When You Don’t Want to Spend 10 Grand on a Steadicam…

Every indie filmmaker is looking for the cheap alternatives to making their movies better.   In an ongoing series of articles, I am going to showcase some of the low to mid level options for new filmmakers looking for gear to add to their arsenal.  We are going to be looking at steadicams today exploring the different options from DIY to a couple hundred dollars, depending on how serious you may be.  Everyone has a budget, there is most certainly a tool catered to yours.

Poor Man’s Steadicam – $14

Alright, starting it off VERY cheap here… Johnny Chung Lee has the very popular website which gives you step by step instructions on creating your own DIY steadicam from just parts you can find at a hardware store.  I actually made one of these, and it works really well.  I have used it with my Canon Vixia HV30, GL2, Sony FX1, and my Flip cameras, and they all work fabulously.  The bigger cameras actually get a little vibration with them when you move fast or are heavy footed, but other than that you should be good to go.  There are also a bunch of extras such as brackets to invert it for a low to the ground steadicam, extra weight and sleds for larger cameras.  Not bad for 14 bucks.

Homemade Gimbal-Based Steadicam – $15 – $50

I have been trying to figure out how to make a gimbal, or at least find a cheap one to buy online.  YB2Normal.com has found a pretty ingenious way of creating your own with a skate bearing, and oven, some PVC pipe and skills.  Layering larger pipe over each other, and using the bearing as the mounting within the arm, you can create a very janky looking steadicam, but a very useful one at that.  Of course, you could always pimp your’s out with some heavier weights, better bars, and a slicker looking design, but using the gimbal idea that they have created, really makes this a unique contraption, similar to the way Glidecam’s work.

PVC Pipe/Vest ENG Style Steadicam – $40

This is an interesting take on a steadicam.  It mixes the vest aspect of a high end steadicam with the hand held style of a RedRockMicro rig.  On one side of it, it uses PVC pipe and some foam to make an uncomfortable makeshift vest that goes around your neck and down towards your waistline.  Then, the bottom of the vest has a stand in which you can attach a tripod head, or make your own swivel/pan mechanism for attaching your camera.  You then have this interesting type of ENG setup with the vest of a steadicam.  I have never actually used this type of stabilization before, but I imagine you are getting the stabilization for the money you put into it.  Not much.

Videopia DIY Flying Camera Support – $90

Okay, so we’re working our way up the ladder, almost to the $100 mark.  This is kind of a different take on the steadicam, and it has its pros and cons, as does every camera stabilization mechanism.   This approach uses a monopod with a gimbal on the end along with equal weight on both sides to keep the camera stable and at a constant looking forward point of view.   This is especially effective if you need to do very high pan down or diagonal shots that you just can’t reach with the first two ideas.  The limitations of this though, are the facts that it can only look directly forward and doesn’t have a way to tilt down or up, where the first to locked into the head, while this one is on the gimbal.  This is a completely different approach, and if it were up to me I would have both this and the Poor Man’s Steadicam in my gearbag, because they both excel at different types of shots.

Glidecam – $300+

Now we are running with the big dogs.  The Glidecams are what the Poor Man’s design was based off of.  The basic principle behind how this works, is you have your camera mounted on top of your Glidecam, and your conter weights below which prevent the would-be shakiness that is being prevented.  The HD line of the Glidecams are the ones that are similar to the Poor Man’s but they also have the big steadicam rigs as well that run well into the thousands of dollars.

The steadicams that run for a couple thousand are very well made and are made to handle film and digital film cameras such as REDs.  The way these work is the vest (which is actually pretty comfortable) is attached to an iso-elastic arm, which is then connected by a gimbal to the bulk of the steadicam rig.  On one end you have your camera mount and sled, which can support anything you throw on it, and on the other end you have your counterweight which usually consists of batteries, and monitors so you can see what you are doing.  These types of steadicams are used for shots that are going to be very movement intensive, such as running up stairs or through the woods.  The iso-elastic arm is made of a bunch of springs and pulleys which absorb all the shakiness and prevent your shots from looking bad.  These steadicams can also be turned upside down for low to the ground shots as well, just by flipping them around.   There are always ways to make gear that can do what you need, you just need a little bit of ingenuity and drive and you will be surprised at what you can make.  Remember, its all about counterweight… you never know you could have the next hot product that cheap indie filmmakers are going to be striving to create!