steadicam/flowpod/monopod

[Caveman]

;D Greetings all,

Am I missing something with these 3 - 4 hundred dollar monopods. Thats all they are basically right? except for the cool bicycle grips. I've seen some of the footage shot with the varizoom flowpod and it looks pretty steady but looking at the photos of the thing isn't it just a glorified monopod? Is there some kind of shock absorbers on it or something else that makes it more steady? Just wondering if it is worth the duckets? Their running pretty low these days. Any advice would be great thanks!!

;D CAVEMAN ;D

 

[Guest]

Re: steadicam/flowpod/monopod

Take another look at the picture of the Flow Pod and you'll see what makes them different. They have a ball joint at the CG. This is the basic idea behind most steadicam-like systems. A basic monopod doesnt have this feature and wont help too much in making your footage more stable. It's a great product for the run and gun shooter that wants to smooth out his moving shots. I tried it out at NAB and Im thinking about getting one.

On a side note I tried to build a steadicam/tripod with a fluid head on top. The idea was you can use it as a quality tripod but when you retract all of the legs back up then it becomes a perfectly balanced handheld steadicam. I thought it was a nice idea but the whole system weighted a good 10 lbs + camera so too much to work with for long periods of time. If you started from scratch with the idea and used all quality but light weight parts you would have a real nice piece of equipment that would be ready for just about anything. I just dont have the time to build any of these things these days. Someone should do it though.

-Brett Erskine
www.CinematographerReels.com

 

[J.R. Hudson]

Re: steadicam/flowpod/monopod

Thats an interesting idea Brett! 10 lbs or not; how about combing it with the vest system?