This is like ping-pong. $850 Merlin cannot fly a 40lb camera but it is completely customizable in the sense that it can be constantly rebalanced and repositioned with little effort. You cannot do this with a bolt mounted counterweight system.

Most DIY'ers dont understand that the camera needs to be rebalanced after every shot or your camera will "bounce" or drift .. Just as yours does in your examples. Being in the "ballpark" with gravity here is not the point. It needs to be PERFECTLY balanced and controllable. Pro Steadicams have refined the abilities to rebalance, reposition and make difficult camera adjustments EXTREMELY quickly and without stopping.

So I would argue, DIY'ers, when given the chance to see for themselves, would see the difference and realize they are not saving any money by attempting to build a Steadicam.

Let's have a shoot out! Leu Gardens, High Noon!

I think lots of people would be very interested in SEEING exactly what you are talking about. Bring your rig over and we'll do a compare/contrast. We'll shoot it on white, you can be the smarmy kid and I'll be the frumpy older guy:

Charlie: "Hello, I'm a Merlin."
Eric: "...and I'm a DIY."

Mr. Burket, your argument, while largely correct, is totally irrelevant. I've seen DIY camera work that indeed rivals what the big rigs can do and I've employed both. A $10,000 rig is going to have advantages over a cheapo homebuilt but the people interested in this tool aren't able to spend that kind of money.

And your last paragraph just smacks of sour grapes:

"So I would argue, DIY'ers, when given the chance to see for themselves, would see the difference and realize they are not saving any money by attempting to build a Steadicam."

You've been challenged to a shoot out big guy. Put up or shut up.

***
Just to interject and make sure everyone knows exactly what is going on here: Charlie and I are friends and I both respect his opinions and agree with 99% of what he says! But that last 1% is the really interesting part. And even though Mr. Burket can outshoot me with both eyes closed and one leg tied behind his back...

Game On! It's time for a Shoot Out!

****

Welcome Mr. Legrande. Eric err "Videopia" appreciates your kind words. (His enjoyment of this banter is evident in his avatar)

We obviously disagree here. I would be happy to indulge this request, however, it would still be a skewed result as I am not a professional steadicam operator (the kind that earns a living off of their skills). To be fair, we would need a pro who would be willing to use videopia's DIY and a pro rig.

- on your "sour grapes" comment -

I wanted to add a flying camera mount to my gear a few years ago. While I did tons of research and worked on an independent that used a DIY one, I decided it was worth the money to buy "the real thing". As you have stated, it IS expensive to do. I did not purchase the rig I truly wanted, but I opted to go with a smaller setup and a smaller camera mount.

If I was producing a film or music video or whatever, I most certainly would spend the money on hiring a qualified operator and not worrying about PVC pipe, gaff tape and some weighted washers.

I enjoy the Steadicam Merlin, but realize that it solves the technical half of the equation. The other is training / practice.

PS. thanks Videopia for the kind words

inspiring video! love the concept! keep up the awesome work.

Actually, since neither you, Mr. Burket, nor Mr. Franks are professional Steadicam operators a high noon shootout should be a fair comparison, the question at hand is the gear, not the operator. While you’re at it, do some crane like shots with your Merlin. :-)

As a control maybe hand the rigs to some bystanders (no ringers) and have them use both and compare the results.

A professional Steadicam operator would do better, sure, but they’d do better with a “Poor Man’s Steadycam”, too. The walk, the balance, the tricks for going up and down stairs, turning corners, etc. that they know would come into play. The Poor Man’s Steadycam is not a major engineering feat but look at the results Mr. Lee gets. Most of us would love to get those kind of results even with a commercial unit. BTW, remember, the original Steadicam, the Merlin, et al., were DIY projects initially. Only after the bugs were ironed out did they go into manufacture and become polished commercial products.

While this monopod rig is in no way competition for a real Steadicam (Tiffen execs can sleep tonight), what it is is an inexpensive way for people (not studios, not music video production companies...) that just want to eliminate most of the shakiness in their handheld videos and experience the smoothness that their wallets may not otherwise allow. Searching the net for information on some of the various commercial non-vest stabilizers uncovered a LOT of frustration from owners of the units. Regardless of price, they don’t work out of the box!

