DIY Digital Stabilized Camera Gimbal

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Get all the equipment used in the video here:
Falcon Camera Gimbal: bit.ly/11IQHkZ
Shoulder rig:
eBay bit.ly/17x78Hw
Amazon amzn.to/1fI3qxZ
Amazon EU/UK amzn.to/15CJQBZ
I'm sure you've heard of the MōVi. Well if you can't afford to buy it, you can maybe build one yourself. Here's a video about how I did it.
If you got any questions just leave it in the comments below.
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My name's Tom Antos and I make videos. I am a film director and cinematographer with over 12 years experience in VFX & animation. Jak sie masz?! I'm originally from Poland ;) Check out my channel here: / polcan99
Camera brushless gimbal DIY digital stabilized

[@yadukrishna4995]

Instead of using the transmitter you can use a servo tester and attach two of them on the handle bar on either side to tilt the camera .they only cost a couple of bucks .just connect it it to the gimbal control board directly

[@dayanandsuresh412]

Poor man's version. This is awesome. Awesomeness in its fullest. Really helped me and gave me an idea of creating one for myself. Thanks. Great job and good creativity.

[@avprotv]

This is awesome and thank you for the DIY. I did check the Movi unit and was blown by the function and also by the price. Indie filmmaker definitely need this.

[@ikonmediafilms]

Dude just say the word! you sir are a Great person just like the guys over at Magic Lantern!

[@HowardPhillips]

I love the fact that one doesn't get the "dead center" framing that the zero-gravity, 'streadicam' style technique necessarily employs. Much better framing!

[@TomAntos]

Im working on the update video. The final results are amazing!

[@JonCorvin]

Wow!! Another great tip from Tom Antos. Thank you for your time and effort teaching us how to make better films.

[@Pintosonic]

Instead of using a rc transmitter and a rc receiver, you should connect 2 servo testers directly to the roll and pitch inputs of the gimbal controller. Those servo testers have a potentiometer so you can install one on each handles to control the pitch and roll. The servo testers are powered by 5V so you would need a UBEC to generate 5V from your 3S battery.

[@TomAntos]

Great tip!!! I don't have time to configure my own gimbal from scratch that's why I just used this one.

[@cleantones]

I would love to see it fully balanced and adjusted. Subscribed!

[@TomAntos]

I do have a steadicam... and it works great! But some people have been asking me about a gyro stabilized gimbal. Maybe cuz they don't know how to use a steadicam. That's why I did this test.

[@TomAntos]

I think it should handle that much weight. But for more details on that just check out the info on the foxtech website. Or even just contact the guys who sell this gimbal and they can tell you directly.

[@Quixpeed]

Fantastic innovation... and this forest reminds me of Metal Gear 3, :D Ambient sounds and footsteps .. amazing.

[@BerikVisschers]

You could use two servo testers instead of an RC Tx Rx for controlling roll/pitch (search on hobbyking for "servo tester"). Or if you want to go fancy, you could add an arduino with buttons for up, down fast up, fast down, etc. Would love to see this!

[@B4its2L8guy]

Dude, you can buy the brushless gimball controller for $45. Its the Martinez board which is open source. You should be able to make this for less than $200. I have one under my quadcopter. Improved the video 1000%. Plus you don't need a remote, just a servo tester to power and control the gimbal.

[@jrtDIYRC]

Good idea! However if I can suggest I think it's better if you use a servo tester, 1 per control axis, instead of using RC Radio. You can install the servo tester on you camera rig handle and modify the servo tester knob to suit your need. It's just a suggestion...

[@TomAntos]

lol... I couldn't play with it, but at the same time I was busy finishing up two films. Just release one of them over the weekend. Next week I'm releasing the next film. Then Im back to playing around with this rig.

[@RUFilming]

I've been thinking of building one of these, but it seems that the shoulder support is where you get camera jerk. It's a great project, and I love the rig, plus with a little tweaking it could be great. I'd like to build one for my Canon S20 which is more like a handy cam so I'm not sure how it would balance. Great Job, Awesome inspiration!

