Building my D.I.Y Steadicam

I decided to build my own steadicam to help achieve a professional smooth pedestal down shot, this was because I did not have access to a steadicam. After researching, how a steadicam works, I had an idea of how I could make my own, with a functional design. I began to collect together materials I could use such as, string, shoe boxes, weights, blue tac, cello tape and even CD cases.

Here are the instructions I created and used for my home built steadicam.

1. Put holes in the side of the shoebox then thread string through either side.
2. Tie string together to create the holding point of the steadicam.
3. Measure distance to the middle and place another piece of string at this point (sitting above and hanging below the box)
4. thread the string that you just placed on the box through a 2.5kg weight and tie.
5. Cellotape the string in place.
6. Use CD cases and bluetac them down to raise the camera above the string on the box, to prevent a slanted angle and also to add extra weight to the steadicam.
7. Place Camera on top of both CD cases.
8. You now have a functional home-built steadicam!

Notes: Use a ruler throughout to measure accurately; this is important to make the steadicam balanced.

                                                           My steadicam progress picture

Measuring with a ruler to ensure effective balance on my steadicam

After building my steadicam, I used a spirit level app on my Iphone that measures the angle at which the iphone is positioned. This would show me how steady my D.I.Y project really was if the degree of angle didn't change drastically as I moved the steadicam up and down (pedestal down shot). I found that my Steadicam only had a degree change of 1°; flicking between 2° and 3°. I was rather suprised at how accurate my home built steadicam actually was, considering it was made out of materials found around the house. It would have been more appropriate to have a professional steadicam, however that was not possible; building one was a suitable alternative which I believe was fairly effective and beneficial. Below is a video, of the spirit level app in use, measuring how steady my steadicam was.

                                         

The finished design, along side the SLR camera I used to film my documentary 'Remembering Film'