Homemade Steadicam Costs About $24,990 Less Than The Real Thing

@cidion: hey, you can say fancy movie terms! wow!

chris401

@ibelli: There's always the mute button..

@MosesMonster: this rig won't come close to supporting a camera used in feature film production. You know, cameras that cost 5-20x as much as the $25k steadycam that they use. This rig is GREAT for home use, and not much more, sorry.

dtemp

@ClydeKollarbear: I wouldn't even compare it to the merlin, there are other cheaper alternatives (like the glidecam for 280$)
This is great for camcorders, but anything that's a little heavy will require a vest too, which adds to the cost.

EShy

@ClydeKollarbear: +5 insightful. One limitation of this rig you could see when he was walking down the steps half-way through... no way to have the camera look downwards smoothly.

dtemp

Great vid. Cute kids. HORRIBLE song choice.

moozicmon

@MosesMonster: there's no DIY'ing when it comes to special effects buddy.

background music fail.

adhir

@Scaramanga:

So true.

You can get a Steadicam Merlin for $800... and it's made by the same people who make the real Steadicam.

Steadicam Merlin Link

@MosesMonster: Lower production costs would help TV shows the most. I've lost count of the number of good shows that have been axed because of funding.

e2drummer

I think this is very cool, and I love these DIY efforts, but there are cheap Steadicams that use a similar principle and cost nowhere near $25k; more like a couple hundred bucks at most.

This sort of story can be exciting without fake sensationalism that ridiculous our intelligence.

Scaramanga

Synchronization rights much?

Canoehead

The music and the children make this rather creepy, sooo...

OK This is bullshit because an actual steadicam stabilizer is less than that. The link to the purported 25,000 model is actually the complete vest and arm unit with stabilizer.

That Steadicam unit can stabilize over 20lbs.

This unit can at best 3 lbs.

ABSOLUTE FAIL

kalieaire

@Invisiblemoose:

Have one of those beefed up for a larger camera (bigger pipe, bigger platform, more weight) and it works decently but not too well compared to a skilled operator doing handheld or using handles or a (DIY even) shoulder mount.

TheCrudMan

@http://steadycam.org/

Certainly would hold a larger camera.

Invisiblemoose

Decent stuff. Won't hold up to a bigger camera though, which is needed to get a better image, which would probably look better handheld than this does steady. DIY film stuff is fun.

TheCrudMan

So, where do you put the follow focus, and wireless video transmitter? And how do you adjust for dynamic balance?

What about low mode? Will it hold up to a whip pan? How does it do with a 3700, or 235?

Just wondering.

cidion

An impressive effort! Considering that there are only bearings in use in the pan axis instead of all three, the results are pretty good. However the Steadicam that this should be compared to is the Merlin which only costs $800 and will carry the same lightweight range of cameras as this design (there are third-party manufacturers from India and China making versions of this for even less-check eBay). A $25K Steadicam will manage a basic RED configuration but not a 35mm sync sound camera--once you get to the full-size rigs, the base setup is $65K and with all the necessary accessories to work on features or network TV, more like twice that (and yup, I own and operate one).

ClydeKollarbear

excellent

@midwestkel: It's not affecting me directly. If movies cost less to produce, then profits would drive higher, then movies that I like that would only bring in a niche crowd would fair a little better.

Guys, most production companies don't BUY steadicam rigs. They usually rent them, just like they rent other camera equipment.

Keep in mind that you will still have to have a solid and steady crab walk to make this work. Just because you mount your handycam on this thing doesn't mean you will be able to stomp around like Godzilla and get perfectly smooth images.

*off-camera audio at around 1:00*

Boys: "Umm, dad....can you please stop following us around with the camera?"
Dad: "Oh, ok.....well, hello nerdy daughter of mine! ............
.............Well this is boring."

@MosesMonster:

To REALLY bring the cost of movies down, reduce the "above the line" costs - pay to actors, directors, producers, writers.

@MosesMonster: When actors aren't making 10 and 20 million dollars off single movies, then we can start talking. Compared to that, 25k is paltry.

Jabrone

@ibelli: +1

NicleT

I've used something a lot like this, it's called the GlideCam (http://www.glidecam.com/) and it looks like this works the same way (counterweights etc.) and has a similar end result.

@ibelli: But it's so inspirational.

Don't you feel inspired to have children and follow them around the house?

I know I do.

Inspired, I tell ya!

@MosesMonster: Hollywood already does a lot of DIY stuff. Spend the day with a grip or a gaffer and you'll find out all the different ways they rig things that are nowhere to be found in the instructions.

