steadicam

Tiffen, parent company of Steadicam, has just announced the Steadicam Air. It's a "revolutionary" new pneumatic monopod for photographers that does height adjustments using gas lift.

In 1976, the invention of the Steadicam revolutionized filmmaking. Today, the original stabilizer of choice is being downsized a bit to create the Steadicam Volt: Steadicam's first handheld electronic smartphone stabilizer.

Part Parkour athlete and part cameraman, we already introduced you to the so-called "Gimbalninja"'s skills last year. Now, watch as he helps capture a Nike ad by pulling some free-running stunts and filming at the same time.

Want to see what you get when you combine a ninja with a cameraman? Just look at Florian Hatwagner, a Vienna, Austria-based camera operator who goes by the name "gimbalninja" online.

"I'm an Austria based cameraman that specializes in operating a camera whilst running, jumping and leaping over obstacles," he says.

Here's an interesting little video showing the various camera rigs that were used to shoot movie scenes back in 1993, from steadicams to RC helicopters.

YouTube woodworking guru Matthias Wandel just posted this video about how he recently discovered that he can use his tripod as a simple DIY camera stabilizer for some casual filming. After doing some experiments with a DIY glidecam system, Wandel found that he actually got the smoothest shots by simply pointing the legs of his big and heavy Manfrotto tripod out and running around with his camera attached to it.

If you’ve ever wondered to yourself what life as a Steadicam operator is like, you might want to take a look at this video.

Deemed a ‘Walkumentary,’ this two and a half minute video shows you what Jon Beattie had to do during his incredibly grueling job as the Steadicam operator for 24 hours of Happy -- the extended music video for Pharrell Williams’ hit song.

Do you want steadicam-smooth video out of your smartphone, without the additional bulk or expense? Well, if you have an iOS device and Instagram’s Hyperlapse app, you can pretty much do just that.

Researchers at Microsoft just changed the POV video game -- there's no doubt about that. Using a newly developed algorithm, they transform long, boring first person videos shot with helmet cams into super smooth hyperlapses that look like they were shot with a Steadicam.

The steadicam has become a staple in the cinematography industry. The problem more often than not, though, is that not a lot of people can afford one.

And so, since production models range in price from a several hundred to a several thousand, a number of tool-savvy people have set out to create their own DIY options. One such example is this extremely solid and good-looking creation by Instructables user and photographer survival434

There is little doubt that auteur Stanley Kubrick looms large as a director able to distinctively bring his films to life through his vision. He has left his mark across the motion picture landscape.

He also happens to be responsible for some very interesting technical results in the realm of photography as well (including owning 3 of the 10 Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7 ever made).

Any words I write here about him will pale in comparison to the reams of scholarly works already published. And so, instead, I give you a couple of fascinating pieces of Shining/Kubrick trivia that you can whip out the next time there's a lull in conversation.

Optical image stabilization is all about keeping the camera still even as the housing shakes or otherwise moves around. And when it comes to stabilization in nature, few creatures are as good at keeping their camera (read: head) perfectly still as the chicken.

So why not strap a camera onto a chicken's head and turn the guy (or gal) into a fowl-stabilized action cam!? Why, no reason at all!

Over the last several days, one particular piece of new gear has been getting a lot of attention as a potential "game changer" for the videographers among us. A new hand-held stabilization rig, the MoVI is a three-axis, gyroscopic, completely silent system that's looking to revolutionize the professional stabilization market.

Invented in the early 1970's by cameraman Garrett Brown, the Steadicam has become a staple in the world of motion pictures. But given how frequently it's used, most of us have lost appreciation for the true impact the camera stabilizer has made.

Knowing this (and wishing to change it) the people over at Refocused Media have put together the above compilation using famous clips from almost 50 different films -- clips that may have never been attempted if it wasn't for the Steadicam.

Back in 2010, we humorously reported that chickens have image stabilized heads. Some people took the idea further, turning chickens into organic Steadicams and doing further research into the subject.

This semifinal performance at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 has an awesome steadicam shot starting at 2m35s. While it might seem like they used a super high-tech RC helicopter or some computer-generated trickery, it was actually done with a segway, a steadicam, and a whole lotta talent.

Last week we shared the awesome fact that chickens have image stabilized heads. If you’ve been wondering …