DIY Equipment

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I was cruising the web and ran into Jared Abrams from Cinema5D.com showcasing the Swintronix PowerBase 70 Power Pack for the Canon 5D Mark II & Canon 7D. This is a pretty cool solution for those who are concerned about battery power and want to make sure you're running all day. Not a bad price for a unit that claims to hold the same power as 5-6 Canon LP-E6 batteries, and also has output options to power other equipment too.

Most people might not remember this, but long ago Digital Cameras used standard AA batteries, not rechargeable Lithiums. Battery technology was poor and run time was terrible, so you really tried not reviewing your images on the LCD. I remember owning an older camera that had the option to plug into an AC outlet. The brick converted AC back into DC for the camera. So I fashioned up a relative Voltage RC Car battery as my mobile power source. Worked great, dirt cheap, fast recharging, and lasted much longer than AA batteries. Ask around, you'll be surprised how many photographers are using RC car batteries for many projects.

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Swintronix Powerbase 70 Battery Pack Kit

Note: Don't follow my Lead. This could be a disastrous project.
My mind is wandering and I'm going to stir up some thought here about a possible DIY power pack for the Canon 5D Mark II. Taking a peek at the Swintronix PowerBase 70, I believe it has a rating for 14 volts but the Canon LP-E6 Battery is only rated at 7.2 volts. This sounds like there are (2) 7 volt batteries in this PowerBase. The 14 volts can be offered if these two 7 volt batteries are run in Series. Extended run times can be offered if these two 7 volt batteries are run in Parallel.

Here's the simple parts needed for a possible DIY Power Pack for the Canon 5D Mark II or 7D. First a way to connect power into the Camera. Available is an aftermarket ACK-E6 AC Power Adapter designed specifically for LP-E6 cameras like the 5D Mark II & 7D. This very specific adapter seperates from the 'Brick' leaving you with a simple adapter, not to be confused with the ones that don't seperate from the power brick. I won't need the brick, just the Battery adapter part with short wire lead.

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Second, just one 7.4v Lithium Rechargeable Battery will do the job powering up the camera, but if I want longer run times, i'll need to run two 7.4v batteries in Parallel. The single Canon LP-E6 Battery is rated at approx 7v 1800mah -aftermarket batteries around 1500mah. To make this worth carrying around, each 7.4v battery should have at least twice the milliamp hour rating if not more. The battery image below shows almost double the milliamp hour rating from the stock battery, so it's possible it may last twice as long.
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Outside of those two parts, i'd need to take a short trip to Radio Shack for some wire adapter to mate the two, a decent looking electronics project box for the enclosure, and 7.4v battery charger for RC cars to recharge. I think it's quite possible to create a DIY Power Pack for the Canon 5D Mark II or 7D for a Total price roughly under $125 dollars. I really don't see why I need to make something like this, i'm just thinking out loud as usual.

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Customer image submitted to Amazon.com shows the use of two Adorama 'L' brackets spaced out to create a 'fig rig' style stabilizer. This simple solution would definitely work much like a common fig rig, while still allowing cold shoe attachments on each side for your LED lighting and Shotgun Microphone (as the above image displays).

Doesn't really show how the camera is mounted in between these two brackets, but a short piece of AL flat bar is all that i'm thinking this setup would need. The Aluminum flat bar can also be cut to widen the space between the handles for more stability, but going too wide might throw off the axis of your LED light and shotgun mic. The brackets used in the image above are the Adorama L Brackets, but there's also other notable L flash brackets available from other manufacturers.

