I just had a look and trust me guys. All you cody fans out there will be totally blown away.:eek The book is plans for a three spring configuration parallelogram arm.

Yep that's right, 3A style design. The book is out. So get ready for some serious work because this book invovles some machining but as always he has laid everything out on the table. If you bought his first book than you kown exactly what I'm talking about.Parts listed ,the works.

Go get it: http://homebuiltstabilizers.com/salebannerpage.html

Great news! But sigh, there goes another $25 <g>

So am I to assume this "new" arm works with the rest of his
stabilizer system (ie, the previous book)?

That's the idea Rob. It's backward compatable.

Hi people,

I saw some stuff at homestabilizers.com and it's amazing. Now i'm planning to build my own one, and this book would be a nice start, i guess... I was wondering though, do you need the first book to be able to understand the second book, or is it just an updated version? Basically, is the first book still useful or is it obsolete? Maybe you guys know.

Oh yeah also one more thing, on the synopsis of the second book he says that this stabilizer is better and more durable, but also more expensive to built. Do you have any clue in which price-league he's talking? If it's too high I probably have to look for something else ;)
I do have access to a number of different machines though.

Thanks

Steven

Hi Steven,

as I understand, the new book is for the 3A-style arm only. You will need the first book for the sled and the vest.

Regarding the cost, it's not really more expensive in material (perhaps a little bit) but the hour rate of a good machinist is usually not cheap. If you have acces to the right tools and are able to do the job, the new arm will not be really more expensive than the previous version.

If you don't have access to the tools and are on a budget, why not try to build the old one? It work amasingly well!!! have you seen the demo clips on the Cody's site?

Hope this help,

Hey Jean-Philippe,

Yeah that sure helped! I finally found cody's website (I couldn't find a link from homebuiltstabilizers.com), I found some more info there. Those demos look amazing! I'll first buy the original book, and if I have some energy/money left after building everything I'll consider the second one too!
There is one clip presenting his new arm, and the others are made with his 'old' arm. Now as amazing as it looks, I couldn't help noticing that it wasn't yet a great improvement over the old arm. But that might be because it is still in testing phase or unbalanced or something like that.

Just a question for you Jean-Philippe, I saw you standing in the cody-rig gallery as well with your rig, did you find you could get equal results as cody with the instructions in his book? IOW, do the instructions in the book lead to the same rig as cody is using in his test films, and can you get equally smooth motion?

Thanks,

Steven

Steven,

The Cody's plan could compete in precision and clarity with the best technicals documents ever made. If you buy these plans, you will be able to build an EXACT copy of the Cody's rig.

Keep in mind that Cody is a great operator. I can't acheive the same results as Cody in the moment 'cause I need more practice. A great Op will be able to do marvel with the cheapest rig, but a not-so-good Op will do crappy footage out of a 66,000 $ Steadicam Ultra.

Hey Jean-philippe (and charles of course),

The book 'stabilizing a dream' is that also a 'how to build a steadicam' or more in general about steadicams? Will it help me extra when I also have the cody-plans?
Thanks

Steven

Steven, ...stabilizing a dream is more on the concept of how the author(me) concepted and built my stabilizer. It is more of a journal that documents how I achieved my rig with tons of pics of all the parts that make up my stabilizer. The book gives ideas to others as well as info on the Steadicam. It explains the steadicam and it's design. There are 3D drawings and many pics of the various types of professional rigs on the market today.

It offers lots of tips as well as a big plug-in of this very DVinfo.net forum and many other sites for info on the subject. I can go on and on but please don't take my word for it.

I'll let Jean tell you what he thinks of the book and probably describe the info in it.

You can also the review section on HBS forum: http://p200.ezboard.com/fhomebuiltstabilizersfrm41

<<<-- Originally posted by Steven Fokkinga : Hey Jean-philippe (and charles of course),
The book 'stabilizing a dream' is that also a 'how to build a steadicam' or more in general about steadicams? Will it help me extra when I also have the cody-plans?
Thanks
Steven -->>>


Steven, my review of charles book is boy!, am I happy I got it. Really amazing to see how much work went into building his rig. I really love the way he went into everything by steps. Great detail of all his parts. Great job Charles.

It is really nice he made everything as a book format for everyone. I am sure those who have bought his book agrees. I think by making it available as a book form was much better than making it into a .pdf.

I love seeing pics of most of the owner on the forum and boy those pictures of the different professional rigs really made the book stand out even more. I think most who have bought the book would agree as well.

He shares both pros and cons and does not claim to know it all. There is a lot of information that I did not know about . I seem to understand the steadicam system much better; and talk about those 3d diagrams. BTW, nice work Cody. I guess Charles is happy to him on board.

Charles devotion for the stabilier system really shows in this book. I learned certain things before about the system but Charles book puts in into perspective for me. One thing about the book that I like is that the words are easy to understand without all the technical jargons that usually comes with books of this nature. Everything is down to earth. I like that.

Now I have to wait for the other two books charles is finishing up. I cannot wait until they are done. This book is my $24 well spent. Now I am off to read it for the 5th time. I get new ideas just by looking at his design.

Lars Gustav

I will echo all Lars's comments about the Charles's book. A great book. I should order another copy to put in my bookshelf. The first one became ugly and dirty. It always follows me to the metal workshop. :)

you should become his PR-manager ;)

But OK, I'll buy it....