There’s a lot of frustrating trial and error balancing, rebalancing, and more rebalancing, instead of shooting video. A few people have had theirs for six+ months and still not got it right yet. Search YouTube and read the “Sorry, it’s not fully balanced...” posts by the video uploaders. Change batteries, add a mike, filter, etc. and you’re back to balancing from square one. Then, after you get it dead on balanced you have to learn “the walk”, et al. Watched a few of the Steadicam class videos, not pretty when you first start, even with $40,000 in HEAVY professional gear, a trainer and a spotter.

Better videos eventually (40-70+ hours later), sure, but how much better and is it worth the effort for a non-Steadicam pro? Also, remember that few in your average audience will even notice the smoothness or care. Heck, since the average person can handle watching “Cloverfield” and “The Blair Witch Project”, I’d say that slightly less than professional stabilization is tolerable.

“Gentleman, walk ten paces, turn and...”

I'll come document the whole shootout with my steadicam.

I just want to steady my home movies and don't want to spend $1,000.00 to steady a $750.00 camera (Canon VIXIA HF100).

I'm expecially interested on my sailboat. I'm moving, the boat is moving. I'm thinking the only good method is to use a tripod, but there just is not enough room on a 30' boat:

youtube.com/watch?v=HIIqp-NomV0&fmt=18

Dennis

The solution to your "sailing video" is a gyro stabilizer, such as those made by Kenlab. Of course, we're now talking about $2500 to $3500, depending on which camera (weight) your using.

I'm worse as a DIY person than I am as a cameraman, so when I bought my HV30 I also bought a lightweight and cheap (£60GBP) stabiliser. It's great! See youtube.com/watch?v=GOL9tIcnwoY

Years go I hired pro Steadicam operators a lot and actually tried a full rig on once, with my BetacamSP broadcast kit mounted. Nearly broke my back (but I'm a wimp).

Way to go Mr Videopia.

Stu
Isle of Man

The gimbal/ball joint looks suspiciously like the kind of thing engine tuners and hot-rodders use on carburetor linkages. I bet if you tried your local specialist auto tuning emporium (or mail order site) you'd find exactly the thing you need.

Thanks, this is great information. One of the more sophisticated DIY steadicams I've seen but it also looks like the best quality! I think I'll be building one of these soon since I can't afford an $800 Merlin.

Great stuff!

Thanks so much...your videos are the most informative vids on vimeo , I love them!!!....keep posting more...they rock!!!

Thank you Eric. I also agree that your videos are super informative, especially for an amateur such as myself. You come across well on camera and you explain things very well. Keep it up!

Eric. How about a DIY video on camera mounted, LCD confidence monitors. Seems like the market is ripe for this sort of product. There is only a few that are under 1000 and have component input. There are a few more above 1000 that offer HDSDI but screen resolutions are hitting the 800x480 mark. This is obviously not 1:1 for an HD camera. There are lots of affordable (and huge) LCD screens marketed for computers that offer component in. I've even seen some home brew stuff that people are making with high rez smaller panels.

Love your clip and clear explination! I love the origional Steadicam Jr. showed them and sold them a lot and still have all spare parts except for the gimbal. (Who has some left for sale?) But as soon as others sold them for those heavy cams like Canon EX1 and Sony PD150 I got mad, its too heavy Cant use that setup no longer as a quarter of an hour. And several owners broke the fragile gimball. Later on many JR's arm were broke; big construction faillure. The spring inside was too strong for the plastic and broke the arm and made it a useless product. The Dutch importer got bankrupt because they didn't get the repairments and sendingcosts for free from Cinema Products! Now I am always searching for the flying floating camera position. (Search for Jancam to see my solution.) So glad HD camera's are getting smaller and smaller. Probably at the end we can use a small balloon to get the same effect. Please keep your demos roling!

ThinkGeek has a decent gyro if you are still thinking of experimenting. thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/6a4b/

Excellent, very well explained - I especially love the history part as it deepens the subject.

I realize that the theme is DIY low budget but this site is a wealth of information and perhaps more for me Inspiration. It offers a different perspective on design, while looking around you will see a bearing which has been affixed at opposing sides, I like this one.

