Poor Man's SteadyCam

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As you might have noticed, I haven't published anything new since Christmas, but that is because I am taking some time off to rid myself of all the stress that I had been building up in December (an extremely busy month).

One thing I do when I want to relax is to take my camera and start wasting memory cards - and I just got a new toy. I bought the "Poor Man's SteadyCam" from Johnny Lee (see also some of his other projects here). It is a simple version of a real steadycam, which is a device that helps you keep your camera steady as you move around. All professional camera people have one of these, but the professional version costs a zillion dollars.

The Poor Man's SteadyCam is simply 3 pipes, a weight to mimic the effect of a gyroscope, and some bits and pieces to keep it all together (as seen in the pictures above). You can build one yourself, or buy one readymade for $39 (I was lazy, so I bought one - they are very cheap).

The effect is simply staggering. Here is a small video of me running up some stairs with and without the steadycam. As you can see the first part of the video is extremely shaky, while the second part is very smooth:

This was only my second test, and I do expect to get even better at handling it over time.

My "Deer" Friends

Here is another video of me taking a walk with my "deer" friends...

Note: The weather wasn't very good, and it was getting dark - hence my cheap camera had a very hard time adjusting correctly. I will have to go back and do this again when the sun is out. Also, walking around in a forest isn't easy even with a steadycam...