Joel Rosen's Posts
Using a handmade steadycam for the Kodak Zi6
One of our cool new products for this year is the Zi-6 Pocket Video Camera. It's designed for shooting video and even better, it makes getting the results out of the camera and onto the internet, where people can actually see it, really easy. It's not as sophisticated as bigger camcorders but it's much smaller and lighter, which is great, but it's also more subject to vibration and shake and I hate camera shake.
Years ago, I'd did some video work for a school project and to get a more sophisticated look, I borrowed a Steadicam Jr. from a videographer friend. It really works, but it takes practice to use it well and it's too pricey for my budget. Since that time, I've seen several other products come on the market, also excellent and still too expensive for my budget. And then I found the poor man's steadicam which is perfect for my budget. I made one a while ago (mine cost about $16 to build) and I was pretty pleased with the results, particularly for recording kids sporting events. I could move up and down the sidelines and keep the action in the frame. I may have looked goofy but I don't mind and I like the resulting video. The basic concept is to counter-balance the weight of the camera. I have a typical mini-DV camcorder. It weighs about 20 oz.
After reading some reviews and comments about the Zi-6 and the shakiness of small video cameras in general, I wondered about if my stabilizer would help. The Zi-6 is really tiny, it's dwarfed by the weight of the stabilizer, even without the counterweight. Nonetheless, we thought we'd try it out and see how it went.
Keep in mind that this is with no practice and very little prep. We did 4 short clips here in the office.
First we tried without the stabilizer and moving quickly.
This is while walking backwards as fast as possible. It's pretty rough. You can see rapid small shaking with each footstep. Yes, that's Jenny riding a scooter.
Now, same path, but with the stabilizer attached.
It's still a bit rough, but much better than before. It doesn't make me seasick.
We tried slowing down next. No stabilizer.
There's not as much shake as the fast movement, but there's a steady up and down movement with each step. They felt so goofy walking down the hall like this.
Now with the stabilizer at a comfortable pace for walking backward.
Again, it's better than before. It's not as stable as I can do with the larger camcorder but it works. I am sure that with practice I could get even better.
(YouTube compresses these videos quite a bit... if you would like to see them at higher quality, go right to YouTube and click "watch in high quality" under each video Video 1, Video 2, Video 3, Video 4)
Using a stabilizer is sort of contrary to the idea of the Zi-6. The device is small and light and I've made it big and clunky. But I consider this test a success and I am inspired to make a smaller, lighter and more 'portable' stabilizer and give that try. Stay tuned.
If you've got a small video capture device and you've tried any stabilization techniques, let's hear about it!
Years ago, I'd did some video work for a school project and to get a more sophisticated look, I borrowed a Steadicam Jr. from a videographer friend. It really works, but it takes practice to use it well and it's too pricey for my budget. Since that time, I've seen several other products come on the market, also excellent and still too expensive for my budget. And then I found the poor man's steadicam which is perfect for my budget. I made one a while ago (mine cost about $16 to build) and I was pretty pleased with the results, particularly for recording kids sporting events. I could move up and down the sidelines and keep the action in the frame. I may have looked goofy but I don't mind and I like the resulting video. The basic concept is to counter-balance the weight of the camera. I have a typical mini-DV camcorder. It weighs about 20 oz.
After reading some reviews and comments about the Zi-6 and the shakiness of small video cameras in general, I wondered about if my stabilizer would help. The Zi-6 is really tiny, it's dwarfed by the weight of the stabilizer, even without the counterweight. Nonetheless, we thought we'd try it out and see how it went.
Keep in mind that this is with no practice and very little prep. We did 4 short clips here in the office.
First we tried without the stabilizer and moving quickly.
This is while walking backwards as fast as possible. It's pretty rough. You can see rapid small shaking with each footstep. Yes, that's Jenny riding a scooter.
Now, same path, but with the stabilizer attached.
It's still a bit rough, but much better than before. It doesn't make me seasick.
We tried slowing down next. No stabilizer.
There's not as much shake as the fast movement, but there's a steady up and down movement with each step. They felt so goofy walking down the hall like this.
Now with the stabilizer at a comfortable pace for walking backward.
Again, it's better than before. It's not as stable as I can do with the larger camcorder but it works. I am sure that with practice I could get even better.
(YouTube compresses these videos quite a bit... if you would like to see them at higher quality, go right to YouTube and click "watch in high quality" under each video Video 1, Video 2, Video 3, Video 4)
Using a stabilizer is sort of contrary to the idea of the Zi-6. The device is small and light and I've made it big and clunky. But I consider this test a success and I am inspired to make a smaller, lighter and more 'portable' stabilizer and give that try. Stay tuned.
If you've got a small video capture device and you've tried any stabilization techniques, let's hear about it!
