DIY Steadicam Merlin Glidecam Version 5

[didanhtennis]

It's a great design. I like the fender washer on the side as opposed to the one in the same alignment of the plane, similar to the Merlin's. The balance on the sides, different plane, I think, is more stable and you see no wobbling effects. I wonder if this wood would work for the Canon 7D. Has anyone tried this design for a Canon 7D?

Thanks for sharing your great design.

[jamierogersink]

Great Shots! how much does it cost?

[artizonconstruction]

From the different versions you have created, which one would be more sable when running (filming sideways) Thank you so much!

[didanhtennis]

Is your gimbal connection/attachment to the wood is at the center of gravity of the camera? In other words, right at the connection of camera if it were mounted on a tripod?

Great design, I like the compact version a lot better. The wobbly picture is gone in Version 5.

[yb2normal]

@didanhtennis It is pretty close. Ideally the gimbal would be directly below the COG of the camera... this helps with rotational stability. However we don't rotate the stabilizer a lot, so I don't mind shifting the gimbal in front or behind the camera COG in the interest of getting the entire camera/stablizer assembly to hang level.

[YAMAMOTOW11]

Olá sou do Brasil e pretendo fazer uma igual a sua, espero que eu consiga, eu adoro filmagem!

Hello from Brazil and I intend to do one like her, I hope that I can, I love shooting!

[AlkimyDeal]

God damn I had trouble making a steadicam. I've been much happier using the reliable inexpensive and effective Cam Caddie Scorpion.

[alkhair13]

im thinking about making your steadicam, but is it fit with a much heavier DSLR ? because im trying to make a dslr video

[zplegoland]

it's a great steadicam tool! my question is that where to buy the universal joint, i try many hardware stores and they don't sell this kind of u-joint you are using. i would like to know where i can buy in the southern california. thanks!

[haydenz13]

great results!

[davidarthurwall]

I made a glidecam almost identical to your design, but i'm having issues with wobble. is it something you just have to get used to? is there so way to eliminate this? is it all about balancing and trial and error with that? do you sometimes hold the 9" wood?

[yobgems]

Very nice. Your clearly a good operater of the steadicam as well. I'm corrently in the middle of making a glidecam replica. Videos of my progress will start shortly. Sub if your interested.

[pepsivanilla93]

this just goes to show how lazy and redundant american consumers are. just make your own people

[eurorydr23]

Great job! But has anyone told you that you have the same kitchen/first floor as in the movie Paranormal Activity 2?

[thrillhoV]

quick question, ive been trying to fit my bearings into the 3/4 pvc by heating the pvc in the oven to ~200 degrees.

having a real hard time getting it to press in.

can you give me some advice on how to get that in there...

and bty, the song in the background is "Confusion (Nova Remix) - Molella"

[sourc]

What is this music in the clip?

[yb2normal]

@sourc , it has been so long that I don't recall... sorry!

[defnyung]

I like the design and the fact that you put in alot of work into it. However, IMO all you really need is any ushape bar and and a good gimbal and you're set. Yours is much more complicated and unfortantely many of us don't have carpenter skills. I know, not hard but still, takes alot more time to build. Your first steadicam stuff is awesome. Keep making more versions and hope you sell them one day.

[yb2normal]

@defnyung , these are all great experiments for me... each build teaches me something different. The hobby is not so much about arriving at the destination... the 'perfect' stabilizer... it is really about the journey.

[5D2Team]

Congratulations Your work is GREAT

We took your idea of using ball joints as gimbal. The one you suggested is pretty strong & works pretty good with "heavy" cameras+lenses (in fact we're building the stabilizer to use with a Canon 5D Mark II + Bettery Grip + 24-70 2.8L, so it's WAY heavier than a compact camcorder)

Results are EXCELLENT We're taking a closer look at the back/forward & left/right travel for the camera mount (the whole gear has center of Gravity at one side..)

Thanks!

[5D2Team]

PS: the total weight of a Canon 5D Mark II + Battery Grip + 24-70 2.8L lens is over 4lbs. The ball joint is limited in movement, but feels strong enough to support all the gear (not so sure about how strong could the gimbal made with Traxxas part be in that regard, wouldn't be good to have the gear dropping due breaking the "overloaded" gimbal..)