[@freakygeaktwo]

I kinda expected the young lad to ask why you following me at the end, that be a cool gadget for showcasing a garden while walking from one end of the yard to the other.

[@paulcotto]

You could eliminate the radio control by using a servo tester. Its a little box that has a 3 pin output to drive a servo directly. You could solder a mini joystick and control it with your thumbs by mounting it to the handles. Check the servo city web site for "dual channel servo tester" or just Google it.

[@TomMakesThings]

True, glidecams are hard to learn to use, but I think worth to practice. Glidecams dont use batteries. Are very hard to break, and once you learn to use it, you'll be able to always get nice fluid shots. I use a cheap $200 glidecam and it's never failed me.

[@TheRCfunny]

Tom, you don't need to use RC radio, you can use just 2 channel servo tester attached to frame.

[@vama89]

Brilliant! That is pretty cool that you can control it with that RC.

[@SecurityBreach001]

I really have to congratulate you for you getting up to this point. it's not just impressive but amazing. I would definitely pay you to do it as a product, but i don't know if you can do that because Adam Sidman (the inventor of MOVI) hast the patent for this stabilizing system. Anyway you've earned my suscription, thanks so much.

[@freddyfredrickson]

Another thing you can do to get a good shot in a shoot like this where the terrain is the subject is to record at 60 120 or 240 fps and then when you play it back at a slower frame rate the video seems smoother because the jolts and wobbles are smoothed out. Of course the video takes longer to play.

[@timwatterson8060]

you could use 2 servo testers to give pan tilt control strait to the stabilisation board no radio needed, pending the software set-up.

[@boehml]

Hi, very cool project! You could get rid of the receiver and transmitter by using two servotester! That would be a bit cheaper and would make it easyer to mount the controls to the handles.....

[@GetYouUp]

bro, keep going on the glidecam, you will have to realise that it will never be perfectly balanced, it will almost be perfect, but it will never just stay in its position. Really the key is to touch the pole, right under the center of gravity(well the point where the pole connects to the handle) with your thumb and index finger in very short intervals to keep it in position when it gets off balance. Kind of like the ABS on the break of a car.

[@phourtwenteephorlife]

love the do it your self gimbal,looks great, you should do a follow up video to let us know how it is working in the real world. Thanks for the great video and the awesome diy gimble design,cheers.

[@TomMakesThings]

Yup, warp stabilizer would work great!

[@jcarrig]

This is a great effort and very cool to see something like this DIY, but I have to say it is pretty jittery looking in the footage there.

[@TomAntos]

Yup, as soon as I get a chance to play around with it more. Right now Im too busy finishing my new film.

[@merasanam]

The result in amazing. But it's still shaking. Probably because you need a faster update rate (o perhaps the motors are the limiting factor). It's still shaking bad sideways.

[@m93sek]

i would suggest using a model servo tester (just google it). it it really compakt and you dont need to use a radio nor the receiver...

[@LeviAllenLIVE]

Can u post a video with updated gimbal settings? The results don't look great at all and it would be nice to se if you go it working better. Nice work with the DIY,this will catch on for sure.

[@chriswatts86]

this looks great, I'm guess there was no IS on the lens you are using as it looks like a lot of those wobbles and bumps would be taken care of by IS.

[@mindfestvideo]

There´s a updated Version with more powerfull motors (should be strong enough for small DSLRs). Just ordered one, can´t wait to test ist :)

[@jacquesProduction]

Good work dude! looks great! keep it up man Jacques

[@GabrielFerreiraDOP]

DUDE!!! this is awesome!!! You should make KICKSTARTER project out of this!!!

[@CpTeac]

Nice! I'd love to combine a gimbal and remote control like this with a 3rd person point of view rig.

[@plotcoalition]

It's a good idea, but you can get a Glidecam 4000 for the same price and if you get good with it you can run at full speed and still get a steady shot

[@ghfnhgxc]

nice set up man! works great I see Tim

[@kess1964]

My question is also boat related. Will it initialize while in motion? The Tarot T-2D has to be totally stationary before it will initialize.

