:
 
Two other things to know here are that one of the hardest things to do with any Steadicam isn't to run like mad, but to do slow, flowing and circling shots. With these cheap, non-gimble units (or poor gimble units) panning can be very abrupt and jerky in spots. Watch closely and you'll see it. Footage looks smooth, then a slightly jolting bump in a pan.
 
DM_rider said:
I guess my point is that putting those parts together is a matter of buying the right parts and screwing them together, it looks extremely easy even for someone that's not super handy. It just doesn't seem worth $40 to have someone build that for you...
Click to expand...

Not quite - the parts don't all come screwed together. The $40 goes towards bending the U-shaped piece precisely, and drilling a hole or two through the metal end-caps. For those without tools to do these things, the $40 is worthwhile; if you don't have the tools (or don't want to deal with it), $40 is not a bad deal.

Anyway, I have one of these, and as has been said - it's a good and useful DIY solution, but not as good as a steadicam.

Mikko - I'm not going to claim this is anywhere near as good as a steadicam, but it's not as bad as you say... compared to handheld, you are far more decoupled from the camera. The way I hold this contaption (with my hand UNDER the crossbar) the whole thing kinda "floats" on the hand, like a super-cheap "meat gimble". (Floats heavily, sure)... I've toyed with the idea of modding the thing so that I could put my hand in a better place and "float" the rig on ball bearings... but haven't gotten around to it...
 
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