We only found details of the forward/back - left/right travel system very briefly in one video, is there any further pics and details?

Thanks.

[yb2normal]

@5D2Team , the back/forward-left/right adjustment was the simplest design I could think of. I only have the one video description of it, but I can add that it makes no attempt at being symmetrical.... the camera does not slide uniformly left/right and instead pivots at a single point near the rear. It makes adjustments less intuitive, but it satisfies the need to adjust the CG over a wide range.

[toteranruf]

Thanks for posting these great videos about your DIY Steadicam. I live in the US and I will try to build one exactly like yours for my super 8 camera. I have some questions... How did you punch those holes on that square piece of wood to support the PVC? What's the diameter of each hole? What is, in your opinion, the best substitute for wood on this project? Maybe I'm trying to walk the easy road, but... I would gladly pay for a PDF describing every little detail. Thanks again!

[warbucks25]

I'm making one adapted from this idea. How about just using a 3/4" PVC cap, attached to the bottom of the camera platform? Look around at hardware stores: you don't want a rounded-top pipe cap, but a flat-top PVC cap. I will try attaching the PVC cap to the bottom of the platform with a flat head machine screw.

I am testing now with my wood unit, using the right angle ball joint (from yb2normal's DIYsteadicam3) and it is OK, but not much sway permitted as this U-joint design.

[yb2normal]

@warbucks25 , a 3/4" PVC cap is a great idea! Just make sure when you press the bearing into the cap that it goes in evenly/level.

[yb2normal]

@toteranruf , I have a drill press into which I chucked varying sized drill bits. The largest was somewhere around 3/4"... to allow the PVC ring to be slightly recessed into the square piece of wood. Smaller drill bits were used to clear out space to make sure the skate bearing did not rub.

[statequest]

I love your stabilizer. You have another gimbal design similar to catascouts which also works fantastic. If you wanted to, could you put an camera sliding plate and adapter on the top? Like the Bogen camera plates? Take care and good work!

[warbucks25]

I am in the process of making a couple: I'm trying one from hardwood and one from aluminum (some scrap 1" square tubing). I did order one Bogen (Manfrotto) Universal Sliding Plate which I am just today testing with the hardwood unit. It does work great for the balance adjustment. But it adds about $50 to the cost.

[yb2normal]

@statequest , sure! The fun thing with these stabilizers are that there are so many different ways to succeeed.

[DIYfilmaker]

@statequest try to view my stabilizer, it's like a glidecam design.. all the gimbals are made of ball bearings.. the x,y,z axis..

[alienufosarereal]

epic almonds

[yb2normal]

@alienufosarereal , Word.

[cch3st3r]

hey this is great. tutorial?

[catascouts]

Great design. I built the one with the PVC pipes - inspired by your website.

Thanks!

[QRYTEN]

how much were your weights on each side?

[lbeeh89]

I enjoyed your video with great stable =D

[sterlingadgate]

wow. I can't wait to make one!

[SkimPure]

Amazing, nice job! This helped me a lot thanks

[SecondLifeSailing]

NICE PAD

[raphabadboy]

hi, a big thank to you for your videos and homepage with all versions of your product. Please help me..

I have a Sony HDR-XR500. Which version should i use to get really good smooth shots? Can't wait to have a response :=(

[yb2normal]

You should build whichever version you have material on-hand to create... each has positives and negatives, but they can all be learned to fly well.

[MonkeyFCoconut]

works good!

[ryoberlin]

Why you dont move to a mirrror? :D

and what about a competition part without the steadicam ? dit he cam has activetatet Image Stabilisation?

[yb2normal]

Image stabilization, for the most part, assumes that the person filming is standing still, so it tries to eliminate any camera movement. This can actually cause problems when trying to fly a camera on a stabilizer, so I generally turn it off. Also, yes, I should have flown it to a mirror so you could see me with it ;)

[NAGGERNUTZ]

A little hokey looking, but it appears to work very well. Clean up the design and you might have a gold mine there.

[yb2normal]

Why thank you for the advice.

