Five Updates For The Steadicam

[YB2Normal] has updated his steadicam 5 times! For those that remember the original, it allowed indie film makers to create smooth and steady video. Version 2 implemented a new gimbal based on a throttle linkage in cars. Version 3 allowed the user to easily adjust angles and weights to prevent accidentally knocking the assembly. Version 4 seems to have disappeared. And finally, version 5 updates the gimbal again using a Traxxas U-joint and redistributes the weight. What should come next? We think a handle, holding onto a threaded bolt can’t be good for your hands.

[Thanks Update]

9 thoughts on “Five Updates For The Steadicam

  1. Honestly the non gimballed ones suck. I have tried ALL the easy to build ones and they just dont match the ones that have a gimbal at the holding point. They work better than nothing, but rarely work any better than a monopod with a weight strapped on the leg.

    Find the plans out there that use a rollerblade wheel to make a gimbal. they work 1000% better.

  2. @farthead

    I don’t really get the point of your comment. If you read the description and the link to the build, you see that this one DOES have a gimbal (that’s what the Traxxas U-joint is doing in there, and it’s anchored into a skate bearing) and there has been no comment endorsing a design that doesn’t use a gimbal.

  3. This is fine and dandy – but what’s
    the point of trying to capture STEADY
    video, when every moron director and
    movie maker thinks its cool to jiggle
    the camera DELIBERATELY when framing
    a scene ?

    wish i could biiaatch slap the azzholes
    who deliberately shake cameras ! i fly
    ENG helo’s with gyro stabilized camera
    mounts that cost six figures – and when
    i watch a movie or tv series where they
    SHAKE the camera DELIBERATELY it pisses
    me off to no end ! like WTF ??

    just curious – who’s the target market
    for this device ? can’t be the current
    crop of movie makers – sarcasm intended

  4. I feel your pain Joe… sadly they’re under some false impression that it makes the image look like it was shot by an amateur on a camcorder, making it “more immersive.” What they fail to realize is that not all humans have Parkinson’s and that the image stabilization on camcorders has vastly improved over the years. Personally, I’m all for Romero’s out in Diary of the Dead, wherein he made the primary characters film students to avoid having to deal with the whole shaky cam bullshite.

  5. I wonder if this design could be extended using CD players as gyroscopes, like this

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdAmEEAiJWo

    CD players like that should be dirt cheap, and most can be made to work with more than one CD stacked for more stabilization force.

    As far as I can tell, the design currently eliminates roll, pitch, and yaw. Providing at least dampening in the X, Y, and Z directions might be desirable, and this could be accomplished by suspending the device from the handle with rubber bands.

    Then there’s also the active approach, which could use servo motors, a Wii Motion Plus, and a controller like an Arduino to provide the same stabilization but also allow the camera to be aimed with a joystick type control.

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