[@cameragod1]

I love the fact that people who have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to steadicam try to tell you what they think is wrong with it.

[@1974charrua]

Coo Tom , now all you need is a Talon multirotor and your options are limitless

[@MrNullcast]

Using an RC radio just to control a few servo inputs (at least that's what it sounds like your doing with it) is probably overkill, and a little strange for anyone who doesn't have them coming out their ears. I guess that's the metaphorical hammer you had to work with. For other people it's probably easy enough to hook up a thumbstick and some supporting amplifiers, for running servos off the digital outs, to an arduino (or just an AVR). That would make a good next revision.

[@oneeyedgeek]

Even if you can eliminate only 90% of the shakiness, just use Warp Stabalizer in After Effects or Premiere to eliminate the rest. (I'm sure FCP has a built-in stabalizer as well, right?)

[@TomAntos]

Install more powerful brushless motors? I think that might work, but I can't guarantee it.

[@danielpspersonal]

fantastic! and inspiring. I may do something like that in the future, but I would use 3D printed parts to save a little bit more. Maybe an Arduino to substitute the radio.

[@buruquena]

How is this a DYI proyect? You bought a preasembeld Falcon Camera Gimbal for $450 and then attached it to a soulder rig...

[@sb4photos]

Hi..Any thoughts one my alexmos saying the sensor isn't connected when it is and has been working and now it won't??

[@MoonMilestoune]

Cool feature is to add automatic target tracking control. You know, just point camera what to shoot and it automatically focus on a target no metter where you going :)

[@FilmmakerTery]

Hey Tom are you able to use the gimbal setup without controllers? Like if I just wanted it for stabilization and manually control it. Thanks in advance for your response

[@ejovadi]

Nice project.

[@misteroj]

You and your Chanel are awesome! THX for everything its always a pleasure!

[@SciHeartJourney]

The link for the Falcon Camera Gimbal is no longer valid. Where can we find them? Does this include the IMU and other electronics? Great camera system!

[@VinWeathermon]

Amazing and cool. And it looks like something I could actually use (since glidecams are hard as heck to master.)

[@gsulliv1]

Looks like you are using a pretty small battery (1000MAH?). Any estimate how long that battery would last? I know it depends on the use, but best guess would be appreciated.

[@siggyincr7447]

I think this would have a lot of potential for a Kickstarter project.

[@raredreamfootage]

Could you add extra hardware/software to stabilize the pan too?

[@ikifkif]

i presume your shooting in mp4, my question is, do you edit in final cut? i cant seem to get a good quality export in FC with mp4 footage, cheers

[@TomAntos]

Not yet, but I found some really cheap glidecams that work amazingly well.

[@tw34kd]

You could replace the entire wireless transmitter and receiver with a simple ps2 style joystick and arduino or some other microcontroller converting the 2 analog signals from the joystick into PWM for the gumball controller boards inputs.

[@Misanfernando]

can you put a wired remote control for tilt up and down the camera, I followed your guide and mounted a nikon 3200 on it, but the only problem is always at same level, sometimes I need the camera to tilt up or down a little, so a remote will be good, I'm not good with electronics so I don't have a clue of what kind of wired remote control will work in this fine tool.

[@cali9fiftyone]

That's awesome! .. You should name it the Scorpion cam

[@onikin]

Any idea if something like this would work for keeping the horizon in a boat?

[@ThailandVenture]

U can use two simple servo testers with turn knows instead of the rc transmitter.. they cost about $5 each and are small as a mini sized servo.. ;)

[@WorldByTheTale]

I would. What kind of camera did you use for this test? Can it handle a DSLR?

[@mzipp]

Its not better to use a flycam? Whats the pros and cons? Thanks for your sharing. Cheers from México.

[@italovalerio]

Better, but shake to left/right is a problem, well, maybe a 3 axis gimbal ?

[@423moore]

Good stuff! Will be sure to check it out! Thanks for taking the time to reply, means alot!

