DIY Equipment

• 8 Comments

•

Vimeo member Dan Eckert has been working on a dolly project for some time to be used wit his Hyperlapse / Timelapse videos. The dolly is designed to have adjustable wheels to ride on rails or on terrain with pneumatic tires. The video above shows some examples of his work, but keep in mind that there is some scenes with image stabilization done in post. Aside from Time Lapse videos, the dolly still operates as a standard track or table dolly. Price of the unit starts at around $1500 + optional accessories. You can find more about his product (soon to be released) by visiting thecamtrac.com. [Thanks Dan]

the cambriccamtrac timelapse video dolly
camtrac dollydan eckert timelapse dolly camtrac

• 8 Comments

•

Shooting outdoors in the bright sun pretty much sucks without an LCD View Finder, but come time to pan and tilt, it's not very comfortable when you're in a low position. That's where all those flip out LCDs come in handy but even the 5D Mark III falls short in that feature. This is where an external LCD comes in handy, but without a proper sunshade, you might be fighting that glare. Here's a $16 dollar little baggy that works as a protective case to transport your 7" LCD, at the same time unzips and doubles as a sun shade. How I plan to fit the SmallHD DP6 in here I won't know until it arrives. There's a rear access door as well, so hopefully i'll still be able to access all the controls on the top of the DP6.

bag-lcdsunhood
find-price-button 7" LCD Carry Bag and Sun Shade

• 11 Comments

•

Vimeo member Jayhas couldn't wait for Konova to release a faster motor for it's motorized upgrade kit, so he took it upon himself to add his own. Here's a comparison of the original Konova Motorized Pulley System with slow motor and a 60rpm gear motor mounted to a DIY slider. Watch the top portion of the video to see how different the maximum speed is on both. [Thanks Jayhas]. You can find some additional information on the Konova Upgrade Kits here http://cheesycam.com/konova-motorized-upgrade-kit-now-available/


Konova Upgrade Kit
find-price-button Konova Motorized Upgrade Kit for Konova Sliders

• 10 Comments

•

Thanks to YouTube member dim3m for sending in this fine example of a modified Pico Flex Dolly. [Thanks dim3m] The rear trailer contains the servo, servo controller, batteries, etc. The laser alignment shows you the cross point reference for the center of rotation. Having motorized control gives you more consistent movement across the entire rotation. Aside from fancy rotating shots, the Pico Flex can mimic side to side slider shots, or push / pull dolly shots. Especially useful for B-Roll, cut away, or pick up shots with small product reviews. For more information on the Pico Flex Skater Table Dolly check out PhotographyandCinema.com.

PicoPico (15 of 19)
find-price-button Pico Flex - Table Skater Rotating Video Dolly

• 11 Comments

•

CamonWheels DIY V Groove Dolly wheels

CamonWheels is offering up some new V-Groove roller wheels for under $8 bucks shipped. Images show the grooved wheels fitting on 15mm rods, 1/4" rod, and 1" PVC. The overall OD of the wheel (outside diameter) is at 1". If you were to build a track dolly of sorts, the V-Groove or U-groove type wheels will help keep them on track.

V-Groove WheelsV-Groove Wheels CamonWheels
find-price-button CamonWheels Video Dolly DIY Wheel Set

• 87 Comments

•

The great thing about building your own rig is being able to design it specifically for your own needs. Of course most of how we assemble things together are based on what products are available to us. When we're introduced to new products, it opens up so much more possibilities. Industry standard 15mm rails are great for building form and support for your cameras, but here's a new concept that also add more function.

SwissRods-mounting

The P&C Swiss Rod has a few inches of 15mm rod on each end, and in the middle are alternating threaded and non-threaded holes. The pass through is designed so that items like a hot shoe can be positioned correctly before tightening. The male/female ends of the Swiss Rod are industry standard and can be used to extend (attach) to other manufacturer rods like Gini, Letus, and I believe even Zacuto, and more. The wide squarish design of the rod also helps nano clamps from slipping.

PhotographyandCinema-Swiss-Rod

Even if you're not trying to replace rails on your build, by just adding a single P&C Swiss Rod, you open up totally new mounting options. The 1/4" studs can always be stepped up to 3/8" if needed. Taking advantage of the basic threaded ports, we've also found creative ways to mount the Swiss Rods on light stands or on the hot shoe of the camera to hold many accessories. With several items attached to one rod, the entire rod becomes a quick release system mounted to a simple 15mm clamp. The rods will be available from PhotographyandCinema.com

• 23 Comments

•

mounting-dslr-rig

Seen above is a really basic DSLR rig. Two rods, follow focus, front handle, rear shoulder pad, and top handle. Most rigs you find on the market will have just basic rails and clamps so you can build different shapes depending on your needs. Looking at a standard rig from any manufacturer like Zacuto, Cinevate, Express35, Gini, etc. etc., they don't really offer much as far as mounting an LED light, Portable Audio Recorder, LCD monitor, or Microphone.

I have a video that i'll be posting up soon about a new product that I think some people will find quite interesting, but before posting up, I wanted to see how you guys are mounting additional accessories to your rigs. So, are you adding more clamps? More rods? A cage bracket? Let me know..

[Update] If you happened upon this article, i've announced the new product here: http://cheesycam.com/new-gear-pc-15mm-dslr-rig-swiss-rods/

• 7 Comments

•

Not long ago I posted an article about how Mark added a friction arm to the side of a Manfrotto Fluid, and here YouTube member XCFloresX shows you how he's added it to a Fancier 717 Fluid Head Tripod. You can see how useful it would be to have something like this available on your Fluid heads. [Thanks Chris]

I'm not sure why these tripods are rare to find these days, but they do seem popular. I have several of these in the studio, because they work great and were very affordable for multiple cameras that remain mostly static or have slow pans. I have a short intro on these Fancier 717 Bowl Mount tripods (video found here).

• 13 Comments

•

5GHZ Wireless HDMIWireless HDMI Streaming DIY

I've been successfully using the Asus WiCast device powered up with my Tekkeon battery packs for a DIY Wireless HD Video stream from my DSLR to a remote LCD monitor (as seen in video here). Those Asus units have been discontinued for quite some time. These rebranded 5GHZ Wireless Streaming HDMI devices have been around, but has now been upgraded with a smaller transmitter. One downfall is that the transmitter has a built in male HDMI connector which needs to be stepped down to a mini HDMI if it's to be used on a DSLR camera. It still requires a 5V power source for both the transmitter and receiver. I remember someone using this brand at some point, any comments on this new version?

WHDI-5GHZ-WirelessHD
find-price-button 5GHZ Wireless HDMI Streaming Video Transmitter Receiver