Tom Wills

Well, if you're talking about a low-mode bracket, you can quite simply make one out of large (6" or bigger) angle brackets, found at your local home improvement store. A 1/4 x 20 bolt through the bottom to go onto the camera, and a 1/4"x20 nut to go onto the bolt from the rig. Make sure you use good name brand angle brackets at 1/4" or thicker. Otherwise, they might fail. In terms of being able to flip the monitor and all, no clue on how to do that, as I'm not a flyer op.

Really, That's one of the more incredible Steadi-related devices I've seen. It's also possibly the coolest thing I could actually spend that kind of money on that's not a car. :P Hmm... Where did I put that homebuilt Segway tutorial again? :ph34r:

I have to say, that is one of the more incredible things I've ever seen. I really think it's quite, dare I say it, brave of you to post this here. I'm so glad you came out okay from the ordeal. Now I just have to remind myself to wear my old football cleets when I film my high school's varsity games. :P

I've found that the opposite of hiking boots helps me when shooting in wierd conditions, aka a pair of extremely broken in Rockports. Basically it's like walking barefoot, except there is some protection. The shoes just flex and bend with your foot, and it's a quite nice experience. I find being able to "feel" the terrain is a huge plus for me. I'm sure they wouldn't be quite perfect for pebbles, but for things like the road posted above, it might help some. Then again I do all my best operating barefoot, but I think I might just be crazy. :P

And to think it doesn't even include the CompactFlash cards it needs to work. :P

I'd say that was quite good. Some of the best work I've seen come out of an op with a new rig. I can't tell weather it's skill, or if it's the rig, but I most certainly commend both. The song's pretty good too. :P

Hey JMF, I didn't see this thread before I posted in the other one, but there IS a way to get this done! (Check the other thread) Since you are looking at buying a rig though, it might be wise to buy a cheaper rig and upgrade. This is pretty common in the Steadicam industry, simply because most parts are quite interchangable. The theories behind the device are incredibly complex, but if you don't mind doing a lot of playing around and not having a rig that is 100% a copy of the big film rigs, you can really have a lot of fun and get a really nice rig going. Also, a good thing to remember is that whatever choice you make, weather it be to homebuild, get the Glidecam, or get the Flyer, It's all about the operator. If you don't know beans about stabilizers, you will be a bad operator no matter what rig you get. Even the best rig can't make you be a good operator. It takes a lot of practice and work, but trust me, with enough work even the most consumer of rigs can work very very well. See ya later. -Tom

Hey! I realize that it's been a few days, but being new to this form and not so new to stabilizers, I thought I'd enter my advice in here. Why not build your own? It's pretty damn easy to do, and for around $500 you can get a quite well built machine (Cody Deegan's system fits the bill perfectly: Cody's Site). Look into this a bunch, as this is what I have done, and it's satisfied my needs perfectly, not to mention being custom built for all my quirks in operating style. Good luck with your films. Oh, and if you want more info on homebuilding, come on over and check out my homebuilder breathren at HomeBuiltStabilizers (The site is temporarily down for construction, so here are the Forums). See ya later. -Tom