Or the $14 Steadicam.

I know these things have been around for several years now, but I'm such a n00b that I've just now discovered it. Anybody built/used one of these things? The sample footage on the site looks really impressive.

They're awesome. They work best in the inverted, hovering above the floor, mode.

Awesome. For $15 roughly, you can't help but at least try it out before making some huge purchase on a more professional one. Think I'll get started on it tomorrow.

I have to say, I haven't been really impressed with the semi-pro glidecams. They take a LOT of practice and they're a pain to work with. This isn't perfect either, but at least it doesn't cost $900 for what seems to be a bunch of off-the-shelf hardware

Damn! Where? Link? Something?!

I think people should try out the Spiderbrace. Under $100, it's worked better for me than the poor man's steadycam ever did. Check it out at www.spiderbrace.com I think. It eliminates a lot of shake, but of course there's some shake still and it takes practice like everything else. It's a nice shoulder mount and it doesn't break the bank either.

-Kegan

That looks pretty nice too. How easy is it to use the focus ring with the Spider Brace? Does it lose a lot of its stability?

I'm in the process of building one of those cheap steadycam and I have a question:

How is the camera fixed to the thing? Does it depends on what kind of tripod head you have?

quote:

Originally posted by Honorius:
How is the camera fixed to the thing? Does it depends on what kind of tripod head you have?

Generally by a screw thats the same size as the mounting-hole on the bottom of your camera.

It is a little harder to use the focus ring, I'll be honest - BUT, there are ways around this. Since, everyone's up for coming up with creative ways to make things work better, I found a site somewhere that showed how this guy added a counterweight to the spiderbrace. So there was a weight behind his shoulder, stablizing the Spiderbrace, so that when he moved his hand off the brace to use the focus ring/zoom/adjust the iris etc, it would stay stable.

-Kegan