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Yes this blog has many DIY posts, but you won't find a DIY jib or camera crane article on here. I thought those types of articles were just over saturated and you can find that information just about anywhere. Thanks to Tim for sending this in, this DIY Camera Crane video by Martin Roberts showcasing his build was one that definitely needed to be shared. Not only a very clever build with lots of thought in place on the design, the video is edited and pieced together nicely too. It's not a very informative DIY video about how you can go about building your own step by step, but those who might be DIY savvy can probably pickup some tips. There's also additional photos over at his Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/53188536@N06/

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An image of a Z96 LED light on a Glidecam HD4000 + Steadicam Vest + Rode VideoMic + Canon 5D Mark II + Battery Grip + Zoom H4n shows up in the wild. Well it wasn't really that wild. Somehow an image of just a small part of my rig showed up on the BayCitizen.org website, as I was part of the video team covering the Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp event over at UC Berkely. I was the only one roaming with any type of Steadicam, let alone a Steadicam Vest and sure did get lots of attention and questions about the rig. It's smooth to fly, gets good audio from the Rode VideoMic shotgun + Zoom h4n (on the lower sled - not seen), and when cruising indoors I have the ability to switch on some extra LED lighting. It's a versatile setup that works for me, and I use this same setup consistently for many types of event coverage. It's change a little bit, but you can see more of the Steadicam + Glidecam rig I've assembled in this article.

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Now available at Amazon.com - click image

Igus is the manufacturer of the popular Drylin W Linear Guide rail. Linear guide rails are seen in robotics and manufacturing type machines and associated with lube and grease, not good for cameras. This design uses 'Dry Bearings' so it was natural that this rail exploded onto the DSLR Video scene as one of the most widely used rails for DIY camera sliders AND by actual retailers of Camera sliders. From what many are saying, the early adopters for this rail call this the 'ZaZa Slider' and you'll find a group on Vimeo from people making it from Igus rails.

You can see this same basic rail design in Glidetrack, Kessler, and others. When I first created my DIY Camera slider, I had to call IGUS in Ireland, figure out the exact parts I needed, and have it shipped from overseas. Looks like so many camera manufacturers have been using their rail, Igus is now hip to DSLR video, and they are now posting an item at Amazon.com specifically as a 'Camera slider'. The nice thing in this image is the new side clamp on the carrier designed to lock the carrier in place. I was using old hand clamps to keep mine from shifting as I was transporting.

You can check out my DIY Slider in this video to see what this whole thing looks like put together. There was a bit of drilling needed to get the rail onto the tripod, and a bit of drilling to get the Fluid head onto the Igus Carrier, but very easy material to work with. Take my advice and don't get 4 feet of rail. It's nice and fun, but soooo long it's akward to carry it around. You'll be better off with 2 feet, 3 feet MAX. Well thanks to Igus, it looks like they are making things a bit more streamlined for us DIY'ers interested in building our own camera slider with a straight purchase to the complete set. Below is a link to the most popular one they are saying, but here's a link to More Igus Camera Slider Rails.

Product Description
Modular DryLin® W linear guides ensure a smooth, lubrication-free gliding motion for camera slider systems. Used by manufacturers of high-quality, complete systems, as well as individual DIY video enthusiasts seeking individual components for camera dollies and camera slider assemblies.

Our most popular camera slider size. Includes 1,000mm-long guide rail (39.4") with 9 holes evenly spaced and a 100mm-long carriage plate. Carriage plate features 4 low-friction plastic bearings for smooth and quiet operation, as well as extra bolts to prevent misalignment.

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After this weekend, i'm thinking of adding a few items to speed up my dynamic workflow. I go from handheld, to monopod, to tripod, to Steadicam, to slider, to dolly, etc. Things have to be fast and things have to work together. I need a strap to carry two cameras, I need this to disconnect if I move to handheld, and I need this to adapt to the different rigs very quickly. Here's some accessories of what i'm dreaming up now that might work best for my type of shooting.

