Steadicam alternative ?!

[HARBIME]

?Hi there, is there any trick or method to achieve the same very steady shoot generated by highly ??expensive steadicam equipment??
?I mean if you handling your camera manually running, walking or riding a moving car, and you want to ??produce a very stable shoot, but you can't afford the expensive Steadicam, what you can do??
?Please share your ideas even you think it is not possible.?
?Thanks ?

[Ruthie]

I don't know if it's possible to ever get the smooth shots of a steadicam, but one cheap alternative is wheelchairs for moving shots (this is more of a dolly replacement than a steadicam)

The key is the camera operator. If they are talented enough, they should be able to walk and move the camera with enough ease to give it a smooth look. Other than that I would have to leave it up to one of these engineers on the forum to be creative.

[Keviano]

Using most modern camcorders often causes shaky shots without the use of tri/monopods because they are much lighter nowadays. Adding weight to you cam improves the steadyness (is that a word?) of you're shots. Also the more you're zoomed out, the more shakey a shot will look, especially if you're using digital zooms over 40x.

http://www.catdogfilms.co.uk

[Mark Jury]

Yeah, I prefer to use heavier cameras. All these cam-corders are getting lighter all the time. Soon they'll be as small as an eyepiece!

[Barnstormed]

Try using a mono pod at half length with a weight on the end. Move the camera by holding the pod about halfway down.
This lowers the cenntre of gravity and produces less shaky shots.

Barnstormed

[Brewski]

Well, how good of an engineer are you?It really isn`t all that hard to build one yourself. I would suggest getting the free video that the company gives away. Learn how it works, study its design and then take a trip to you local hardware store. Good luck!

[Spoon boy]

hey! you could always ask one of the guys on the "like a story boards", I swear there was a guy there going on about how to make your own steadicam a few months back.
http://www.likeastory.com