Introduction: How to Build a Glidetrack Camera Mount
A friend of mine asked me a short time ago if it could be possible to build a glide track camera mount like this one:
www.glidetrack.com/products/glidetrack-shooter.html
for cheap
I came up with this build:
Step 1:
The
glide track camera mount is just made out of two full-extension
drawer slides, some bolts, nuts and a wooden board I found in my room.
Step 2:
Last things first I installed the bolt holding the camera in place and ground its head down to fit through a gap in the drawer slider.
It migt not be necessary with your slider or maybe you find a low-profile bot that fits. I had to grind mine down to about 2mm thickness in order to fit.
Step 3:
Then I added the second slider to the first one to double the movement capacity. Conveniently drawer sliders are sold in pairs. The angle brackets were part of the sliders and were bolted together with two 1/4-10 boltsand fitting nuts (M5 *10)
Step 4:
Finally the sliders where mounted to a simple board with two screws.
Step 5:
The final product in comparison to the professional alternative and a test film made with the first (one slider) prototype.
www.youtube.com/watch
The movement capacity you reach with the two sliders, is about 50 cm.
A heavy camera will probably bend the slider down, with the Panasonic-DV-Camcorder which will be in use in the film making project this effect is barly noticable.
25 Discussions
6 years ago
I use my camera phone and the app lapseit pro to make time lapse videos. I have made a panning stand out of a clockwork kitchen timer. I'd like to use your idea to make a track so I can pan a long sideways. has anyone any ideas how this track could be motorised to make it extend over say a 30 min to an hour period better still have it track at any rate I set. thanks folks
10 years ago on Step 5
On Step 5, I'm not sure what you mean by "test film"? Should there be a video attached? Or was the third picture taken by stitching together images taken using a second slide-mounted camera?
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
There should be a video, let me fix this...
Reply 10 years ago on Step 5
Very cool video. Of course, any YouTube video is better if it has a cat in it ;->
I'm impressed with how smooth the motion is, and how easy it is to do both pan and dolly with the same simple piece of equipment. I wonder if a smaller board would make it stable enough to use with a neck strap and belly pad....
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Might be possible. But as I gave the build to the friend who asked for it I have no idea how mouch evolution will happen to it.
As said above it will be used in a film making project very soon so I might be asked to do some changes. We will see
Yes cats are great :)
Reply 10 years ago on Step 5
I'd love to see the end result.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Until the final result is to be seen it will take quite a while, at least a year and a half.
But to shorten the time you can whatch the sequel to the yet to come prequel at youtube
www.youtube.com/watch
There great movie "Xoro the Eifelarean"! It is a tribute to the famous barbarian movies, it even comes with german accnet *GG*
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Sorry, Flash is down and out on my computer at the moment.
D:
10 years ago on Step 2
What batteries do you use for your camera??
Reply 10 years ago on Step 2
I use the Lithium AA's in mine...Energizer I believe...they last much longer than anything else I have used. I have an A540 and a A570 both CHDK hacked powershots and they last quite a while without new batteries. Although, I am planning an external power pack mod using the DC in so I can run extremely long intervals without having to move the camera.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
My camera is a Fujifilm an has some special batterie.
The canon camera mounted on the slider is powerd, if I remember well, with AA batteries.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
I know it uses AA..i have a canon powershot and it always says my batteries are low when fully charged....have any comments?
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
I had the same problem. I hacked it, by adding a battery clip with 3 rechargables. Works great, though my wife thinks it's really ugly ;) Keeps battery for looong time, and is rechargable.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Ours is that model pictured above and we have never had that problem. Have you checked for a software update for your camera?
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
no i havent ....how do i do that??
10 years ago on Introduction
This would be perfect to make 3D photos. I think you could put in a "stop" of some kind to get the 2" slide you would need. Thanks!
10 years ago on Introduction
The last picture in Step 5 makes it look like there's a fair amount of sag when you have the glides at full extension. Am I seeing that correctly? Would it make sense to attach a support pin (e.g., a dowel with a rubber tip) to the far end?
On Step 2, you ground down the bolt-head on the 1/4-20. It would also be possible to buy a low-profile bolt (I used very shallow round-heads for my project).
This is worthy of a top-level feature, but it needs a few tweaks:
- You have a few typos on the steps, missing commas between items in a list ("two drawer slides, some bolts, nuts and a wooden board"),
- "Than" should be "Then".
- It would be good to specify the sizes and types of the screws and bolts you used (the tripod mount needs a 1/4-20, for example), and also what kind of drawer slides (3/4-extension, full-extension, length).
- Did the angle brackets come with the drawer slides? If not, you should list them as separate items.
For now, it's featured within Technology:Photography; if you can fix the items above, let us know.Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
With the camera mounted in the last picture, there is no sagging. It is just an illusion produced by the lense. A heavy camere would definety bend the slider, but for the film making projekt it is intended for this will not be a problem.
I hope everything is well written and explained, now. Let me now if the instructable still needs work.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Thank you very much for the explanation of the apparent "sagging."
This is an excellent project, and it's now top-level featured.
10 years ago on Introduction
I corrected some typos and added some missing information (and I hope I did not add any typos doing this ;) )