I've been wanting to pick up a camera crane to expand my B-roll potential, but I just haven't been able to justify the $450+ expense. So after looking at a pile behind our garage that was destined for the dump, I decided to try and make my own. Items I used: Tripod broken tetherball pole old lawn mower wheels oar bracket wooden dowel hockey tape L bracket paracord Misc. nuts, bolts, & hardware The main body of the crane is constructed out of pieces of aluminum pole from a tether ball set we have. The piece that mounted into the ground broke last year, so I had roughly 9 1/2' left intact (an old flag pole would work too). The adjustability allows me to use it in 2 or 3 pieces, for maximum portability or length. I wrapped the pole in black athletic tape to reduce noise, reduce glare, and add grip for both operating and the counter weight bag (a shop-vac accessory bag with rocks in it). I used one of the lawn mower wheels to mount the L bracket (which is what the camera mounts to) to the pole. 1/4" bolts, spacers and locking nuts were used to attach the L bracket to the wheel through holes I drilled in the plastic rim. The second wheel is used with the para cord to control the tilt of the camera from the operating position. The paracord runs in a grove I cut into the rubber to keep it on the wheels and give it some grip I had come up with a couple different ways that I could attach the pole to my tripod, but in the end I went with the easiest and cheapest way as I had the parts available. I found an old boat oar bracket and attached it to the pole. then I found that with minimal sanding, a 1" dowel would fit into the bottom of my tripod head. After flipping my tripod head up-side-down, inserting the dowel and drilling a 1/2" hole in the dowel to receive the oar bracket, I was ready to put it all together. Here's an early shot with just the pole and wheels mounted: Here's the finished product: And a close up of the mounting bracket:
Love to see things repurposed. Cost aside, it's great to make something out of left overs. Have an example of what this does, I see ropes and wheels and don't really know what all this does (except the obvious piviot the camera up and down on the wheel axis) Except for a hold the camera for pics etc.
It's meant for creating sweeping video shots, providing a more dynamic and steady range of motion. I'm uploading a test video to YouTube that has the first few shots I took with it. I'll post it when it finishes. The main purpose of the rope is to keep the camera level and on subject as you raise the boom. If you didn't have something like that, the camera would start to tilt to the sky.
Nice job Fitz, footage looks nice and solid with no camera bounce! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I do get an occasional bounce, but it's from the weight bag swaying. I might find another method for adding counterbalance, perhaps some weight plates.
Very impressive jig! Since the camera is on a wheel, wouldn't gravity keep it straight as the arm raises up? Perhaps strategically adding a bit of weight to that wheel would allow you to let gravity do the work.
Not necessarily. Depending on what lens you're useing, what zoom you're at, and what accessories you have added (ie. mics, lights), the camera balance would change tilting it one way or another. Plus, there will be times when I'll want the camera to tilt down as the boom raises to track an object lower to the ground.
Well it's first realworld test was going to be today, but instead I dumped my DSLR in the lake... Those are pretty cool! I was planning to add a drone this Fall to my gear bag, now I just need to get a DSLR again.