Similar form to the Black Rapid Double Camera strap, but with alot more function, here's the Q-Strap several people have been telling me about after I posted about a BlackRapid clone. Looks like those BlackRapid clones have dissappeared, but this Q-Strap (not R-Strap) is readily avaiable and seems to have improved on the mounting design. Although i'm a big fan of the solid mounting clip of the BlackRapids, one of the shortcomings is that you can't quickly get your camera back to Tripod, or if you want to dismount and go handheld there's no option for that Camera Hand Strap. Here's where the Q-strap is forward thinking. Using a different mounting plate, it has an attachment area to keep a Camera Hand Strap on at all times. Secondly, it still maintains a standard Tripod mount thread, would be perfect for a Manfrotto 394 Quick Release Plate to stay on for some fast Tripod Mount options. So i'm thinking about going this route and dumping off my OG BlackRapid strap with this new Q-Strap configuration.

First the Q-Strap:
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Second the Camera Hand Strap:
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Third the Manfrotto 394 Quick Release Plate:
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In my head this combination is all working out great, giving me great flexibility with my gear moving from harness strap, to handheld strap, to tripod mount, steadicam mount very very quickly without having to screw/unscrew anything - just clip clip clip. As suggested by one of the readers, by using the Manfrotto 394 quick release plate on top of my 717AH should also make things quick for me while saving big bucks on a decent fluid head.

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transcend-iphone-mount (2)

This just came in today from https://iphone-tripodholder.com.

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Yes, you might think this is silly (unless you're Zacuto), but I have some small (just for fun) projects that will be shot on the iPhone and needed a very lightweight, fast, slim mount to get the iPhone onto a Tripod - Not to mention cheap too. Now before you start commenting on those DIY mods using car mount with flexible necks or cell phone holders, keep in mind you'd still have to modify a 1/4 x 20 threaded insert and you won't get quite the slim profile as this item. I've also been poking around eBay and those car mounts really aren't that cheap. I'm rocking the iPhone 3Gs, but this little mount also works on the new iPhone 4 (for you lucky devils). There's a slot for the camera lens if you decide to use it in reverse for some reason. (Images Below)

Slides in, and slides out, holds very well via rubber inserts in the channel. The provided threaded insert will work nicely with Barska Grip + Mini Giottos Ball head for some landscape action. I'm also planning on making a Gimbal type steadicam for iPhone and this mount will be a big help. I'll be toying with this over the weekend, see what I come up with. The iPhone-Tripod Holder can be found here at https://iphone-tripodholder.com

iPhone-Tripod Holder Shown with iPhone 4
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steadicam-gizmosteadicam-gizmo-diy

One of the most passionate DIY'ers tackling the Steadicam Merlin design and Gimbal handle with full rotation that I know about is WSCLATER. If you check out his website over at https://www.diycamera.com/stabiliser, you'll find years of logs refining a single Steadicam project. Yeah I think I would have given up by then. There's seems to be a very similar version showing up on eBay called the 'Steadicam Gizmo'. Personally there's some things I would clean up to finish up the little detail work, but looks really close to what WSCLATER has been working on. Four items sold just today for this Steadicam Gizmo, and parts can be purchased seperately. If you're not the DIY type, you might to check out the handle which uses the same design as wsclater, which might be a good improvement for that IndieHardware stabilizer as an upgrade. Check out the Steadicam Gizmo DIY stabilizer found on eBay auctions.

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iphone-diy-cinema

Rick Q. over at www.rcqcreativeworks.com shared with us his DIY Plug Wire Clamp Shooter earlier in the month, and now showcases his latest work for his new iPhone 4. Great idea for steady video and photos. If you really need a handle to go with your iPhone, I don't think there's anything out there as classy at this DIY budget. These Plug Clamps are sure showing lots of use in the DIY DSLR community thanks to the original designs sent in by Johan. Another popular DIY Plug Wire Clamp DSLR rig was sent in by Derek using Carbon rods. You can find that one here.

Update: Shortly after, Herb shows off his DIY iPhone cinema handle. With tilt action and beefy foam grip. Herb has also dropped hints of a more streamlined version coming soon. Enjoy the madness fun around these iPhone handles.
SmartHand