<<<-- Originally posted by Mikko Wilson : Cleveland: (and anyone else)
"Oh yeah, and in my oppinion that $14 stick is about as far from Steadicam as possible... it breaks every rule in the book. (like balance...) No more than a big handle really."


Actually, the pipe rigs with weights in question use the principle of mass to achieve the stabilization they get. More mass = more inertia = more stability.

One of the biggest problems with these heavy units is using them for very long. They do work somewhat and are inexpensive and easy to make. Any stabilization is better than none at all.

Many times those who start in camera stabilization will move to the more balanced and refined systems. It's a good thing.

Tery

I'm just not sure about that horizontal handle--that's the part that breaks the rules. A horizontal crossbar at the bottom of the rig that extends from left to right with weights at either end would make the rig a bit unwieldy as far as hitting the legs are concerned, but it would be much more stable in the roll axis.

MIkko,

I saw your website and I looked at your pics (steadycam selfmade) and I must say that your steadycam looks so profesional and steady for only 20 dolalrs en 20 hours of work. That is like 640 dollars less than the other steadycams you can buy online.

DO you have any pdf file online of how to make one?

Everyody is interested. .

Thanks man!

You're going to get up and down stabilization but the side-to-side not nearly as much. It's funny but the more you mess with stabilizers the more you notice your own errors. When I made my first real stabilizer system I thought it was amazing but as time went on and the more I use and refine it the more I know I need to make it better.

I want my video to look as good as Charles' clips while not having nearly enough expertise and using a rig that costs .015 as much as his.

Practise does make more perfect though as evidinced by Leigh's clips. He's come a long way in not too much time.

Tery

Hi Tery,

Thanks for mention my clip.

I realized now that it is very important to spend US$3,000 in a Steadicam workshop.

I will include a tutorial video in my sales package to instruct my customer the proper way to use my stablizer.

Regards
Leigh

Incidentally my rig actually cost me €60 that closer to $110. And that was becuse i allready had some of the parts.
The sled is made out of the legs of an old tripod (so it telescopes, etc..) The stage came from there too. The monitor and Battery belong to my school, so theay arn't included in teh price. All i had to buy for the sled was the monitor and battery mounts.. and of course the parts for the gimble.
The most expensive part was the arm. That was a coudpl of peices of raw aluminum stock, that i then worked down (by hand) into an arm. And the vest again uses some of the same aluminum stock combined with a couple of old luggage straps and a pair of old jeans and some spare packing foam.

By no means is it a professional stabilizer, theough i have been able ot pull off a couple of decnet (easy) shoots with it when i had no other option.
The gimble is crooked, so it only ballances in one position, and the arm has no bearings in it. just metal washers and some WD-40 for a bit of lube. But even that's the wrong stuff really.

I do not have any plans for it, as it was built from my head, as i do many things. The few little parts that where actually designed more carefully where normally on bits of napkin or scraps of paper in class.
I'm not in the buisness of making, selling, on showing others how to make stabilizers. There are many more tallented peopel out there with teh skills and tools for that job. I just want to operate.
Where there's a will, there's a way.

However I will of course be ahppy to answer most *Specific* questions about preaty much anythign i can, Steadicam realted or not. But jsut dont' ask general stuff like "Help me build a rig" ... Charles(es), others, how often do you get e-mails like that?

- Mikko

Fortunately, no-one asks me how to help them build rigs--I mostly get the odd email about specific operating issues, with a sprinkling of truly random questions as well.

Hey Charles,

When are you going to make a DVD on how to operate? I have a few thousand customers I want to send your way.

Dan
www.DVcameraRigs.com

oh boy. The only thing I can say in my defense is that if/when I do it, I want to really do it right, and as I've written it it is a bit of a production number. Right now I'm laid up with a broken ankle so it is one of the projects I want to get cooking once I'm back on my feet. Thanks for the nudge though Dan--our man Tery Thompson hounds me about it too (and rightly so).

Sorry to hear about the ankle, but isn't that the perfect time to write an outline for the DVD? ;=)

Dan

Script was written long ago. It's the logistcis of getting all of the different rigs, the location and all of the other production issues. I need a producer/coordinator badly.

Charles, what are you using now? I know you had an XL1 rig a while back, is that still your weapon of choice?

Keith, I went DVX100a last year at the same time as I bought the Mini35, since the XL2 hadn't come out. By the time it did, it was sort of too late for me to bother changing cameras once again. I've got my eye on either the JVC or the Panasonic HD cams, but I'm in no immediate rush until I have a chance to test both.

Just out of curiosity, which HD cams?

Y'know, the Panasonic HDX-100 or the JVC HD-100. I like the Panasonic a lot in theory, just looking forward to seeing the images. I played with the JVC for a while at NAB; while I'm not much of a JVC fan, I thought it was a strong design and the pictures were impressive.