Transform A Kitchen Timer Into An Auto-Panning Camera Mount


If you have an old mechanical cooking timer somewhere in your kitchen, you have almost everything you need to build a camera mount that can take long, panning video shots. A trip to the hardware store (and a camera) will get you the rest.

Instructables user mikeasaurus, whose work you’ve seen here before spent about $5 at the hardware store, broke out his drill at home, and attached a screw-in mount for the bottom of his camera onto the top of the timer wheel. He even attached the whole thing to his tripod so he could stabilise the camera and get great video while the camera was panning.

The best part about this project is that it really didn’t take much work, and as mikeasaurus notes in his description, there are plenty of ways to accomplish the same thing — he even links to some of them, and suggests combining the technique with time lapse to get some really great, cinematic-looking video. Keep in mind though that a kitchen timer isn’t about to support much weight, which is why he used a regular point-and-shoot to get the video here. Still, I’m betting you guys have some ideas on how to improve the design.

wind up camera pan [Instructables]


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