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Poor man's Steadicam...


Matthew Buick

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Hi all,

 

In my search for something other than a tripod to keep my camera steadi (geddit?) I have happened upon this extremly low budget option called ''the poor man's steadicam''.

 

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/

 

Is there anyone who has tried this and can tell me whether this is a nice little tool or a piece of C.R.A.P?

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I have it and use it. But I only use it with my small camcorder, nothing like a DVX and definitely not something like an XL2. The weight that it comes with is only 2 1/2 lbs i think, so a camera heavier than that would throw the thing out of balance even if you were to adjust vertically where you hold it (you basically want to be holding the whole thing at its center of gravity). It works really well and I've done reverse "dolly" type shots where the subject was running towards the camera and I was running backwards and people ask how I did it thinking i used some sort of wheelchair or something. But I wouldn't use it for any kind of serious work with a camera bigger than your average consumer camcorder.

 

And yea, this thread should at least be moved to the general forum ;)

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I've tried something similar and it really doesn't work very well. The problem is that any torque (think barrel roll) you apply to the system (and you will without knowing you do it) will still be imparted exactly as if you handheld the camera alone. You would be better served by getting better at doing handheld work. It doesn't allow anything above what you can do if you're good at handheld work.

 

Basically it just makes a handheld camera heavier and slightly smoother.

Edited by Christopher D. Keth
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There's no need to build anything to get this same action.

 

Just buy a monopod, get a clamp and a barbell weight (a 2.5 pounder, or 5 pounder), slide the weight up a couple inches on the bottom of the monopod, put the clamp under it, and you're done!

 

I even put a fluid head on mine, so I can pan & tilt.

 

MP

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