[@cybertec0285]

Try a servo tester to.control both directions. Just mod the knobs.

[@WHITELIONNYC]

Canon this handle a Canon T3i with a 24-105 lens? Maybe too big & heavy? Are there more heavy duty but affordable gimbals?

[@pumpuppthevolume]

ouuu right.....well i guess u could use a gopro (if nothing else, it's light) after watching this, I actually watched a go pro footage that was from a helmet mount and it looked surprisingly stable, so i thought they might be using a small gimbal rig(i guess not) but the funny thing is i couldn't find anywhere online such a thing implemented

[@RickValasek]

The OEM for the gimbal is "sold-out" do you have any other sources for the gimbal?

[@emforty2]

good job its almost perfect just minor software-firmware tweaks it really looks good if you can make one for around $500 paying retail for the individual parts i know china can probably make one for $50 with a retail of around $200 or even less

[@cankayagozum]

nice build but i think its gives more vibration only good for quadcopters or somthing like that...

[@OlafGy]

Do you know how much weight you can put on this thing? I am Thinking 600d plus lens = 900g or so...

[@nuklearwanze]

how does that solution react to wind pressure? (i'm thinking of using something like that on a car rig)

[@VinWeathermon]

I bought a $200 glidecam and just could never get it balanced. I pretty much gave up after 2 hours of trying to balance the thing...is there a cheap brand that is easy to balance a 5d mk ii?

[@MikeDavis_NZ]

Hmm. Need one with a slightly larger platform for my Canon. Would be a cool project.

[@mrknowledgeLDN]

dude, connect it to a fig rig instead!!! it will be a LOT smoother! - I've got usable running shots where I was running nxt next to my subject (I didnt use the footage because of continuity, but the footage was good enough)

[@Aviationrcfpv]

you could use a servo tester instead of using the hole radio system there like $5 and the size of a card deck

[@frank.janssens]

Cool job Tom

[@HansLuijten]

Cool!

[@stevenpotter1484]

wow,,this is amazing for diy,,,wow,,im amazed,,i would like the blue prints if you wanted to let the movie making public let them have the knowhow to make the gimble,,i watch all your vids,,,great work tom,,,,im a big fan,,,,hope to build on of these,,,,thnx

[@aperson4640]

That's a great DIY! Got any ideas of how I could build one to handle a 1500g camera?

[@MrFruteroMedia]

Do you care to share the part list for the design? Thanks

I'm in the market for a nice new camera for indie productions, I'm liking the way yours looks. What kind of camera is it, and can you give me any specs on it?

[@FilmsRefined]

Great DIY job Tom! Do you think MoVi type stabalizers will supercede traditional type steadicams?

[@keyko69]

hi were can i buy a control as yours ? trasmiter .. good idea

[@juliovideo1]

Great job !! ........ Where I can buy the battery and charger? Thanks .

[@dreambulder1704]

Just wondering if it works even better with a stablised lens.

NO, HE NEED ONE MORE AXIS...

[@MarkoZutic]

wow this thing woobles so much!

[@skycarl]

Excellent Tom. Thank you.

[@Randzhabar]

Looks great! Did you use IS for these shots? I think it should really help.

[@imaginationdevice]

what lens are you using ? i doesnt look too wide

[@TrulyJennyMorris]

What kind of camera are you using? It looks amazing!

[@forgivenprodution]

Hi Bro..i just check out your short Film United we stand,, and it was awesome Very VERY GOOD JOB...THANKS FOR SHARING

[@nuklearwanze]

steadycams are great - but they are horrible in cramped spaces. the moment your counterweight even slighly touches anything, you can forget the take. examples: filming from the back of a car (or anywhere in the car), on a sailing boat, in dense forrest or jungle (HORRIBLE with a steadycam), etc. so a compact stabilized gimbal definitely has its uses.

[@Lvisionmedia]

I saw the video of this on the website from that falcon gimbal. It was also a lot of wiggle on it. So i think it is not a good idea spending the money on it.