Hi All, I am new here, and just wowed by what this world offers but admit I am completely in the dark about what's possible. Here is what I am imagining to build. Not a simple camera slider from left to right, but also from up down and forward, backward so all the axises. Yep, and while dreaming, if I can control the camera angle independent I am really interested. 1 Can it be done? 2 I see all machines are rather tiny, I'd like a sideways travel of about 4 ft, up down 2 ft and 2 ft forward backward. 3 obviously I am not looking for high speeds...but super smooth. Maybe I am barking up the wrong tree here... but thanks for anyone having any ideas about how to design and build it.
What you seek is actually fairly simple. A few questions though. How heavy is the camera? Any large lenses that need balanced? What is the nature of use/ field of view? (i.e. downward at an angle for project build videos, overhead cooking shots, sunset timelapses, etc.) And finally, what is your budget?
oh wow Rick, I didn't expect a reply that fast, thanks! This is a project I am interested in building for a camera I don't own yet, a 3.7lbs camera. It includes the lens. I would mainly use it for industrial promo videos with steady slow pans but in an ideal world I would love to build it with the eventual ability to create a multitude of setups and angles. Since this is something I've never done, perhaps the smarter thing would be to build it up if that is possible and adding features as I learn. Since I am new, I am not sure if multiple actions become too complex to program or execute. Obviously I could not spend hours programming at a client for a single shot. The thing is I have been shooting videos like this for so many years now and on occasion rented a jib but they are really hard to get right and I saw one of those simple sliders and thought...this is it..but then quickly lost my excitement knowing I am only working on one axis. That budget, maybe my lifestory in a nutshell, I relocated to Europe and trying to rebuild the video business offering more then the boring bland shots, I have a decent full time job so my budget can be flexible. What I don't want end up building is jittery junk that is too complex to operate.
Sorry, been a bit busy. Here would be my suggestion. It's not fully detailed (attachment clips, belt on front bottom slider not shown) but there is enough there to get an idea. I would probably add a double plate between the base portion and the vertical assembly such that it could be easily disassembled into two parts for transportation.
That looks great Rick! To keep the legs out of the FOV (at rear limit), he could do away with the legs and mount the X axes to the tailgate of a pickup. Also, when done, folding up the tailgate would neatly stow the mechanism in the back of the truck.
What might be cool is to the mount the camera to a stepper or servo motor that's mounted to the plate that traverses on the X axis so the camera can rotate as well as move right left front back up down.