Link for the interested: homebuiltstabilizers.com/index.htm

I got just the mono-pod and it works pretty good without the arms.

Just finished mine and shot some footage. vimeo.com/1519002

Thanks, Videopia!

What camera do you shot on? Your video always looks perfect

Very, very handy and usefull! Thank's for sharing!

@ Videopia,

Why not run a set of sidearms front to back as well?

Great information. Thanks for this presentation.

Hello, Thank you Vidiopia for the helpful and great videos. I think we have to divide those of us who are seeking a simple answer on a budget videographers and those who seek perfection and can afford it. I see you have tried the mini tripod as a gimbal and it wasn't for you. I perfected the design but use something different type of these while still staying within a small budget. In true DIY fastion, it will allow those who want a simple solution without going professional to make viewable creative videos more steady, on a budget.

Those who are in the profession and are pros will agree that it could take many months to years to profect using a steaycam no matter the cost. Can you do it cheaply, yes and it does take training. Will you need to spend 2 or 4 times the cost of the camcorder for a steadycam, most won't. Your rig is a great example of what can be accomplished like my Nautilus Hybrid Camera Stabilizer does as well. I applaude you in this effort and we DIY'ers will always get complaints cause someone wants more.

My advise is if you want more, then buy the one you want and stop attacking these DIY solutions. If you want professional results buy a $1000+ rig and move on. If you are interested in making someting and having some fun doing it...try these out and modify it for your cam. Since the Nautilus is loosely based on the Hague MMC, you can make 8 of these for the price of the Hague and the gimbal won't fall apart with heavier camcorders.

Again great video and hope to see more and hope you don't give up...For DIY'ers around the world. Thank you.

Ace 808

thx for the informative video mr videopia sir!

pls keep them coming

(btw you are the first "user" i have subscribed to on vimeo!)

great video and you get bonus points for the Evil Dead references. I love those movies.

Here are 2 ball head quick-release plates I found. You could mount one of these to some PVC pipe and forgo the monopod, if you wanted:

amazon.com/Slik-SBH-100DQ-Release-Compact-Digital/dp/B001DOQ3O4/ref=sr_1_61?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1225347792&sr=1-61

amazon.com/Medium-Ball-Head-Quick-release-Plate/dp/B000FCIZ7I/ref=sr_1_69?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1225347792&sr=1-69

great video!!!I almost finished my poor man's steadicam and I can't wait to use it

Great video (as are your other videos). I did have a question. First, I didn't use any washers (or another weights), I just put some nails in the arm opposite of the camera's LCD. Would using more weight help eliminate the "drift" that I am experiencing? I find that the rig is very sensitive and that is keeps moving after I stop. Of course I've never used any sort of steadicam before, so maybe that's how it is supposed to work. Nonetheless, I'm pretty pleased with how well it worked (it was a bit of a pain to get it balanced). Here's some test footage I shot:

vimeo.com/2588936

thanks for that man! so cool!

thank you thank you thank you.

Looks like a good rig. As the DP of Evil Dead, I appreciate the shout out (though the history is a little off -- we started shooting in late '79). The keys for us, once we knew we couldn't afford a SteadiCam? Get wider lenses, mount the camera on a long piece of 2x4, and make the soundtrack as noisy and distracting as possible.

Can't remember where I got '77 from: thanks for the correction. And thanks for the real-world, hand's on advice too!

Hey great tutorial. I tried to do this using my dvx100b and for some reason it will not balance!?? I dont know what I am doing wrong. do I need to add additional weights to it? (since yours was a small camera and I am using the same weight) or....??
ay help would be appreciated!

thanks again

I built mine and put the information and video here at vimeo.com/3521899

Hey dude, I just wanted to say thanks for taking your time and posting this vid, I don't understand why these guys are arguing so much. Thanks again.

You're brilliant man! I wonder, would this work for my Sony HDR-FX7?

My question about any of these stabilizing devices -- the diy and the pro rigs alike -- is how long of a lens can one use on them and expect optimal results? Is it just a given that these are only effective with wide angle lenses?

Sr. you just gave me a brilliant idea, to build it myself. Why would I want to spend 900 dlls? when 70 is enough for the same results.