The Inventern Episode 13: Building a Steadicam

Inventern finalist Ron Erickson has a lot of experience working on rally cars, but went out of his comfort zone in attempting to build a Steadicam camera rig for the final challenge. The biggest hurdle was that he had never seen a Steadicam in person before, even though he understood the mechanical principles behind it. Here's how he fared over the two days of building in San Francisco.

[AgentJohnSteed]

This series has been fascinating.  Looking forward to seeing more. Thanks.

[CYellowan]

This guy really impressed me. The return became like X1.5 of what he expected.
Even though he didn't really hit the objective at all, getting 2 alright products out of 1 main product is really solid.

[Freelancerkbbles]

That was actually pretty cool. Would have liked to see the steady cam but perhaps that's for a later episode? I've been avoiding these things for some unknown reason.

[tornuptom]

this series has really got good! I am just disappointed to see how massive amounts have been cut out!! I'd love to have watched a less edited version that was maybe 20-25 mins long and showed more engineering!

Looking forward to seeing how things progress!

[RouteZeroDesign]

I like this guy. The steadicam, the Bullitt inspiration, the rally t-shirts; he's got my vote.

[thefluffinator]

Jees! I really wish these were longer (at least 10-15min)

[chrisose]

First three rules to building an object that already exists:
1. Research
2. Research
3. Research

[texabyte]

Hell, Even Adam doesn't' even have the key concept of a steadycam down. He needs a 3 axis gimbal to isolate movement and to make it even close to a true steadycam(Steadicam is technically a trademark)

[krabkit]

i hope it works out well but balancing will be dificult

[RubSomefastOnIt]

I CANT BELIEVE YOU LET HIM MACHINE WITH GLOVES ON!!!! 

[RSBSTEADICAM]

I'm going to send a link to all the people that "claim" to be Steadicam Operators using the many, many knock offs and inferior copies of the original Steadicam machining. Distilling the essence of the three key elements of Garrett's invention is the key to modeling it. A great great learning example but not a project to be taken on in only a few hours I'm afraid.

[IrishSkruffles]

Does he have any vertical movement dampeners at all? Wasn't too impressed with this but it was a cool idea

[Rabskeens]

that wheel was a bad idea, as the axis of rotation is the center of the wheel and not the center of the camera.

[velen]

I made one steadicam a year ago. As far as I can see he need at least 2 axis to make it work properly. Actually the problem I had encountered is steadicam is too heavy to carry. It needs quite some weight to balance the camera and also it need one hand to operate, so all the weight is on one hand. It is too heavy. The arm is just use to carry the heavy steadicam and camera. He actually made it in backward. This steadicam is so big. It's more use for a film making size camera like RED rather than DSLR. Totally overkilled, but it might work.

[zonavelhalpma]

i whant a jacket like Adam, were to get one ?

[kanator]

Easiest steadycam on earth, attach camera to a relatively heavy tripod, hold the tripod near the bottom. Boom steady smooth shots.

[dingdingdingdiiiiing]

when I make something, it's an idea for a while and I develop it, but only start making it when it's ripe, plunging right into work means lots of stepping back, correcting and re-designing and possibly, ending up with an inferior design

[Khether]

IT IS >>>NOT<<< THE SAME THING, BUT:
if you lower the center of gravity a really lot, like attaching a long pole from the camera in your hand down to the level of your feet, dangling there in the air, and adding some more weight down there, when you hold the camera up high at the normal level, it is a quick-and-dirty way to steady the motion somewhat.

[AlbertoR]

If the other guy can make the cross-bow work, he will totally win.

[dcinhere]

I like the kids Subaru WRX t-shirt he had on.