Steven

<<<-- Originally posted by Steven Fokkinga : you should become his PR-manager ;)But OK, I'll buy it....
Steven -->>>


Good one steven. :) Please alos note that the sled attributes have changed a bit since that book was written. For instance, I have a new carbon post and new machined gimbal on the way and some other improvements. My forth book will showcase the new rig and it's upgrades.

Thanks for the candid review Lars.

<<<-- Originally posted by Steven Fokkinga : you should become his PR-manager ;)

But OK, I'll buy it....

Steven -->>>


Maybe so :) but the fact is, it is a god book which I have enjoyed very much. Others may have other opinions. If you are into this kind of thing then it is a good buy. Let us know what you think.

Steven, I too bought both Charles' and Cody's book and knowing what to expect from them is itself a huge plus. I agree with the above remarks. Cody's lans are well worth it if you are serious contender for building a rig yourself. Knowing his second plan is already on sale is a gem. Trust me, his detail plans are some of the best.
To compliment Cody's plans with Charles' book is a plus due to the info and ideas you will get from it. Easy to digest and a good source for understanding the Steadicam system.

One thing though, be prepared for Charles total admiration for Garret Brown's invention. You will like it.

I heard he is wrapping up the finishing touches on his next book, so look out for that one as it will be catered towards beginners interested in building a full rig.

See the review pages on HBS to see what others have to say about both books.

At least for me, it was worth my 24 dollars.

Hi all,

Long time no speak, in the meanwhile I have bought both books now (as I promised :) and am in the process of reading them. Well, actually I'm reading charles' book and just looking at the pictures of cody's since I just want to start building the thing. I will definitely tell you what I thought of the books once I finished them as well as my rig. In the meanwhile I have a question for those who have built cody's rig and are in the metric-zone; what worked best for you in handling the measurements? Convert every measure to mm and kgs etc., or to buy some rulers in the imperial system and try to approach the thing in it's 'native language'? I was thinking of you, Jean-Philippe, but I'm not sure whether (French) Canada has a the metric or imperial. Or do you have a third system, in full French tradition ;) ?
Well please let me hear what you metric guys out there did...

Steven

Please let us know how you are going ahead with this Steven, I have Cody's
original book, but due to lack of a camera etc. I haven't built anything yet.

If you go on the difficult hunt to find the suplies here in Holland (no home
depot for us, at least not as they know if in the states), let me know where
you locate stuff etc. That would be great to know!

All the best with the building!

Hi Steven,

Sadly, I will not be able to help you a lot. Here in Canada, we have adopted the metric system, but because we are so close to the USA and companies here have clients across the border, many people have no problem to go from one system to another.

To build my rig, I worked with a machinist, in a real metal shop after the opening hours. This guy read blueprints in metric AND imperial system all the day. So it was easy for me.

Hi, Thanks for your replies.

It's not a big deal JP, I figured out I'm taking the following proces: I have a program (solidworks) in which i am going to put the whole system to see how it fits/works before I'm building the real thing. The program also allows me to first make the whole thing in imperial, and then convert everything to metric dimensions. Then I'm going to judge how to round off the numbers since they don't convert 1:1 (1" = 2,54 cm), and see how that works on tolerances. So maybe I have to do a bit re-designing.

I'm a industrial design student so that means I have access to all the machines I'm going to need to make the thing fast and tight on tolerances. Now all I have to do is convince those people at my university it's a STUDY-project :). Also, a lot of building material like all the aluminium needed I can get from there as well, almost at cost price. For the other stuff I'll figure out where to find that.

I'd like to report on my progress now and then, I won't have time to do this full-time but I'm really enthusiastic so I'll put a lot of spare-time in this. I hope to have it done before summer, but otherwise I'll finish it in summer at those few weeks when not on vacation :)
Would this thread be an appropriate place to place those reports, or should I start another one?

Speak to you soon,

Steven

PS: Rob, what happened to your camera?

but due to lack of a camera etc. I haven't built anything yet

Rob? You are "camera-less" ? What's happened?

I am indeed. A personal financial situtation forced me to get rid of my XL1S
(unfortunately). I'm still working with some of the footage I did shoot in the
3+ years I had the camera and working on ideas for new movies. Hopefully
I will be able to get a new camera somewhere next year. We'll see!

Hi,

Cody has also released a new book about building a sled. It seems he has now started a new serie: the 'old' book is like an entry level HBS, and if you want to move on you can try his later books, starting with the new arm and now the new sled. I guess he'll be releasing a new book about building a better vest as well in the future, so to make the "pro"-series complete.

Anyway, here the link to his new books:

http://www.cafepress.com/stabilizer/608257

Ciao, Steven

Steven, the book is a sure buy. He sent me a copy and it is exactly the kind of professional layout you'd expect from Cody. Great structure.

Hey Charles,

Now you here anyway, I couldn't find a thread about his new book on your forum. Maybe a new subforum; cody's sled, phase 2?
Things seem to be a bit slower on the hbsboards lately, unfortunately....

Greetz, Steven

The sled subforum will be up. Just trying to get cody to work out something for me. Another thing. The HBs forum is always the way it has been because of the small group of people that post. You see, we have over 800 members and not all of them post. Majority of the new members are just browsing and reading the info.

New members register almost everyday, but most decide to be quiet. Don't ask me why.???? Anyway it's the holidays so you don't expect people to spend their valuable time on the forum when they have family. ;) Except for me, no family so I don't count :)