$14 Steadycam Video Tutorial

The tutorial covers how to build Johnny Chung Lee's famous $14 steadycam, also known as the Poor Man's Steadycam. This steadycam is a cheap way to get smooth tracking shots in your movies. It beats paying thousands of dollars for a professional steadicam and then having to take a class to know how to correctly use the damn thing. For the methodical workers, it might take you a full day of shoppping for all the parts and then assemblying them to finish your $14 steadycam, but it's worth it.




Step by step instructions can be found at www.steadycam.org

Check out my short movies and documentaries at www.jimbobmovies.com

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• $14 steadycam
• steadycam tutorial
• video tutorial
• DIY steadycam
• moviemaking
• Jimbob Movies
• Jimmy Nguyen
• Johnny Chung Lee
• cheap steadycam
• steadycam test shots

[gaboaaa23]

Sorry, but this is everything but Steadi!

[jimbobsoysizzle]

@gaboaaa23 - yes i agree, but with a little practice the steadycam can work really well and it's cheap. the test shot i did at the end was the first time i had ever used the device so it was a bit unsteady. this fact was mentioned in the video.

[anoo83]

why you sound so sad :P

[jimbobsoysizzle]

@anoo83 my dog had died that week. just kidding. I guess was trying to sound overly professional, but I ended up sounding like Whispery Wally.

[sk8boardn101]

i find that a 5 pound weight is much greater for when your doing running shots, it also improves the stillness

[jimbobsoysizzle]

@sk8boardn101 word up. yeah, to be honest with you I haven't had time to experiment much with the steadycam after I built it. I haven't made too many movies that required much action recently. But I would imagine that the 5 pound weight is better. It's just a bitch to lug around all this stuff and no helpers. One day man. I'll have a gaffer.

[whole27]

@jimbobsoysizzle this all just seems like too much work, pay thousand and take a class or build your own and still have it be hard to watch....i think i'll just avoid doing any running shots in my damn movies so horror movies are out:) What camera did you use for this?

[gaboaaa23]

@jimbobsoysizzle

My Canon built in stablizer does a better Job! Sorry, but i am only honest!

Anyway, maybe you can improve your steadicam!

[kookkevin]

this is fucking epic

[avonsworld]

Nice Vid, though I would recommend looking into Cam Caddie before trying to build a reliable steadycam. $38 was easily worth it for a sturdy and effective camera stabilizer.