{"id":1902,"date":"2003-12-17T07:30:59","date_gmt":"2003-12-17T07:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.soulhuntre.com\/items\/date\/2003\/12\/17\/hold-er-steady\/"},"modified":"2003-12-17T07:30:59","modified_gmt":"2003-12-17T07:30:59","slug":"hold-er-steady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/2003\/12\/17\/hold-er-steady\/","title":{"rendered":"Hold ‘er steady!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I tossed and turned a bit and realized sleep wasn’t going to happen (not feeling too well at the moment) so I got up looking for something useful to do.<\/p>\n

I had intended research building a “steadicam” rig for handheld use with my video camera. Let’s face it these things are really just a handle->gimbal->offset weight system. I figured some pipe, a couple of pounds of lead and a universal joint and I was all set. In fact it turns out for some purposes you don’t even need the joint<\/a> if you are willing to use your own wrist as the pivot. <\/p>\n

Anyway, it turns out a lot of people have done exactly that<\/a> and it looks kinda fun and easy to understand<\/a>. I will probably wind up building one myself someday soon. (read down to see how an experiment I did turned out<\/i>).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Basically there are two designs<\/b><\/u><\/p>\n

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  1. The post style offers a somewhat larger range of shots because it allows for easy pan as well as tilt. The downside is that the center of gravity of the system is actually out in front of your hand, and this adds some strain to your forearm. It is worth noting that an arm brace can alleviate this. The Glidecam is like this.\n
  2. The crescent style (Steadicam JR and Hollywood Lite UltraLite) have the COG directly above your hand, putting a good amount less strain on some part of your arm but limiting the amount of tilt you can do and almost completely eliminating pan (unless you turn your whole body). <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Commercial Offerings<\/b><\/u><\/p>\n

    Then I went off to see what the “real” thing for my purposes costs. Here is what I found… <\/p>\n