$14 Do-It-Yourself Steadicam®?

Mikee wrote on 4/10/2004, 6:37 AM
Straight off the front page of Slashdot this morning...a do-it-yourself Steadicam® for about $14 and twenty minutes of time.

I've never seen a real Steadicam, let alone used one, so take it for what it's worth.

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/
The site has step by step construction instructions and sample video.

Mike

Comments

BrianStanding wrote on 4/10/2004, 6:45 AM
I use a monopod with a bicycle handlebar strapped to the shaft with bungee cords as a cross piece. I then add some of my wife's old ankle weights (3 lbs. apiece) to the cross bar and secure with gaffer's tape.

Ugly as sin, but works very well indeed.
JonnyMac wrote on 4/10/2004, 7:02 AM
Funny ... there is a kid selling that $14 steady-device for $80 from a link in the StickyPod (www.stickypod.com) forums. For those looking for a car mount, the StickyPod is a nice piece of work at a reasonable price.
Sol M. wrote on 4/10/2004, 7:34 AM
Crazy that this would be slashdotted now. This is such an old site! I used the info from the site to build my first steadycam over 2 years ago! I took it to the NAB and everyone that saw me moving around the convention center either wanted to try it, or asked me where my company's booth was. It does indeed only cost around $14, and it works very well.

I have since my design of my stabilizer, but the concepts remain the same as this, or any of the other stabilizers out there (most of which go for much more than this DIY one does): camera mounted with a vertical counterbalance, and a horizontal bar to minimize horizontal movement.
filmy wrote on 4/10/2004, 8:39 AM
I built one of these last year and it works great. You need to get used to it and maybe make a few part mods but for the most part part it can be built for under $16.00 for sure. (Excluding your labor and cost it takes to go the store toget parts.)
sek0910 wrote on 4/10/2004, 12:36 PM
It might be a bit easier to make if you used plastic PVC 1/2" threaded endcaps, instead of the metal ones.. Much easier to drill through than steel ones, and should hold up as well for this application..
Hunter wrote on 4/10/2004, 1:16 PM
If you're into making your own, check this out. eMachineShop is a free download for creating CAD CAM parts. I just starting using it so I can give it a review but looks good.

Hunter
busterkeaton wrote on 4/10/2004, 4:04 PM
It's funny that it was Slashdotted this morning, because I think that page is at least a year old.
farss wrote on 4/10/2004, 4:39 PM
The idea behind any of these systems is to get the largest possible moment of inertia to keep the camera stable. You get the same result by having half the mass at double the distance from the axis and the more axis you provide that moment of inertia in the better.
The gimballed systems are better but a good gimbal makes for a lot of complications.
And the most critical parts are knowing how to setup these rigs and practice using them, if you get a chance watch how a pro steadycam operator walks the walk. The 'walk' will make more difference than how much the rig cost. Even withour a stabilizer the 'walk' can make a huge difference.
But these things should be the camera mount of last resort.
There's heaps of cheap ways to get a stable moving camera mount, wheelchairs, tube dollies, wheeled carts etc. My favourite is the Spider Dolly from Losmandy, OK it isn't that cheap but it's sure clever and unlike a fixed track system you don't need a grips truck to move it.