DIY: Skater

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tbanucci

tbanucci

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Anyone want to make an attempt to create a DIY project of this new device? It's called the Skater, looks pretty damn cool with the video it generates.

The product page is here:

Skater Mini

While the demo of what it does can be found through here:

Skater Mini Trailer

I'm assuming this works with heavier film cameras and that it is expensive, which brings to mind making this a DIY project for a low budget version suited for the DVX.

Thoughts?
Ted
 
that trailer was really great!!!

i wonder, and this could be a stupid question. If i made something like that from scratch and used it on a production that got bought up, would i be sued?
 
Depends if it has any patents, and what they are for. In general, I think you can only be sued if you try to sell the device to the public and it infringes on some patents. If you make a DIY version for yourself, no one can sue you.
 
I've seen the Skater promoted pretty heavily recently, but that's the first I've seen of the trailer--and it's amazing. I think that's the best product trailer I've ever seen. It's hideously expensive, but you've got to admit the footage is really impressive. Definitely a worthy DIY project.
 
3/4 Of the way into the Trailer, Right after the Jim Beam Add of the glass of alcohol, is the girl on the floor reading from a paper. A DVX100A is mounted on the "skater" for that shot, and it looks damn good too... I guess it doesnt "HAVE" to be a heavy camera. that shot looks damn good. check it out. THE DVX EVEN HAS ANOTHER TFT DISPLAY ON TOP OF IT.
 
... for DYI, i think you could just cut the same shape out of wood or a couple sheets of ply or something, and buy some decent sized wheel casters with soft rubber wheels and drill some holes where the wheels go stick the catser shafts up though the holes and viola! you could just set the cam on there most of the time in something like a cinesaddle or home made little mount with a strap to hold it on or somthing , or you could mount a small tripod post or head to the center. it might cost you a whole 62.25 if you trick it all out instead of 6225.00
 
I think that requires perfect flat surface. I doubt if it work on carpet. I checked the video. It seems that wheel is not rubber covered, just normal wheel.

Regards
Leigh
 
PushCam looks pretty cool. Definitely a lot less expensive. I like the fact that the Skater is lower to the ground and it can rotate on axis. The PushCam is basically a skateboard with a fluid head bolted in the middle.

Leigh- You can type rollerblade wheel into Google and find many sites, like this one:

Wheels

Ted
 
Thank You~!

heli004.jpg

For a savings of $5926 it doesn't turn. Big deal.
 
four c-stands, a piece of plywood, a level, some sandbags and a bit of care to make sure the camera doesn't fall and you have adjustable height.
 
The fact that the pushcam doesn't turn is a big deal...not that the skater can't be replicated as a DIY.
nice thing about the skater is you can do a 360 "dolly" around a (small) object at close focus and not have to worry about pulling focus. Of course there are more applications than we can imagine.
FWIW

Brian
 
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