DIY Camera RIG

Intro: DIY Camera RIG

Hey y'all!! this is a quick walkthrough of how i made this cheap ass camera rig that can stabilize your DSLR in 2 axis. it uses mostly resources you can get in most hardware shops. So yep! lets get to it!

TOOLS Drill/Drill bit (6 mm,4 mm, 12 mm) Hacksaw/Bandsaw Solvent Cement Sandpaper Spanners Pliers MATERIALS PVC pipes (1 inch Diameter) - 3.5 meters Elbow - 4 T joint - 12 Converter (1 - 1.5 inch) - 2 Ball bearings- 2(size) Foam sheets Nuts and Bolts (4 mm , 6 mm, 10 mm) Mild steel(MS) strips Mild steel plate Wooden strips

STEP 1: Making the Frame.

Cut PVC pipes to lengths as shown in the figure.Cut using an hacksaw blade or a Band-saw if you have one. Sand the edges to a slight taper for proper fitting.

For the Extender pipe, fit a piece of foam inside. This will hold the bearing assembly.

Assemble the pieces as shown. Once its all snug fit, we'll use solvent cement to fix all joints permanently in the very end.

STEP 2: Making the Cradle.

Cut out a strip of (1.25 x 20 inch) from MS. Bend it at right angle as shown in the figure. Drill holes where the bolt goes in and holds. use a (10 mm) bolt to tighten the bearings to the cradle strip. This Cradle should stabilize our camera in Z(up-down) axis Repeat same on the other end. Drill 2 more holes as shown, this is where we fix the camera mount.

STEP 3: Making the Weight Holder.

Cut out another strip (1.25 x 16 inch) of MS and then drill holes as shown in the picture.

weld another bolt to a weight. this will facilitate in adding more weights for better stabilization.

STEP 4: Making the Calibrator and Camera Mount

Cut out a plate from MS as shown in figure. Sand the edges to remove sharp splinters. Cut out the strip for sliding the weight holder.

Cut out out a piece of (1.25 x 4.25 x 0.25 inch) drill holes in in the plank piece and conjoin the holes with the holes made on the cradle.

Fix them together using 4 mm Screws and bolts.

STEP 5: Assembly

Fix the Camera mount to the cradle.

Add foam for softer base for camera.

Slide in the Cradle to the frame, with the bearings inside the converter sockets. Once this is done, you can go ahead and solvent cement all the joints firmly and tightly..

Finally, attach the weight holder in the slider hole. you can use the 6 mm nuts and bolts for this. If the DSLR is pointing down due to lens weight, adjust the slider to calibrate the camera pointing direction.

Paint the whole thing!!

Last, find another 6 mm bolt, put it through the center hole in the cradle to mount the camera directly on to the cradle.

STEP 6: Get Shooting!!

Feel free to use it in various different orientations and modes. Explore what works for you best!!

have fun!

Comments

[afrancis123]

neat but i can only see a single axis.
also you could add cold shoe mounts to add microphones and lights
other than that great instructable

[pierrePiper]

another trick (which I havent used myself) but might also help WITH this rig is to tie a length of elastic strip to the camera, then to your belt. make sure to buckle up.

[JamesA41]

About 15 years back when I lived next to Saugatuck and was into photography way more and being motivated to get into shooting video, I was going to make something similar (I wound up making a dual grip shoulder rig with a counter balance battery behind me out of 80/20) and a little boom mount over the camera for audio and potentially lighting. The idea of using PVC is great. Can dampen motion a little also. The idea like you have and I was contemplating was more a reverse backpack style or backpack with front mounts for more a gyro like mount where there is one more axis to pivot to be level with the horizon and the whole rig hangs from the part that I never got around to finalizing. I thought two fishing poles over each shoulder with lines down on each side or hanging from one over head hook basically from bungy cord if not directly mounted on my chest... though I like the counter balance ability behind your back. Your design is similar basically... other than if shooting higher up from the ground you can use a longer arm for the balance weight that will help smooth motion and adding another "U" piece with the end mounted with 90 degree ends facing in where your existing bearing go with a bearing pivot point at the middle/bottom of the "U" with a "T" piece to level out horizontal motion. Then mount to your bracket and if long days of filming... the pack options help even more to buffer body movement and balance the load to distribute more comfortably. Neat to see. I haven't seen much for booms or rigs on here.

[procter]

Nicely made instructable, but without a video, I suspect that it does not work well. It's construction appears to address only one axis - rotation down-up (bending), NOT rotation left-right (turning) the most used.

[mberlands]

It cant work! Camera becomes a pendulum.

[mberlands]

Maybe I don't understand something, but I see it works only in 1 axis!

[Jadem52]

Great Project, a with vs without video would be really cool though!!!

[WiseSageBum]

Yes, it would be great to have that

[oragamiunicorn]

a good solution for the budget, I wonder if you could mount a larger screen at the top of the rig to allow an easier view .

s mounting a spirit level onto the frame might be a good for framing.

[oragamiunicorn]

's mounting' was a typo, i just meant 'mounting'

[DIY Hacks and How Tos]

That is better than a fig rig. Do you have any test footage made with this.