[GERMICIDE812]

i plan to start this weekend is there a place or video where i can find the measurements for the wood used? i thought i remembered seeing them somewhere but can't remember

[GERMICIDE812]

never mind i found them thx for sharing everything i am looking forward to this project

[a7xrox99]

is the piping and bearing glued to the bottom of the upper piece in that hole u have drilled out? or is it pushed in with another piece coming out the top for the camera mount? I'm a bit confused as to how it all works aside from the gimble

[yb2normal]

The white PVC where you see the bearing is lightly glued into the wood of the stabilizer. I was careful not to get glue on the bearing. The wood is drilled out so that it does not touch the bearing.

[brahymk]

Nice explanation

[dslmattman]

Nice house!

[malouni95]

Hi yb2normal, I just can't wait to do one of your steadicam version (1,2,3,4,5)but i have a problem..... I don't know wich version is the version that works better than the others, so please respond to this message, i will apreciate because I've been looking a thousands of DIY steadicams and yours is the best so far.

Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!

(If my English is don't right is because I am Mexican, so sorry, but I hope that you understand what I say)

Thanks again!!!

[HorridJasper]

thats awesome man. definitely having a go

[malouni95]

Hi, I really like your videos, but wich version of your steadicams do you reccomend to me????

Thanks a lot!!!!

[sonicballer8888]

man. This is amazing. I need this stabilizer.

[TheRagingBeaverCo]

Almonds...mmmm. How much would you charge me to ship this item to canada??? Not the almonds,lol.

[MarkAlkalinE]

Thanks so much for all of your videos. I just got done today making my own using your outline. I'm having a bit of trouble flying it as well as you do. How much does your overall unit weigh? Also, how much weight are you using on each side?

Thanks again for your ideas and time posting.

[sexyenrique]

It's smoother than your previous version, niceone.

[joaoruth]

Thank you. Thanks to you who had the gumption to not only save you but to show to others that this is possible! Here in Brazil things are a little difficult, but you showed that is possible! God bless you and your country!

[jeffbrent]

compared to a lot of "steady cam" videos i see on youtube this looks really good. I didn't really notice the minor step bounce until I read the post below mine. I personally don't like the wood, but if you get good results who cares.

[yb2normal]

Thanks! I need to practice more too, but the basic design is sound. The wood is secondary to the physics. I always tell people to use what you have locally. A great example is from joaoruth who posted a video response here.

[Rotaks]

For me most important reason for having steadicam is to eliminate the bouncing because of walking (or runing).

And here, on this video I still can count your steps :/

Steadicam should work up/down not left/right ?

[yb2normal]

What you are seeing is my poor technique. The vertical dampening in a hand held stabilizer is left almost completely up to the operator's arm. In this video I was holding the stabilizer too close to my body, so the natural oscillations of my body were transmitted to the stabilizer. Ironically, the T-shape at the bottom of the new stabilizer is the reason I could hold the stabilizer closer to my body. I just need to learn to carry it farther away from myself.

[nssaquinas]

I have an idea... what if you got a drum harness to help carry the weight?

[yb2normal]

The harness would transmit your body movements to the steadicam, unless you also had a set of dampening arms to make the connections from the harness to the steadicam.

[nssaquinas]

ah I got to try an actual steadicam, and i'm thinking i could probably cannibalize one of my desk lamps for the dampening arms... It'd be better if I had something based on hydraulics though.

[yb2normal]

a desk lamp won't be strong enough. The point of the arms is to completely support the weight of the steadicam. hydraulics dampen motion, which is not the point of the arm... it needs to oscilate in direct contradiction to the users movement so that it both supports the weight AND negates your motion.

[mike20021969]

the video demos you've put on youtube are really smooth.

i see in your design you have a horizontal at the base, balanced with washers on either end.

what did this help acheive in the design, or eliminate in the video?

thanks.

[yb2normal]

My idea was to get all the weight as low as possible on the unit, and have it symmetrical around the rotational axis, to help avoid one of the inherent limitations of the Merlin-like designs: that the dynamic centripetal forces can never be in perfect balance because each concentration of mass is not equidistant from the point of control (the gimbal)

[mike20021969]

i'm hopefully gonna get round to making something similar to this (or the glidecam design in your other video).

in your image at 28secs, where do you get that black anlged joint from and does it have a specific technical name i can google for? are the lengths of wood a specific length?

does the camera weight determine how many washers you need to balance it?

thanks.

