And make any adjustments to the turnbuckles on the Arm to put the camera at the height you want…I usually put my camera’s flip-out monitor at about chin level.
Finally…Once you get everything adjusted and balanced…PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! It takes quite a while as an operator to smooth out your form---and there’s really no substitute for the real thing. It takes skill, coordination, and muscle fitness to be a good Steadicam operator. At first, you’ll be sore…And the footage will most likely not be a smooth as you want. Stick with it!
One thing I added after a few practice sessions was a few well-placed stick-on rubber bumpers. I used them on the inside of the Knuckle assembly as well as at the arm-to-vest mount, to provide a soft limit-stop…It helps keep the arm from getting too close and bumping into you, and doesn’t greatly interfere with its operation.
I’d also like to say that one site I got lots of ideas from is HomeBuiltStabilizers.com . The whole site is dedicated to people who build their own rigs---From the steadicam here, to cranes, booms, dollies, etc.
As for my rig, I operate my camera’s controls using a Lanc controller---that’s the wire you see near the top rear of the sled. The wire is thin enough to not be a huge issue….but be aware that anything like this will affect stabilization to some degree. The thinner the wire, the better. I’m currently building a patch cable out of super-thin Litz headphone cable to minimize this effect.
I’ve also built a low-mode adapter from scratch, but have yet to test…
Have fun…Practice, and be safe!
Jack-of-all-trades, Dave Harris has been fascinated by all things A/V since he shot his first video at a tender young age back in the late
70's. He's been assisting fellow filmmakers for a number of years
now---enjoying every facet of the process from acting, to sound design
and scoring, to fabrication and post-production (and everything in
between). A commercial A/V programmer/engineer, he's been involved in
various capacities with a smattering of short films. He's currently in
pre-production for his first full-length feature, "The Shaman", for
his company, DeadLight Films.
