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Built a new steadycam...

J

jeff

Member
Shooting my next proj. next fri/sat, and with a few hallway scenes it required a new steadycam. So...

We started with the basic tut. that most of you have probably seen or even built already...

Here

From there I threw a Bogen monopod head with a quick release plate on top (matches the head on my B/M tripod so i can swap between the two on the fly, big plus) and took some 3/4" pipe insulation, cut it to the size of the pipes, and wrapped them all in gaff tape. It makes a prettty nice, noiseless, grippy surface. Also chucked on some rubber feet, so it doesnt clank when it leans on the ground. Love it!

By the way, the counterweight which has "sports authority" emblazoned on it will definitely be covered up by morning :-) something along the lines of whats on the bottom.

Pics:

1.jpg


2.jpg


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good luck jeff on the steadicam, I had some trouble balancing my own DIY model and I think it helps if you have 2 seperate weights on the bottom, like on the glidecam models.
 
yeah i had some trouble too, but i just had one pipe with a weight, then i took the top of an old tripod with the handle and used that, it works ok.
 
Nice job on the steady-cam. Putting the same quick release plate as you tripod is good thinking.

Umm, can we delete asdasd's post? Seems kind of out-of-place!
 
we sure can, Mark. Don't you wonder what exactly these dimwitted spammers are thinking? Who is actually going to visit their site in the 15 minutes before a mod catches them?
 
aw darn, i missed the spammers post lol. Trespasser, i hadnt thought about going with two weights, but i guess that would be an easy mod to do, just get another T bar. Maybe i'll do that. Might cost me another 5 bucks lol.
 
Spammer?! WHERE let me get em! Dang, he's gone.

But yeah, the T-bar on the bottom with two weights helps a LOT, i customized mine so that I could hold it (with the cam on) balanced with one hand.
 
Ok, i am going to do another sports authority/Home Depot run on mon. and do it then. i'll post new pics mon. night. Thanks trespasser!
 
Asdasd's been suspended. Everything in their account was anonymous. And their only post ever was insulting racist trash like that.

-Chris
Studentfilms.com
 
racist? What the heck did i miss?

Yea titanium, i was going to throw an L bracket on it but i am unsure of how to with 1) the DVX being as large as it is, and 2) using the quick release plate like that. Thoughts? I had been using the steadycam sideways for low to the ground stuff, as the head i put on permits a 90 degree flip. Works pretty good actually, but it is kind of wide that way.
 
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The upside down thing is a little further down the page, under "useful add-ons"

I didn't build mine quite the way he said to. I used two large steel brackets, screwed together, that's easier than bending and cutting the metal.

Here's mine:

upsidedownsteadycam.jpg
 
I too have built an upsidedown attatchment for my homebuilt steady cam, and it takes some nasty shots. Its so smooth its crazy. I find it works alot better than the upright mode. I used it for the first time in my movie on this site, which I'll admit is a bad movie, but it does have some nice examples of the upsidedown steadycam in action.

The movie:
http://www.studentfilms.com/film/get.do?id=640
 
Thanks TD I love these build it yourself things they have out now (especially Liza's, they're always the coolest). And sice were on the topic of steady cams I think I'll add the one I just made yester day: The pic is too big, so here's the link.
I got this idea from one of the steady cam Liza built that kind of resembled a rifle, so I was just like hell, why not just use my old B.B. gun and voila. Works like a charm too. Just thought I would add my two cents
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I can't see the pictures Jeff posted, but does your design have a decent gimbal?

That's the real problem with the $15 steadicam site, and all of its variants. When I built mine I absolutely needed a smooth gimbal, but even used units from Glidecams/Steadicams are $200+ on eBay. If I had a friend who was a machinist, I would have gone with that, but what I ended up doing was using an old ball head mini tripod. The threads that were supposed to go into the camera were convenient for attaching to my aluminum support arm, and with a lock washer and bolt the assembly is very solid. The rest of the construction was very simple, using a few pieces of aluminum angle stock (not the skinny kind - these are over 2.5" wide and 1/4" thick) and some old 2 lb weights. There's also a quick release plate at the top so I can easily change the camera. I added a few C battery cells to get it perfectly balanced, and tried it out - the design works great. With a little graphite lube on the ball joint, it's extremely smooth. Even though it feels a little less than ball bearing smooth without a weight, the camera makes the friction drop significantly.

Actually, it's so smooth that the support arms require constant adjustments to get the lateral and main CG correct. I only occasionally use it, since I usually don't have time on set to spend 10 minutes calibrating it, and the arms drift slightly out of alignment every time it's stored.
 
First off - the server that my site is hosted on appears to be down. Should be up in a few hours. To check out what i did come back in a few evan.

First off, to TD - see i saw how to make the low angle bracket, but here is my issue - i dont want to take the head off of the rig to throw the L Bracket on, itd be a pain to realign every time. And with the quick release plate, i dont trust having a DVX suspended from an upside down QR plate that shouldnt slip out, but if it did, there would be hell to pay
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thoughts on how to work around that?

Evan, yea i understand the gimbal issue, which is why i will definitely be buying a glidecam in the future. This is for a project where perfection isnt necessary, and actually i d want some movement in the cam - just not shaky cam. So this rig will work fine for that as it does reduce the motion of the cam. Now, regarding your gimbal, i'm a little lost as how you managed to create one. Do you have pics? Because the description is very confusing. Sounds like you built a steadycam with a ball head on top, but how is that functioning as a gimbal? Thanks!
 
yeah, that is a bit of a pickle jeff. mine is always getting loose, and wobbly, from being taken on and off so much. to tell the truth, the whole thing gets loose and wobbly all the time - but that may just be cause i'm not so good at building things. i certainly wouldn't trust an expensive camera like that hanging from a quick release.
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