[yb2normal]

The design is documented on the website shown in the description. The dimensions are highly dependant on the camera you use... the goal is create a system who's CG is just below the gimbal. Balance can be achieved with a longer lower arm (better leverage) OR more weight. It depends on your preferences... a very compact but heavy stabilizer, or a larger but lighter stablizer.

[238662Jikh]

Would you ever consider putting this out to the market?

[yb2normal]

The market seems well saturated with 'affordable' stabilizers. I put affordable in quotes because it has different meanings for different folks. I see what appear to be pretty decent units on ebay for around $199 which is a steal when you consider what these units can do for you. For someone just dabbling though I suppose you'd want to see something around $99. Does that sound about right?

[238662Jikh]

Hmm, I like this design much better than anything I've seen on ebay thus far. I'd gladly be willing to pay something in the 200$ area for one that's put together and ready to ship.

[yb2normal]

For $200 you should consider one of the many steadicam knock-offs. In my opinion the Flycam 3000 is base on very sound principle and the price point is good. Search youtube for the sample video from this guy:

Essai de nuit Canon HV30 /flycam 3000

[kkasamon]

Thank you for documenting your inventions so well and posting them. I am working on building a steadicam based you your work. I will point out that you are brilliant. I wonder if you are an engineer by training?

[yb2normal]

I'm a Software Engineer by training, but was raised by my dad to believe that most mechanical problems can be solved with a little ingenuity and the right tools.

[pvgs250]

where do i find that little u joint???

[yb2normal]

Search online for Traxxas U-joint (part# 1951) and pick the vendor closest to you ;)

[hamishofangus]

It's really interesting to watch the discussion about these videos and to observe as a community forms around this excellent gimbal design.

A steadicam is in its basic principle a very simple piece of equipment, but as soon as you try to tweak it to maximize performance the physics get very compliated, very quickly.

Will continue to watch with interest.

[yb2normal]

Yes, I think the advances of the design are a real boost to the 'open source' concept. Everyone benefits!

[CreativeDVDs]

muy buen resulrados saludo Gustavo desde Argentina

[yb2normal]

¡Gracias! Es una manía de la diversión

[0MrENigma0]

I too am taking WSCALTER's design as a base for testing... I finally today received some metal universal joints that are like yours and his. Guess there are no more excuses to get moving on this. Nice job!

[joshdoube]

I thanked you in my video.  any advice for weight displacement?

[yb2normal]

Yup! I posted on your video but I'll repeat it here... you want the unit to be just slightly bottom heavy.... Lift the bottom of the unit until the stabilizer is horizontal and let go. The time it takes to swing through the vertical position (a 90 degree motion) should be at least 1 second. This is referred to as the "drop time". The longer the drop time the less pendulum effect you will get when changing direction or accelerating, but the unit will be much more squirrely and hard to balance

[WSCLATER]

Nice smooth movement, a tidy house a big bag of Almonds. What more could you want?

Are there particular advantages in positioning the counterweights to the side?

[yb2normal]

It's just another experiment, but my idea is that moving the mass off to the sides will allow me to carry the stabilizer more in front of my body instead of the side. In my early tests this has been a more comfortable place to carry the unit. Next step is to raise the camera higher above the gimbal so I can add a little more weight under the unit AND distribute the two primary centers of mass (the camera and the weight bar) more equally above and below the gimbal.

[WSCLATER]

Having your counterweights equidistant fromt he gimbal will simplify the adjustment of dynamic balance. In the MERLIN type of design, one weight is higher than the other, and this creates unequal centrifugal tilting forces during panning.

When I lowered my gimbal 1.5", I found I needed a large increase in the counterbalance weights. Increasing the height of my camera compensates for the relatively low mass (1lb) of the camera. So many variables.....

[smanettonipuntonet]

HOLY MOTHER THIS IS SMOOTH

Bravo! Remarkable results!!

[yb2normal]

Thanks! It would have been even smoother but I forgot to turn off the camera's anti-vibration setting. This causes a bit of jerky motion in the pans because the camera is constantly trying to compensate for what it thinks is shake but is really just me panning.