Dan821 Loc: Traveling........

I'm looking for recommendations on what others that shoot video are using for a stabilizer system; Steadicam, Glidecam?
Pros, cons?
Thanks for any input!

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Hi Dan,
I guess there are no answers yet for your question. I just use a tripod.
What sort of videos do you take?
Bob

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

B&H has a Merlin Steadicam on sale for $300 for the next 7 hours! Normally its $400.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/dealZone.jsp

Dan821 Loc: Traveling........

Already ordered!
An early Christmas gift to myself!
Thanks for the reply!

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Hope you report back with how it works for you. I tried to copy the design with some Ace Hardware parts and failed miserably!

Dan821 Loc: Traveling........

I will post results!
I thought that there might be more interest in these types of systems among the videographers on the forum. Also, there is supposed to be some improvement in still images, as relates to vibrations, etc. That's what is driving my interest as well as the smooth video transitions.
The reviews for this version look pretty good; but a bit of a learning curve to balance and "fly" the rig. I'm hoping for more stable video and was looking for a relatively cheap system to experiment with. Most of the good systems are WAY out of my budget to learn on. But hopefully if this works out as I hope, I might be able to justify the investment in a more elaborate system.

blackest Loc: Ireland

Do you just use the tripod stationary?

I've an aluminium tripod with a handle on the main tube.

I looked at a cheap diy steady cam which basically was 3 tubes connected with a T piece with a weight on the bottom. There were a few video's demonstrating this steadycam but in one there was shots taken using a tripod as a steadycam. He said that there was some clanking with the shots using the tripod. It was actually pretty good.

My camera is a pretty light G5 which feels pretty stable when I pick up the tripod legs extended by the carrying handle i can also use the tilt handle with my other hand. Giving me a similar steadying effect to the diy version.

I doubt it would be so well balanced with my dslr which is at least twice as heavy. However there is also a hook at the bottom of the tripod tube normally you would hang a bag or something to it to steady the tripod when used normally
however you could use it to provide more weight at the bottom and provide more stabilization for a heavier camera. I've not noticed any problem with the legs slapping yet but a bungie strap similar to what i used to use on a motorcycle pannier would hold them in place.

I've just bought a zoom h1 audio recorder (shelf price €89 with student discount €85 , its 4.5% discount :) thank you http://promusica.ie/ ). This i've attached to a flash bracket (about 6 inches of aluminium) one small problem might have been that the screw was a little long but i've used a rubber tap washer to take up the extra space and perhaps reduce noise. I guess an alternative might be some rubber hangers , similar to whats used for car exhausts.

I had a car which had a join in the pipe near the middle box trouble was it caused a droop which most of the time was ok but there was this one speed bump that used to catch it every time... Anyway me and a mechanic made an extra hanger to hold it up the first version was solid metal, it was terrible the floor pan of the car resonated from the exhaust!! however splitting it and turning it in to two hooks with a rubber 8 connector sorted the problem and the exhaust was silenced and no more problems with that speed bump either. I guess a similar plan might do the same for microphones.

Another video I saw used something a little similar to my bracket but it was in two halves and the fella used velcro glued to the two bars to join them together on his rig. The velcro damps vibrations from the camera to the recorder.
his little bar also gave him a handy clip to hold the h1 to a pocket

I guess one worry is the potential for the camera falling from the tripod, what if the quick release plate fails however you could loop the camera strap around the tripod which maybe enough to save the camera hitting the ground. or perhaps looping around your wrist as you carry it.

All I need now is a dead cat.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Hi Blackest,
Just saw your question. I do use the tripod stationary. I generally set my camera on the tripod and if it is indoors, view the frame on a tethered display. I try to use the widest angle lens I can and then use the editor to pan or zoom into different parts of the frame during editing. It makes it look like someone was changing the camera angle or zoom during filming, but it's all the same frame, manipulated in the editor. I get seasick looking at camera shake, so I wouldn't film video without a tripod.

blackest Loc: Ireland

I was looking at a little video on youtube about making a gimble stabalizer

so i went looking on ebay, gimble, ball joint, aha! I have a really lousy tripod with a ball head could i adapt that?

Maybe :)

well i poked and prodded but the problem was the camera was balancing on the ball a very unstable position. so i turned it upside down...

so i'm holding the camera by the tripod legs (around a foot long) and you know what the camera was pretty steady as i moved it. I can tighten and loosen the joint too. Of course everything gets filmed upside down but in iMovie you can rotate 180 degrees of course theres going to be some tilt but i reckon that can be counter balanced. perhaps if i got some radio strip and bent it too a U or more of an O then the gimble would be at the top and the camera could be right side up on the bottom.

What do you think?

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Sounds OK if the tripod is tall enough to let you get at the camera. What are you filming that you need the stabilizer for?
Bob

blackest Loc: Ireland

just walking around at the moment, that idea turned out wobbly :(

I've just discovered ken burns, that could be iffy :) but it does make for easy panning.

I've a thing for movie sound tracks and you can get some good inspiration for cutting a film with iTunes playing behind the clips. Only trouble is you can spend hours in what seems like a few minutes.

Trouble is they make them impossible to publish. Maybe I might find something that is creative commons licensed that i can use.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Do you mean the Ken Burns documentaries?

blackest Loc: Ireland

It's an effect for video and pictures. Basically you pick a starting position and size and an end point and size, for video you need to split the clip so if you wanted to pan for 5 seconds cut the clip at 5 seconds and it automagically creates a pan for you. You can also fake a zoom going from the full frame into the centre and making the end frame as small as you want within reason.

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/CIRCUSMARCUS/Aux_puces/
This is an example of free music that you can find for your films, classical sounds seem to work well.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

That sounds like an interesting effect. Is it an after effect or a software? Do you have any links on it? I've never heard of it before.
All my videos have my own music on them when I used music. Since they are covers and since the videos are not for commercial use, there's no issues as far as I know. Do you have any links to your own videos?
I think there's little chance I'll ever do anything that will get noticed by more than a few facebook friends. But that's the meaning of amateur, which I embrace. Someone who does art just for the love and enjoyment of doing it.
Bob

blackest Loc: Ireland

its an effect in iMovie , you have probably seen it in lots of slide shows. i've Nothing worth showing mostly cell phone quality.

I think this should demo the effect

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