Cheesycam DIY Stabilizer

Videos and Articles about the DIY Cheesycam Video Camera stabilizer steadicam project

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Palo Alto translated can mean 'tall stick'. This special adapter was designed for the niche market of Painters Pole Photography, as seen in this article.

I was unable to locate an affordable solution to adapt my Photography Camera to a simple Painters pole. Using painter poles allow for huge savings, but current available adapters are few and expensive. The new custom made Palo Alto by PhotographyandCinema.com will make these more affordable for Painter Pole enthusiasts.

Shot with Palo Alto

Here's the exact same Pole i'm using, it's awesome.
Shureline Painters Pole
find-price-button Shur-Line Easy Reach Extension Pole

There are many painter poles that extend further than 10' Feet. Custom machined from steel, this adapter will mount on any standard painter type pole allowing you to bring your camera to new heights. This video was a sample taken by Dion Wong @ DionWong.com. Photos were taken with a Canon 5D Mark II using a Shure-line 10' painter pole, video was taken using a Canon SX210 IS point and shoot (mounted on the same Shure-line Painter Pole). This adapter is now available on a new website at https://PhotographyAndCinema.com

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click image for larger version

palo-alto

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First of all, I want to apologize if i'm not very responsive to many of the comments or emails that come in. I'm pretty overwhelmed with the response this blog has, and being a one man show, i'm trying my best! I'm an average guy, with an 80 mile commute (one way) in the mornings, I get home late at night, hang out with the kids & family, but still try to take time responding to questions, posting informative information, and sharing my most random DIY ideas.

Don't worry though, my eyes are open to the work you do, and I enjoy sharing everyone's hard work, especially those who always link back. Case in point, I just ran into this DIY DSLR support rig video. He never contacted me asking to share this video, but by linking back to the blog, I get alerted by these pingbacks.

I keep saying how I run though my DIY build videos so quickly sometimes, and I may not be as informative about how it all comes together. (sorry!). I'm not that fortunate to have another person interested enough to hold the camera for me. In any case, enjoy some of these recent videos that produced the DIY information better than I could. Thanks for taking the time to clear up things i've missed, and for sharing your work with the rest of the DSLR community. Make sure to leave them some nice comments, thanks guys.

How to Make a DSLR Cage
how-to-make-a-dslr-cage

Another great video I wanted to share is this one by JCN. Using the IndiSlider (see i'm still plugging you IndiSystems), and the Reverse Macro trick, referenced to this blog, JCN pulled off some very nice footage from the Canon 550D / T2i.

A Day at the Beach
jcn-day-at-the-beach

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video from YouTube by rattusvulpes

This Golden Oldie (literally Gold) looks very very familiar. If i'm correct, I remember seeing the transformations of this thing while it was coming out of DIY progress on the Internet. I think it was called Pegasus. It looks like it's a pretty finished project now that's gone into mass manufacturing under Wondlan as the 'Ares'. (Doesn't Ares mean 'A$$' in some languages?)

Because of it's entry level price for a Gimbal style stabilizer, I'm finding more and more people doing reviews on the Ares. Although it looks like a Steadicam Merlin, it doesn't have a full functioning Gimbal as the Merlin. The Merlin has much more travel in it's design. Then again it's not priced like a Steadicam Merlin, and it appears that this Ares stabilizer can handle much much more weight than the Merlin can, so it's not ALL bad.

I'm not a fan of the Gold color scheme, it looks like something Austin Powers might have carried in his last movie, or a prop designed for the next Marvel Comic movie. Hey, you can't knock the awesome smooth results this bad boy is putting out though. You can find the decently priced Stabilizer here if Gold is your thing.

Update: Good news, you can send an email to the seller and specifically ask for 'Black', and that should solve that Gold color issue.

gimbal-stabilizerwonlan-stabilizer-merlin-stylewonlan-ares-camera-stabilizer

click images to find Wondlan Ares

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Wow, it's amazing how a simple product from the aisles of a home improvement store can be transformed into so many different things by so many different people. In Video world, this is actually becoming a quite popular little DIY stabilizer and feedback has been great about the stability of the tool. Here's a couple more rigs that are popping up.

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Kelly Bailey's DIY Rig

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Jonathan Olshefski's DIY Rig

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Franklin Anciano's DIY Rig

And here's a couple of Photos submitted by Sean Brown. The rig was used somewhere in their 'Lightface' film project.
sean-brownsean-brown-cheesycam-rigsean-brown-lightface

Check out the Video trailer below shot in what I believe is the Canon 550D / T2i. I get lots of emails, so if I've missed anyone else, or if you have one to share, let me know, thanks.

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iphone-4-accessories

iphone-teleprompter
iPhone teleprompter

Everyone is hyped about the new iPhone release and is ready to dive into pre-orders. There's already been a ton of previous accessories out there like the Teleprompter (above). I can't wait to see what new line of gear comes out to fit the new features of the iPhone 4.

