What is that dang thing?

[Justin Snodgrass]

Hi all,

Wasn't too sure where to post this...

I just saw some behind the scene footage from a movie and noticed some "thing" sticking off the top of a steadycam. It rose up about 1ft above the camera and then out to each side about 1.5ft. I thought maybe it was either an antenna of some sort or a balancing system. I have also seen the same thing extending to the front and back of the steadycam. I'm sure many of you have seen it or know what it is. So what is that dang thing?

[Tom Wills]

It's called Antlers. They are weights on rods that help stabilize and add inertia to the rig.

[Trevor Crump]

It's called Antlers. They are weights on rods that help stabilize and add inertia to the rig.

usually used outdoors or where wind/breeze may be a factor.

[Justin Snodgrass]

Makes sense. Thanks guys.

[Brad Jefferson]

Having not seen these antlers before and having Google help, are these the antlers you guys are talking about?

Do these things really help?  (I guess that they do, otherwise they wouldn't have them.)  I wonder what other mechanism can help stabilize during a windy day?

[Tom Wills]

Yes, those are Antlers, and yes, they help immensely. They just tighten down the rig so that the pan inertia is so high that it takes a good force from the operator to actually pan the sled around. It's a pretty nice little invention.

[Brad Jefferson]

I had heard that some Steadicam operators use gyros (like Kenyon's) to help add additional stabilization to their rig.  I wonder if this would help during those windy days?

Those gyros are a bit expensive, probably more than those antlers.

[Tom Wills]

Gyros are quite expensive, use a lot of power, are sometimes hard to mount, and aren't always the best things to work with. Antlers are cheap, easy to use, require no power, and can be easily taken on and re-installed as the shots change.

[David West]

Antlers are quiet, gyros are NOT....

[Justin Snodgrass]

The wind is about to blow that guy away in the first picture!

Man, it was driving me crazy trying to figure out what those things were. Had no clue what they were called, so I couldn't go with my old friend Google. Of course now I have to go learn about gyros too. Great info all.

[Brad Jefferson]

Does anyone have one of these "antlers"?

This could be another opportunity for an HBSer to craft one of these antlers.  But, what does it really look like?

Does anyone have a better picture of one?  Where would it be attached?

From one picture I saw off the web (albiet the picture was really small), it looked like the left/right sides of the antler were tennis balls.

[Wing Gee]

There are a few ways you can do this. you can design the base where you can extend a post with weights on the end of it. although you will be limited due to it hitting your leg if it's too long. or you can just go ghetto and get couple big wooden dowels and mount it to your top stage or your camera. at the end of it, just add weights. tennis balls should work well.

[Cody Deegan]

Here's a pic

[Tom Wills]

There are a few ways you can do this. you can design the base where you can extend a post with weights on the end of it. although you will be limited due to it hitting your leg if it's too long. or you can just go ghetto and get couple big wooden dowels and mount it to your top stage or your camera. at the end of it, just add weights. tennis balls should work well.

Wing, Tennis Balls weigh practically nothing. I think I've seen them put onto Antlers for use in Motion Control and tracking, but I know that you're going to need something more substantial than that.

[Justin Snodgrass]

Is that you rig Cody?