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How to make a (sort of) DIY JibONE camera jib

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The recently announced Edelkrone JibONE looks like a fantastic bit of kit. It’s not terribly unreasonably priced at $999 for what it offers, but once you add the motorised head and other doohickies, it can quickly run into several thousand. Filmmaker and YouTuber Chadwin Smith decided to have a go at making his own version of the JibONE.

The video’s called I built my own Edelkrone JibONE for free! and, well, it sort of is, but not really. The setup uses a motorised camera gimbal, so if you don’t already own one of those, then it’s not free. But it’s an interesting option for those who already have the kit shown in the video, but don’t want to go to the expense of the JibONE.

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How to build a massive DIY orbital spinning camera rig

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Making cameras move in ways that are different can be a challenge, especially as cameras and all their associated bits seem to keep getting bigger and heavier. In a recent short film release, Skywatch, filmmaker Jason Levy needed to produce a camera rig which orbited around an object in a scene, early on in the film. There was no commercial solution available, so he made his own.

It’s called the Spin Rig and we’ve seen similar such rigs before, although mostly on a much smaller scale or designed for lighter weight cameras like GoPros. The Spin Rig, however, is much more substantial. If you don’t want spoilers, watch the short film first (it’s at the bottom of this post).

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How to make DIY wooden handgrips for under $30

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Wooden handgrips or kinogrips are becoming more and more popular. I’ve had my DIY grips for a couple years now and I get compliments on them constantly when I’m out on shoots –  but besides being a conversation starter they’re ergonomic, practical, durable, and can be used on a variety of camera rigs. Most of the time these retail for nearly $100 or more, but today, we’ll be making our own wooden handgrips for around $12 per grip. We’re going to be making two different styles – some round / spherical ones, and some traditional/contoured ones.

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Adapting industrial lenses for extreme macro photography

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If you ever visited some industrial surplus shops, very often you would see some cameras and lenses used in industrial automation. But you probably do not know that these lenses can have very high optical performance and features we want: high resolving power, large image circle, low distortion, and often very long working distance compared to some of the other lenses we use.

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This guy created an Open Source DIY digital camera – including a 1-kilopixel sensor

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Digital cameras have become so high resolution these days that you might wonder why somebody would want to build one of their own from scratch with a resolution that’s not even a fraction of what digital cameras could do a decade ago. But some things just need to be done because they’re fun.

YouTuber Sean Hodgins has been working on this idea for a long time, and now he’s finally made and released a 1-kilopixel DIY camera. He’s also released the files as Open Source so you can download and make your own, too.

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How we built Bertha – A large format camera that will shoot 1.1×1.1 metre slides

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It’s called Bertha, it’s a gigantic camera built out of a desire to find out what photography can reveal beyond certain limits.

From the first moment I started experimenting I sensed that there are still many ways to go, past and present can merge, just as old and new technologies, historical knowledge can find new contemporary interpretations.

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This autonomous boat shoots stabilised hyperlapse from the water

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Hyperlapse has become increasingly popular over the last couple of years, especially as gimbals and drones capable of shooting such sequences have become more prolific. But one area where we haven’t seen a lot of hyperlapse is on the water.

Well, Daniel Riley over at rctestflight realised his autonomous boats were slow and accurate enough that they just might work for something like this. So, he refined his design, stuck a gimbal and a camera on top, and the results are pretty awesome.

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How to make your own DIY ground glass focusing screens for large format cameras

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These days, if you want to shoot large format, you might have difficulty finding replacement parts. Large format cameras aren’t exactly as common as they used to be, and there aren’t many companies making spare parts for older ones these days, or creating custom pieces for odd-sized cameras.

In this video, though, photographer Markus Hofstätter walks us through how we can make our own ground glass focusing screens at whatever size we need.

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How to make a cheap DIY double drop system for epic droplet photography

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Photographer Steve Kazemir makes amazing droplet photos and has some unique ideas for taking them. He has come up with an automated double drop system to create some colorful and playful droplet photos. Steve built it from scratch, from cheap components that you can easily find on Amazon, eBay, Home Depot or in your own garage. In this video, he shares with you how he did it, so you can try and make your own, too.

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