Ok, you professionals can skip right over this article. This may even fall under 'tacky' for the seasoned Pro's. There's surprisingly a lot of young readers at this blog, possibly still in high school and unemployed. Aspiring to make fun YouTube videos with a standard handheld camcorder, they need an extra hand in some low budget DIY advice. These are probably the easiest & cheapest DIY stabilizers I could think of. So here you go kids, I hope you enjoy it, as I looked quite silly modeling these brackets on various parts of my body in the aisles of Home Depot like i'm creating the next Lady GaGa costume. It's ok though, I can rock a $2000 dollar Steadicam setup and still rock a $2 dollar Shelf Bracket, it's all good....i'm all about inspiring the creativity.
All of these 'Heavy Duty Shelf Hangers' can be found in the same place. These curved brackets are typically used for hanging heavy objects in your garage such as bikes and ladders. Unlike flat steel angled brackets, these are round (tubular) which are more comfortable to grip. There's plenty of different shapes and sizes to use these for adding extra support for your video camera.
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First up is a one sided angled bracket. By just adding a quick release plate on the bottom, you'll have yourself a very sturdy (very very sturdy) handle to your camera. Flat black paint and wrap up the handle with some Tennis racket grip tape, and you'll be in business. Notice the little angle at the top? Could be a nice place to add a cold shoe to mount another accessory. The rest of the bracket can be drilled to further hold more accessories like LED lights and portable recorders. By the way, just click any of the images to get a better look.Single bracket stabilizer for just $2.36.
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Second on the list is a double sided bracket. This is actually larger than what appears in the photo, and the double sides can act like handles on a Fig Rig. Hey this is way easier than trying to build the Cheesycam DSLR Cage Fig Rig. Just place a Quick Release adapter dead center, a little grip tape along the sides, and you'll have yourself a fig rig style camera stabilizer. Yup, there's another angle up top for that cold shoe accessory too for just $5.98.
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Third on the list, another simple bracket. Used in the position shown in the photo (above) the short angled end (left) actually feels comfortable as a small handle. The (right side) flat side has enough area to act as a chest plate. Throw a quick release adapter on top and you'll have yourself a steady little camera shooter for $5.24. Sure it's not offset, but should work pretty wicked for an HV20 or HV30 with flip out LCD, hey maybe even a Canon 60D with it's flip out LCD.
Yeah I know what you guys are thinking, pretty crazy right? For a group of young students looking to have a bit of fun making videos, so long as the bully doesn't steal your lunch money, you could gain some steady shots with these ideas. Oh and i'm guessing a few of you DIY'ers will be heading down to Home Depot later today to secretly play 'Heavy Duty Shelf Hanger Dress Up'. LOL...Try it, you'll be surprised.....
