Testing poor man's steadycam monopod stabilizer (01)

Fully operational no-cost stabilizer made in under a minute after defining balance on a Manfrotto monopod. This is the first tryout. I tried to rotate it to have my dog in focus and it worked just about fine, although you will need to rotate your laptop to view it properly! :)

This was filmed May 8, 2010, with my pekingese in one hand and I was running and still rotating the "steadycam" with the other, and had to hold two hand strips from obstructing the lenses! (Don't try to do this at home!) You can see the shadow of the "steadycam" at 0:16.

Parts used:

Monopod: Manfrotto Pro 4343B;
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX210is (weight: 215 g. - about 6 oz)
Extras: a strip of adhesive tape to mark the balance! That's all.

Pros: Cheap way of compensating uncontrolled camera movement when recording video! Allows shooting video really low above surface (need a proper U-shaped arm for that)

Cons:
1. This quick fix does NOT allow using any of the camera functions like zoom;
2. When shooting at ground level you can only guess what you are filming - there is no way to control what is in focus (Canon LCD is out of sight while you are paying attention not to tumble over)
3. Rotation with hand movement is awful! A bearing or gimbal would probably compensate this.
4. To use a tripod as a stabilizer you need to hold it close to the balance with two fingers(!) THIS IS TRICKY - you may drop the whole thing! You could use additional weight at the bottom and then probably get a better grip but a gimbal attached handle would be better still.
5. Canon SX210is sucks as a camcorder! You can hear the wind blowing and I was only jogging! Both microphones are located too close to each other right on top of the camera... The Canon couldn't focus most of the time when I was following my dog, although there was enough light and I wasn't moving too fast.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• steadycam
• homemade
• stabilizer
• no-cost
• rotating
• panning
• manfrotto
• professional
• digital
• camera
• canon
• sx210is
• jogging
• testing
• trial
• video

[tunkunrunk]

amazing ! it looks as if you were biking or driving slowly in a car

[Spytheweb]

Thanks for the tip. justI got a monopod and the Nikon P500. I just walked around the house tonite but tomorrow i'am going outside. Looks like this maybe a keeper, thank again. Will update.

[ytubetor]

amazing!