I am an aspiring filmographer (in my dreams) with no money for equipment, nor clue what I am doing for that matter. As a result, instead of owning thousands of dollars worth of cameras, lighting, sound and other equipment, I am the proud owner of a Flip UltraHD camera at a princely value of US$199.

While filming my latest blockbuster hit I found myself in a situation.  With the Flip cameras, mobile phone cameras, and practically any other cheap video camera, gone are the days of using your forearm for stablisation, since you’re holding the camera with two fngers usually instead of your entire hand. And with this class of device, theres no image stablisation (thankfully software like iMovie has functionality to improve stability but it’s always better to try to eliminate the shakes before you record, not after!)

So I saw this article on Lifehacker (yeah I know) which linked me to the original $14 steadicam, and this seemed to be an easier option of the two.  Also, the one with the gimbal looks like it would do a better job but it looked uncomfortable and not really the sort of thing I would look cool using in public.

Since I’m in Australia, it was a little harder to find everything exactly that the recipe called for, mostly because we are with the rest of the world and use metric, but I did a pretty good job. I went to Bunnings, Australia’s answer to Home Depot, and walked out with the following:

• 3 pieces of galvanised pipe – 15mm x 250mm – $8.49 each (yeah, WTF?)
• Hobby vice grip, about the same size Johnny used – $5.53
• A pack of washers that are about 1 1/2″ circumference – $3.32
• Three end caps – $1.74 each
• Tee joint – $2.78

I happened to have some 1/4″ bolts, nuts, lock nuts and wing nuts lying around as well so that saved a few bucks. Total cost so far, $42.32, which is about 3 times more than the original $14 budget – even taking into account foreign exchange! Oh well. I will probably return the washers because they are far too flanged for the Flip – I had a couple of those around here already as well. I missed closing time at the Rebel sports store across the road from Bunnings so I couldnt get the weight and I’ll have to get that tommorow but as you can see using the steadicam without the weight already makes a difference, at least with the light weight Flip camera!

Here’s a quick video of the difference before and after attaching the Flip to the Steadicam going up the stairs. Definitly well worth the time!

Video