Steadicam swinging?

P

Pete

Hey everyone!

I made a DIY steadicam a while back, and I'm still having problems with it. If I'm walking with it and accelerate (or when I start walking), the top end (where the camera sits) begins to lean forward in the direction of motion, and the real problem is when, as I'm walking, it swings wildly backwards.

Hopefully that makes sense. I modeled the steadicam off of this design here...

http://1k0.blogspot.com/2009/10/diy-steadicam.html

...but I can't come close to the quality of that sample video with all the swinging.

Are there any guidelines on how to set up a steadicam like this to minimize swinging? I've tried it with various amounts of weight on the bottom, from exactly matching the top to having a considerable amount more on the bottom. Sorry to once again to sound like a noob -- I'm just frustrated that I haven't figured this one out.

Thanks for any and all help!
 
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The most common cause of this problem to too much weight on the bottom. Drop time has to be at least one second, preferably a little more. Even a $900 merlin will behave this way with too much weight. When properly balanced on all three axis, the top leading the bottom in a turn will me minimized.

Lastly, because even when properly balanced the bottom will have more mass, and therefore, will lag the top when changing direction. The way to minimize this effect is the practice, practice, practive. Even a $40,000 steadicam rig requires the operator to become trained and significant practice before being able to produce usable results. This training has much less to do with how to balance and connect the rig, and much more with how to move the unit in a space and minimize the inherent artifacts of swinging a stabilization platform.

Pete said:
Hey everyone!

I made a DIY steadicam a while back, and I'm still having problems with it. If I'm walking with it and accelerate (or when I start walking), the top end (where the camera sits) begins to lean forward in the direction of motion, and the real problem is when, as I'm walking, it swings wildly backwards.

Hopefully that makes sense. I modeled the steadicam off of this design here...

http://1k0.blogspot.com/2009/10/diy-steadicam.html

...but I can't come close to the quality of that sample video with all the swinging.

Are there any guidelines on how to set up a steadicam like this to minimize swinging? I've tried it with various amounts of weight on the bottom, from exactly matching the top to having a considerable amount more on the bottom. Sorry to once again to sound like a noob -- I'm just frustrated that I haven't figured this one out.

Thanks for any and all help!
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