DIY Steadicam? You BETCHA

As some of you may know, I’ve been fooling around with the idea of building my own video camera stabilization rig. There are a bunch of commercial units available from Steadicam/Tiffen, Glidecam, and a collection of eBay stores based somewhere in India. These are all fairly impressive units, but some also have some pretty impressive price tags (Steadicam, for instance, doesn’t make a model for my camera with less than a four-figure price tag!).

Today, I cobbled up my first test rig — a Manfrotto monopod with a ball head and quick release plate, and an old flywheel/head assembly from an ancient GYYR 1/2" helical scan VTR for a counterweight. I mounted my Canon XL2, balanced the rig as best I could and wandered around the house for a couple of minutes, making no particular attempt at slow, smooth camera work.

There are a couple of more severe bumps — one when I inadvertently kicked the counterweight as I was walking, and one when the counterweight hit a stair-tread as I was walking down a short flight of steps. But, the basic concept really seems quite doable, if I decide the savings in cost is worth my time and effort to fully design and build the thing.

Of course, I could always try to sell a few of them…