best affordable steady-cam device?

I am sure many of you have tried out various steady-cam devices, monopod tricks, glidecams, etc trying to find an affordable way to get decent traveling footage.

what is the best solution you have found, short of the steadicam merlin? does using a monopod by holding it at its balance point work as well as the inexpensive steady-cam devices?

thanks.

No, a non-gimbal rig like a monopod doesn't work as well as something like a Merlin, but it does work better than just holding the camera on its own. It's easy enough to test if you have a tripod - just mount your camera on it and then take some test footage while you carry the tripod around with the legs unspread.

I experimented with a few beam, rod and weight configurations. They dampen down movement caused by, for example, walking but they don't eliminate it. The Merlin can produce a virtually flawless result but not every time (well, not for me anyway) and it takes a lot of practice to master it.

The Merlin is down to $400 bucks now, and for what you get I think it's a very reasonable price. I really like its compact folding design, makes it much easier to bring along. But the basic layout makes it harder to set up than something like a GlideCam. And, as I said, your troubles aren't over just because you've bought one - you have to invest a fair bit of practice time before you start getting a decent percentage of keepers.

I experimented with various gymbal type devices and actually went so far as to make my own:

http://www.birkbinnard.com/photography/stabilizer/index.htm

Ultimately I gave up on the whole idea for severalr reasons:

1. I wanted to use the stabilizer when travelling, and the various pieces/parts took up too much room and had awkward shapes.

2. Gymbal stabilizers work by arranging the whole rig's Center of Gravity (CG) to coincide with it's Center of Rotation (CR.) Making this happen is tedious and requires re-balancing the whole rig each time you set it up. This can take 15 min, or so.

3. Once you get the rig balanced you'll discover that the CG is extremely sensitive; for instance, changing the zoom ratio of your lens changes the CG enough to require re-balancing.

4. The rig will damp out camera motion in the horizontal plane, but it won't help with vertical movement. This means you have to be very careful walking or doing anything that involves vertical movement.

5. People expect to see footage that looks like it was shot with a Steadicam (which is a $40,000 device used by a highly trained cinematographer.) You can't get this kind of stabilization with a gymbal type stabilizer.

My sense is the only way to do it effectively is with a rig that has gyros and g-force/rotation sensors, digital electric motors, and software linking all the components together. There are a couple of companies out there that make such devices but they are still in the thousands of dollars range.

I am in the process of assembling a brushless gimbal platform for a Sony Action cam.

The hardware-gimbals and motors for 2 axis was about $75. The controller set was about $150 and was the Alexmos board with 3rd axis board and IMU (Inertial Measurment Unit?).

I am waiting for the Sony HDR AS100 to ship in Feb, I returned my AS30 inside the Amazon 30 day option.

I am expecting a rig that will stabilize this small camera for handheld nature shots, walking, driving, or other movements. This will be done for less than $300 with nuts, bolts, hanldle, and battery.

This low cost tech is just getting traction, and will refine itself greatly in the next short months.

A full size DSLR platform is possible for about $600-700 (a DIY project). Perhaps less as production sources ramp up.

I think this capability is going to be widely available, and affordable for many videographers.

Currently you can get roll, pitch, and yaw stabilization with smooth follow in yaw and pitch.
I have seen a video of a rig that also stabilizes in linear horizontal plane, in a modest range, with smooth follow and recenter.

Much of this activity is for aerial videos on small copters. Check this site for a lot of info.

There are many video clips of how things work.

If you scroll way down you will see the 5 axis rig.

This stuff may have been referenced in other threads, but I add it here FWIW.

Cheers,

Mike

Adding to the above, much of these rigs are for GoPro cams, Nex3/5, and small camdorders.

But modest rigs can scale up to 5DM3/GHx/etc. easily.

I have seen examples of FS100/700, Red, and other big cams on home made rigs. These may run into the $1000-$3000+++ range.

Check MOVI for the commercial products.

Mike

If people get wrapped around finding or building a gimbaled or gyro device for a large camera, there will always be problems of money, machining, set-up, convenience, or mastery. If the budget is big and the need recurs often, perhaps that is the route to go.

For the pauper, however, the choice goes something like this:

a) buy or build a basic balancing tool and accept its limitations,

b) get a Sony model with the Balanced Optical Steadyshot "floating eye," which costs only $700 in the cheapest version, or

c) tripod or monopod, or make a fat chance wish your viewers treat shake as a sign of verité.

Plan B is relatively painless and all-in-one. I'd just hope that a <$2k 4k model with BOS appears some time in 2014 or 2015.

Panasonic's X920 supposedly has a 5-axis stabilization that irons out most jog caused by walking motion.

thanks for the informative responses!

I just watched some footage shot with a monopod on a dolly, which was quite smooth. they guy use a variety of setups, one with a regular looking skateboard type platform with a ratty looking PVC attachment to hold the monopod, and another where he just wrapped a sock around the bottom of his monopod and stuffed it into a rollerblade - it worked quite well even on a dirt surface.

anybody tried a monopod on some kind of dolly like that?

Check this out, watch the action of the camera and the variety of disturbances the holder goes through.


This stuff is what is ahead.

Mike