DIY steadicam

[sirchimpalot]

Has anyone tried making a steadicam themselves? I am thinking of trying to make one, and would be interested to see how effective anyone elses attempts have been, and whether it is worth it or not. 500 quid or so for a steadicam jr is a little too much for my wallet right now.

[Matt Fielding]

A friend of mine, Jaron, made his own Steadicam. He had quite adequate results with it. Although I'm not sure of all the details of it's structure, I remember it was metal and made use of a roller ball deodorant bottle as the handle.

His site may have some details
http://cowardly.custard.org/ugrp/

Matt

[Vertino]

I found this webpage last night... it could be of some interest (if you've got practical abilities)?
http://videouniversity.com/xlstablz.htm

have fun!

Vertino

[eddie]

If you get completely stuck you can use a
heavy tripod. Not perfect by any means but the tripod weight really smooths out the
camera wobble. It can be hard work swaying it around, but as a desperate measure works out OK I think.

[jack jutson]

[Vertino]

Jeezus...

talk about dusting off old topics?

this dates back over 2 years ago now....

[nate_dog]

I've made a few attempts making a steadicam.

I've learned that you need to know what you are doing first. I tried making my own designs with shi t around the house and lots of duck tape. I thought "how hard can it be?"

It's hard. It's not enough to just get the concept of a steadicam but proper instructions are definately key.

My best result is just holding the tripod by its handle and running around like that.

I'm still trying though.

[Mods]

I usually use the tripod method too. Also, one way is to have your camera on the tripod as usual, and hold it in front or to the side of you, like an extra arm. When you walk around you can keep ur arms steady and not wobble with the walk.

If you don't understand what I mean, you're like me. I don't either, lol.

Mods

[Faramir006]

If you have one of those ultra-light tripods with angling heads, you can also use it for imitation crane shots... I have one of those tiny Panasonic consumer DV cams, and so it's a breeze to swing around by holding the tripod horizontally. I go a good effect tracking over an obstacle course after a moving subject by running parallel with the tripod off to one side. When your tripod becomes your crane you practically never want to take it off.

[Esparto]

i'we used a tripod with the legs together, although i used a light tripod with a small weight between the legs instead of a heavy tripod.

it worked quite well as it lowered the center of gravity. i've found that it works best if you have both hands near the top of the tripod, holding it with your arms bent.

although i am using a Hi8 cam corder, this will probably hurt if you ues a 35mm cam for longer than a few seconds [img]biggrin.gif[/img]