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Being camera geeks, my friends are most interested in the new HD video feature. Of course we talked about stabilizing the iPhone video and the Zacuto Z-Grip or Zacuto Jr. came into conversation. C'mon are you kidding me? over $250 dollars for a handle Zacuto? Even the Jr. runs around $65-70 bucks, but it's just a handle!

So here's the solution one of my buddies came up with. Just get some epoxy / JB Weld putty and permanently glue a screwdriver to the back of a cheap 0.99 cent eBay hard case. Done, you got your handle and the iPhone can mount in and out!

screwdriver-handleiphone-hard-case

Now the Z-grip runs about $269.00. I can make these screwdriver/hardcase designs and sell them to you for $269.00 if you think spending more money for a handle will make it work better..just let me know. I'll even include FREE SHIPPING anywhere in the WORLD! LOL

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There's no doubt that you'd want to bring some type of camera out to an event. SLR's are great, and I love the fact that you can do both photos and videos all in one unit. For videos though, sometimes you want more movement, something more creative, and that means bringing out a whole bunch of extra gear just to get those stabilized movements. This is where those new Point and Shoot small handheld video cameras really shine. The newer Point and Shoot cameras can do decent photos and very nice 720 HD videos at 30fps which is perfect for the web or even downsizing to DVD.

The problems with the Point and Shoot handheld video cameras are it's size though. Very small cameras are hard to stabilize by hand alone, so for me to get some smoother and more creative shots, I took a trip over to Home Depot and gathered a few parts for a stabilizer. With this new stabilizer I can get pretty smooth fluid shots walking, running, and even get some super super low flying modes where i'm scraping grass! In this video I talk about my basic designs when i'm thinking about stabilizing any type of camera. Keep those basics in mind before building yours, as you'll need to add or remove weights, or even scale the size.

This would work great with the new Sony HX9. Check out the video quality from the Sony DSC-HX9 here: http://cheesycam.com/practice-run-electric-skateboard-hx9/

sony-hx9-digital-camera
find-price-button Sony DSC-HX9 Digital Camera Full 1080 60p

Hope you enjoy this little DIY stabilizer, leave comments, Tweet, Facebook, Digg, whatever.....

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As you can tell, some of my DIY rigs are all out in the wild. Many have taken some of my very Cheesy basic ideas and have added their own improvements to it, making some very cool rigs. I get totally inspired seeing DIY's out there and sometimes come up with new ideas, so hopefully we'll see more submissions to this blog. Here's and Interesting rig setup submitted by Frankie N. Films. The rig which has a quick release mount, stabilizer handles, under-slung camera handle, and shoulder support was all done from an old Fan in the garage.

Here's a quote from Frankie N. Films:

after seeing your cage lol i decided to make something myself with bunch of aluminum parts that i had from this old fan, sitting in garage

Thanks for sharing, i'd love to see more rigs out there. If you have 'em, share 'em!

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cheesyrig_disorient

Jeff Ello sent this photo in to share his build of the Cheesy DSLR Cage I posted about. It's a Behind the Scenes snapshot of a short flick titled 'Disorient'. Seen in this photo is the recent DIY DSLR Cage / Fig Rig / Stabilizer that was also featured on Cinema5d.com. Jeff made some additional modifications with free swinging handles on the side. I've asked Jeff to send in more photos and information about his project and his rig. The strut channel works perfectly for mounting accessories such as the LCD monitor Jeff has in his image. Very cool! If you haven't checked out the DIY Cage, read my article here: http://cheesycam.com/?p=966

Now i'm not always very clear about my DIY builds, so Marcus V Warner & Brian created their version of the CheesyCam DIY DSLR Cage with alot more detail on the parts list. I'm calling this the LP version because they really get thorough on the build and it's about 20 minutes or so. So if you can't get through understanding my video, check out Vimeo user Vitaphone's below.

They even have a detailed parts list on their Video page at: https://vimeo.com/12362135

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learningdslrvideo

First of all I wanted to thank all the readers that come to this blog, provide feedback, and comment on some of my really Cheesy DIY ideas. So many people have picked up on the things I make, link back to my blog, and even take the time to create videos about their own DIY adventures. It's been an exciting week having been featured on the News section of Cinema5D.com, one of the largest DSLR video forums. Now just yesterday I was Podcasted by Dave Dugdale over at LearningDSLRVideo.com. I'm a pretty boring guy on audio, but Dave grabbed me for some really good questions about the projects I've been sharing with the DSLR community. I even mentioned a little secret information about the next version DIY Skater - 'Spider Trax Dolly' i've been drawing out (get your wheels turning). Check out my Podcast with Dave at LearningDSLRvideo.com, and stick around his website to view more Podcasts and some very informative Video tutorials.