However, camera equipment is generally top-notch and for good reason.
A: Investors fund the films, they want return on investment, this means guaranteed results, which professional-grade equipment can come closest to doing.
B: If your ghetto steadicam fails in the middle of shooting your indie film that you're making for $5,000 total, no biggie. If it fails in the middle of a shot that costs $50,000 and can't be redone, that's a biggie, and it's a risk most DPs won't take.

DeeJayQueue

@MosesMonster:You do realize that at this point, the 25k for a steadycam rig is a pretty insignificant line item on a major motion picture budget of tens of millions, right? That's like saying that a cheaper TV stand should cause a major price drop in $50,000 OLED TVs.

Where this sort of design is going to make an impact is for indie film/TV and private users. From the looks of it, you could make a mass-manufacture version of that for... $25 maybe? Good for Average Joe on his vacation, and Artsy Johan doing his first student film.

I Think We're Property

Silky smooth. But not really much use for anything bigger than a handycam...

PurpleTentacle

@ibelli: word

Nice house... and the steady cam rig is awesome!

clearbox

That Asan guy who makes the cool wii stuff built one of these things a while back, remember?

dcartist

@ibelli: http://www.yb2normal.com/DIYsteadicam.html

mnerd

Actually, I've had this page bookmarked for a while.

This is the website you want:
http://steadycam.org/

Invisiblemoose

@ssoltero: The link at the bottom of the post.

@ibelli: Follow the link at the end of the post.

@MosesMonster: And the cost of movies is affecting you how? It's not like if the movie cost a third of what it did to make they would cut ticket cost.

The soundtrack, however, I do not need.

ibelli

Instructions. I need instructions, stat.

ibelli

Can Hollywood adopt some of these DIY tips to bring down the cost of movies?

Someone do a DIY Explosion and we can bring down the cost of Transformers 3 by half.

So where are the instructions to make this bad boy?

ssoltero

worthy of the iphone 3gs

Weihovah

@ClydeKollarbear:
only $800!! isnt that a bit much for your home video needs? thats what this person is aiming their design at.

@kalieaire: go away. DIY always wins!

@jollyrogerjonesy: why do they children make this creepy? its probably just a parent recording their kids...

Better save that video quick; it's audio should ban it real soon.

MePerson

Am I the only one who thinks it was tilting a bit to the right the entire time? Seems the "X-Y adjustments for fine tuning balance" weren't quite tuned.

@nutbastard: True, granted I was talking about deeper DIY steps. Why not start using HD cameras instead of these expensive film cameras? I know a bunch of indie films that look JUST as good as studio films.

But I can see what @DeeJayQueue is talking about. Those heavy cameras will probably crush something like this. I just don't see the justication for a $25,000 stedicam. I got an internship coming up so I guess I'll get to see how things works more on the scene.

@brahmachari99: So true! I've been following his exploits off and on for a while now. Makes you wish you could invest in a person the same way you do with a stock!

@MosesMonster:
and if you can reduce the cost of a robot rolling towards the screen it'd cost a hundred times less than that!

@AUAnonymous:
What I really want to know is why he chose apologize. What did he do to these poor children???

Czechxican

Honestly, this would work for a consumer-weight camera, and not much else.

ytkliu

@ClydeKollarbear: Nice information, thank you for that post!

@MosesMonster:

given that most major movies have budgets around 50-100 million dollars, saving a couple hundred thousand by putting the entire quality of the film at risk isn't the brightest idea in the world.

@ChristianNareen: I actually made one of these, per the instructions on this site, along with the U brace that let you flip it upside down and shoot with the camera close to the ground. I shot a video for a digital art class, and it worked great.

@ChristianNareen: This is Johnny Lee, the guy who made the famous Wiimote hacks! If he built it, then it must be pretty good. That guy is a genius.

brahmachari99

@MosesMonster: Nope.

jacobestes

@ibelli: Whatever it is, I'll never know because I can't watch the video here in the Middle East because of ominous "Copyright Restrictions" OOooOOoOOoOoooooOooo

I built something a lot like this, but I went all out with a trampoline spring arm and bent PVC vest. Anyway, I should have focused on the gimbal part a bit more, but it works pretty well. I think i'll be replacing my gimbal with his

BarkoNorwang

"This video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions."
Fucking record labels...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pLBUC-O1js

@DeeJayQueue:

How can one become a grip or a gaffer is seems lilke a ok kinda job.

defuse

this video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions... wth??? a homemade video???

swissdude

Apparently this guy is afraid Swedes will steal his design because the video is "not available in your country due to copyright restrictions", that makes me sad :(

sneakypoo

What happened to the poor mans $14 stedicam? http://steadycam.org/

ChristianNareen

You forget, Hollywood doesn't seem to care that their cameras shake so much that you can't tell what's going on anymore.

DeeKole