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I get it. Sometimes you fly a stabilizer around and need to take a pause for a long static shot. These things can get quite heavy, so being able to stand on it’s own could be beneficial for event shooters. Varizoom offers a Monopod / Stabilizer called the FlowPod (seen here), but when used as [...]

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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 [...]

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Yup, within the first few minutes the Steadicam Smoothee walked through the door it was laying helplessly in pieces on my workbench. As I suspected, it’s quite easy to modify this little stabilizer. With a quick release adapter, a top stage that can be fine tuned Left/Right & Forward/Back for easy balance, and one of [...]

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Vimeo member Jorge shares his $15 dollar DIY steadicam build along with some test footage. Shot on a Canon T2i, with a Bower 14mm Ultra Wide Lens. The process to build your own coming soon. [Thanks Jorge]

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Note: This is not the final rig i’ll be using. I’m just throwing parts together this morning to see how well the idea (in my head) works with all my budget parts. I’m using the Skier Rig (review found here) to hold everything together while I mock up the idea. The Skier rig is extremely [...]

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Cameras are getting smaller and lighter. People are attempting to fly GoPro’s and iPhones on Steadicams. For lightweight cameras including Sony’s A55, Panasonic GH2’s, or Canon T2is, here’s a simple DIY DSLR Steadicam (merlin style) stabilizer idea from Vimeo member KFLeung. There isn’t much tooling required, it’s more of an assembly of readily available pieces [...]

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What do you get when you mix an old Bike Wheel, Bike Crank, and Bike Wheel Hub? You get a functioning Video Camera Stabilizer a.k.a DIY Steadicam. It will all make more sense after checking out the video above from YouTube member thomasumJohnson. Improvements? I would stay start with a smaller wheel maybe from a [...]

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When I first started messing around with DIY builds, one of the most difficult projects to try and tackle were the Stabilizers a.k.a. or what most people associate with ‘Steadicams’ (that’s actually a brand name). Piecing together a stage and a set of counterweights was the easiest part, but trying to locate an effective off [...]

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Many of you have probably already seen this video. It was posted up over a year ago as Part 1 of 2. I know i’ve had my eyes on it for quite a while waiting for the follow up, but Part #2 of this project doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon. This one [...]

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Ok, you professionals can skip right over this article. This may even fall under ‘tacky’ for the seasoned Pro’s. There’s surprisingly a lot of young readers at this blog, possibly still in high school and unemployed. Aspiring to make fun YouTube videos with a standard handheld camcorder, they need an extra hand in some low [...]