Do you NEED a smooth shooter with the Glidecam?
 

can you buy the glidecam 4000 and just the body support and still get the same smooth shots as using the smooth shooter thing?

is there that big of a difference?

Nope, the Body-Bod doesn't provide any stabilisation. It's just a mobile "dock"

- Mikko

It's good for lock off shots though...you can also pan and tilt but just don't walk.

Tery
Indicam

yea i can use my spiderbrace for that or tripod. i was thinking the glidecam was about $500 but after adding the smooth shooter it's out of my price range. i'll have to find a DIY way of getting smooth shots...

James,

What camera are you using? How long will your shots be?

The reason I ask is I have used our Indicam PILOT sled for a great deal of shots that don't take very long to shoot. They are usually 30 seconds or less and they still look good. We switch over to our body mounted system when we shoot longer scenes or are shooting for an extended period of time.

An example of some of our handheld shots is found on our Flash Video page:
http://www.indicam.com/media/Flash/flvplayer.html (Click on the last video.)

A decent DIY option is when you have the camera mounted on a tripod, collapse the tripod and shorten it just a bit and then hold it near it's center of gravity. This can yield some usable shots although they won't look like a true stabilizer can produce. Hopefully your tripod isn't too heavy.

Good luck.

Tery
Indicam

yea the shots would be longer than 30 seconds as i'm doing narrative short films. i'm using an HVX which is not so lightweight. i may try the tripod suggestion you mentioned since i have a cheap lightweight one. i can't imagine using my Bogen tripod. that thing is heavy.