DIY Steadicam Provides Scorcese-Like Smoothness For $10

pretty smooth

and nice house! ;)

ceez

Beyond WIN! I'm cannibalizing my kid's old deck right now and heading out to the shed to make one.

rte148

The rotating bits help a lot, but Johnny Lee's steadycam http://steadycam.org/ also gets the job done. It basically just uses a counterweight below to keep things stable. It is similar to this, but without the moving parts.

Johnny Lee is the same guy who did those amazing wiimote hacks and was brought on to help with microsoft's natal.

SamburgerHandwich

Here's another solution: practice.

Todays cameras' folding monitors make it simple to learn. I'm an old codger who started with 20 pound (B&W) cameras wired to 30 pound "portable" recorders. I learned very quickly that your eye/head doesn't stay steady - it moves with your body. Especially with that boat anchor recorder slung over your shoulder.

Today's side mounted viewer frees you from planting your eye in the viewfinder, so you can hold the camera level with a little practice. Just keep your shoulder relaxed and "attach" yourself to the camera, not the camera to you.

Unless you're trying to make the next "Clerks," this isn't very practical. And you look like a jackass at Auntie Vera's 80th birthday party.

imajoebob

I just spent the money on a Steadicam Merlin.......aw man!

rewj

Amazing!! Steadiness is really in very short supply these days. That's a project I'll certainly build. But I only wonder how do you manage not to shake in the vertical axis. Or is it just me who shake in the Z axis while walking? Does the weight is enough to dampen the Z shaking?

Joao_Brito

@Gonzie: The cheesy music is likely copyrighted by some corporate behemoth.

JerryA

i'm just curious where did the $10 come from? on the site he says his budget was above $14, and has no final price as far as I can see...

Also, there's a version 2 on his site that's a little easier to put together: http://www.yb2normal.com/DIYsteadicam2.html

cutcopypaste

@Brad N.: I was thinking the same thing. You'd have to have a handle on that to make it good for long shots. For short little things, it would be good as is, but could you imagine a 20 minute video of a graduation party or something?

RickS

Wonder if you could really really good shots by combining this with this project from Johnny Lee:

http://steadycam.org/

Edit: Oh he does mention that and so does Johnny. Well it could be worth a try.

@Longjack: By the outer ring. You can see him holding it in the still picture at the start of the video. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to attach some kind of handle to the outside of the ring to make it even easier to carry.

The steadiness is definitely impressive, and adds a near-professional look to the footage.
I would have liked to see a comparison of the handheld video versus video using this device.
As for the future of image stabilization, there is some really sweet "warping" software in the works. It was featured on Gizmodo here:
http://gizmodo.com/5313959

Additional, more functional versions from the same author at: http://www.yb2normal.com/fancy.html

SafiaBon Jovi

I've read the article, looked at the pics, and I can see where to attach the cam, but how does the user (videographer?) hold the device? By the outer gimbal ring (the outer PVC ring) like the main pic on the home page? I was just wondering if that pic was to display the device, or if that is actually how you hold the device while operating the cam. Thanks

Longjack

Neat. Would love to see a video of him actually using it. Great! I have a fun weekend project. :-)

Brian Roberts

I'd love to see a comparison between this and the $14 Steadycam:
http://steadycam.org/

This is seriously too useful. Wow. And I thought that drinking a lot of coffee and smoking cigarettes was the answer to a steady hand. Gonna make one of these asap! Thanks for the heads up!!

Glenn Friesen

Dude, sweet!

I'll start making one tomorrow - kudos for the movie!

kelltik

copyright restrictions? WTF?

@Brian Roberts: I would too. I don't see what the purpose of the gimble device is.

Hollywood has done a lot of self-help things and DIY stuffs. Spend a day or foreman of the grip, you will find all the different ways to rig things they can not find instructions.

This is indeed quite impressive. This may be a project I actually do in the coming weeks.

DangerousLiberal

Already sent this off to a friend who makes movies in his spare time... :)

brownize

In the audio dept. if you need a better way to record vocals and voiceovers without boominess or other room interference, check out Harlan Hogan's recipe for a portable sound booth.

@SamburgerHandwich: Is he also the guy who made Orthos stress test?

This is amazing. I am so going to do this.

Paul Vedder Jr.

@imajoebob: every shot for the movie clerks was done with a tripod. not a single moving frame.

"kevin smith's style is that he has none" - some reviewer

1:06: "Dad, please put down the camera. I need help with this homework." Drops pencil and holds head in frustration.

ZenNareen

I wonder how much this differs from the standard weighted down models that are on youtube.

RenfredKliker

@imajoebob: ROTFLMAO because your post makes YOU look like a jackass.

Methinks you have precious little depth of camcorder experience or you wouldn't make the claim that practice is enough to get a steady shot, even with SD.

FredThompson

I have Essential Tremors and this would really help me.

blecaire

Wow. I've been looking for something simple like this. The best steadycam I've seen on the web prior to this involved weights and pvc conduit. This is much better if the video is true.

This is a neat solution, but you immediately see a limitation - because it's mounted on a gimbal, the camera can't properly pivot up to track the kids as they move upstairs, so the effect is a sort of creepy Kubrick-eqsue shot.



But why not build your own? The original Steadicam patent (US 4017168) is expired and the design is in the public domain:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=EE8yAAAAEBAJ&printsec=drawing&zoom=4



This is very cheap to build if you have one of those articulating desk lamps lying around. Cameras are so light now that you don't need the heavy supporting apparatus shown in the drawings, you jusst need a threaded shaft and a makeshift joint (a simpler version of what's in this post).



There are a number of other public domain expired patents from the inventor of the steadicam (Garrett Brown). Anything filed before 1989 is definitely public domain.

Pastabagel

from lifehacker, "YB2Normal demonstrates a homemade video stabilizer that runs about $10 to build"


from YB2Normal, "My budget was a bit higher than $14"

mahumphrey

looks absolutely amazing, but also I would like a before/after shot

unruled

I built one of these:

http://lifehacker.com/5272748/build-a-14-video-camera-stabilizer

and used it for a while but I tend to agree with imajoebob that just practicing how to balance the camera, treating your entire arm like a shock absorber, works 95% of the time for me. I can run after 5 year olds, holding the camera down around my knees, and get good smooth footage.

@Torley: Many thanks for the sound booth link! I've often resorted to a parked car in an isolated section of my local storage facility to reduce ambient noise :/

Monamo

@imajoebob: Your family is apparently very sensitive. Mine would be extremely curious, want to know what it's all about, and finally how to make it too.

@FredThompson: yeah, i agree. this whole 'steadicam?! whatevs, just practice more!' attitude seems like a reactionary, 'academic' response to an aesthetic and stylistic choice. it ignores the fact that the steadicam aesthetic is not only practical, but ideological and conceptual; it specifically provides a 'super-human', artificial movement, which is the ideological opposite of the documentary-esque shaky cam movement. it is physically impossible to replicate steadicam shots found in films like goodfellas and kill bill, and that physical impossibility is a part of what makes those shots so powerful.

He does make the best f'ing films...