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I purchased a Skyler MiniCam about a year ago. At the time I was looking for a very small stabilizer that was easy to travel with, offered a quick release system, fine tuning knobs, and can fly at least the Canon 5D Mark III camera. I personally felt the price was very good for [...]

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Lensse is a company that makes very simple and affordable Video camera stabilizers that support iPhones all the way up to heavy DSLR bodies. These stabilizers balance your camera over a ball socket gimbal, attempting to prevent the transfer of shaky hands into the camera while walking, and also keeping your camera level with the [...]

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I have used and abused my Steadicam Merlin Vest over the years, and although the ISO Arm has lasted me this long, the actual worn vest has slowly been degrading. I love the Steadicam Merlin Vest, and highly recommend the performance it gives, but even at $1500 dollars for the vest only (seen here) this [...]

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Guess what came in the mail recently? It’s that cheap video stabilizer load vest I posted about a few weeks ago. I’ve had a bit of time with the gear, and as with any product there’s Pros and Cons.

Pros:
The cheap vest is a combination of snap buckles and velcro, while the Steadicam Merlin vest is [...]

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Less than a year ago, Wondlan introduced a few hand held carbon fiber stabilizers. Since the release, it was short of showcasing excellent examples of the stabilizers in use, so it was hard to tell if it was the actual unit or operator experience. Here’s one video that shows some pretty fluid movements and also [...]

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Showing up now on eBay, there is another Steadicam Merlin-esque type video camera stabilizer called the Manyan. Build quality looks pretty good and seems to hold up a decent amount of weight. Some of the video samples at the product page are over 2 years old, so it’s obviously been around for a while. Anyone [...]

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YouTube member arthurwoo sends over his review of the NEW Steadicam Merlin 2. In this video he makes some very good points on Pros and Cons of the unit, and also shares with us some sample video footage from the little stabilizer. The Steadicam Merlin 2 has many new upgrades and supposedly a more robust [...]

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Home for the day, so I decided to see if I had the skills to fly the Skyler MiniCam Video Camera Stabilizer while riding a Gyro-Stabilized Motorized UniCycle called the SoloWheel (found here on eBay).
  
Just in case something disastrous were to happen, I felt comfortable trying this test out with Canon’s latest EOS T4i [...]

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Nick Bicanic from http://www.purposelabs.com does a better job than I did with his DIY Steadicam Smoothee (a.k.a Baby Merlin) by shaving down the entire platform to get a perfect fit for his quick release adapter [Thanks Nick]. That little bit of effort definitely makes it look much more solid mounting platform than adding a quick [...]

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This video is complete rambling about different feature sets of a few ‘Small Camera stabilizers’ I use. I have quite a few very large ones as well, but for now i’m just touching on these specifically because they are so close in what audience they are intended for. The three small stabilizers i’m showing are [...]

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The Lensse DSLRPro Stabilizer has been around for possibly a few months now, and it is the latest version camera stabilizer in their product line. Here’s some footage with a Canon T2i. Lensse uses a custom low friction brass gimbal in their stabilizers, and it doesn’t have quite the range of motion as a Steadicam [...]

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Opteka throws in a new Video Camera stabilizer with a fully adjustable top stage and upgraded 3 axis gimbal. Looks pretty similar to the Steadicam Merlin. The lower weights (stainless steel?) look almost exactly like the ones used in a real Steadicam Merlin (seen here), and the specs say it can handle up to 5lbs [...]

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The GH2 or other small video cameras are very lightweight and the selection for a quality stabilizer are few. Lately, there’s been some interest around modifying a Steadicam Smoothee to work with such light cameras. I was able to modify one successfully, but I never got around to showing it’s full capabilities. So it’s great [...]

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It was only a couple of weeks ago I posted information on how to modify a Steadicam Smoothee, essentially making it a mini Steadicam Merlin stabilizer (a.k.a Baby Merlin). If you have a small camera, and you’re a fan of the Merlin steadicam, this mod will come in at about 1/5th the price. In the [...]

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Made some slight mods to support a heavier camera and lens. Now it’s a Canon 7D + Tokina 11-16mm on a Giottos quick release plate. I needed to pull the front heavy camera a bit backwards. Threw on some extra counterweights from a Flycam Nano, and then performed a slight test. Brings me back to [...]

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So the goal was to modify this Steadicam Smoothee for lightweight cameras, but it was surprising to see it fly my Canon 5D Mark II + 50mm F/1.4 Lens. Getting back to the real reason for the mod, I tested out a smaller setup with the GH2 + 20mm Lens (total 1.2lbs). It took [...]