My New Steady-Mount with HC9---Photos
 

This is my improved steady-mount, which works better than my larger shoulder-mounts. It's made of aluminum and wood and weighs about 19 oz. I can hold steady for videos and photos, even at full zoom, with the Raynox HD-2200 telextender, which gives a total of about 836mm. This telex is very sharp optically and causes vignetting on the HC9 below about 60% full zoom. The external power-pack uses a Sony lithium NP-F960 battery, which has a 5,300 mAh capacity. The foam pad can be held against the belly, the chest or the front of the shoulder. A camcorder can also be mounted in the forward position, so the larger viewscreen can be used more effectively, rather than the viewfinder. There is a layer of rubber on both positions, to allow a firmer hold on the camcorder, without having to tighten the mounting-bolt so much. There is a safety cord that clips onto the handstrap. The grab-handle unscrews and I can fit the whole rig into a shoulder-bag.

The extended microphone arm holds a Sony ECM-MS907 stereo mike, which matches this camcorder nicely. Too bad Sony doesn't still make the short-cord version, the ECM-MS908C, which has a cord about the right length for on-camera use. I had to shorten this cord and re-install it into a shielded mini-stereo right-angle plug. The extended arm is rotated forward, to keep it clear of the right hand. A scraping noise will get onto the soundtrack, if any contact is made with it. This camcorder's tape mechanism is too noisy to use its internal mikes or one that is mounted directly into the hotshoe. Listen to the audio of some of my earlier videos with this camera on Vimeo, before I installed the extension arm. It sounds like a hay-baler is running somewhere in the vicinity. Another plus, for solid-state recording.

I previously posted photos of a proof-of-concept prototype of this mount, that was made entirely of wood.

This is absolutely brilliant!

Well done! I don't suppose you produced a tutorial of some sort?

Do you have an example of footage shot with this steady-mount?


Again, amazing work!

Thanks very much, Richard. If you go to my Vimeo album, you can see many videos I shot with several cameras, using my steady-mounts. On this one, you can read the comments section and see how I made them. http://www.vimeo.com/3759405 If you subscribe for a free Vimeo account, you can download the full video files and view them with much better quality.