I'll show you a way you can save $295 dollars on a Fig Rig by building your own! it's not that hard, I'll show you how I did it.
What is a Fig rig? It's a camera stabilization device for smaller film/video cameras. Hollywood productions have been using them for quite a while and it's gotten very popular with the VDSLRS in recent months. The Fig Rig is made commercially by Manfrotto and they usually sell for $300.
If you're wondering why I went the DIY route and built one instead of coughing up the $300 bucks, here are two reasons, 1) I don't have the extra $300 to burn on something I might not even use that often, and 2) Early on when I started studying it's design I realized something very interesting. I realized that all this thing is, is a circular piece of metal with a crossbar on it.
What you will need to make your DIY fig rig:
1 (one) bicycle rim
1 (one) closet track rail
1 (one) bolt to attach to the bottom of your camera or tripod mount
1 (one) steering wheel pad
For the main piece, the circular metal piece, I used a bicycle rim. These rims are not only perfectly round but usually made of very light materials like titanium, carbon fiber etc... That's really light which is good since you don't want to add too much weight to the whole rig.
Another reason why a bicycle rim is a great choice is that they are free!!! yes, go to any bicycle shop and ask them if they can give you a used rim they don't need anymore. Bike shops have lots of them and they are always throwing them away. Make sure you tell them it's for a project and they'll be glad to help you out. When I went to the bike store, I was actually looking to buy an inexpensive one. I found one for $24.99. The salesperson was telling me about some of its features when I interrupted him and told him that I wasn't going to use for a bike but instead for a project I'm doing at home. That's when he told me to talk to the shop guys that they will give me some for free. And indeed, they gave me three really nice black rims. All of them used, but in great shape.
For the metal cross section (the piece that intersects the rim where you'll mount your camera), I used a ClosetMaid 30"ShelfTrack I found in Lowes. They come in white and black, obviously you want the black one unless you're going for the multicolored fig rig. That seemed to work great. It's not as light as I wanted it to be, but I liked that it already had holes that I can mount other stuff to it. And after cutting it to fit inside the wheel it did not add too much weight to the rig.
What is a Fig rig? It's a camera stabilization device for smaller film/video cameras. Hollywood productions have been using them for quite a while and it's gotten very popular with the VDSLRS in recent months. The Fig Rig is made commercially by Manfrotto and they usually sell for $300.
If you're wondering why I went the DIY route and built one instead of coughing up the $300 bucks, here are two reasons, 1) I don't have the extra $300 to burn on something I might not even use that often, and 2) Early on when I started studying it's design I realized something very interesting. I realized that all this thing is, is a circular piece of metal with a crossbar on it.
What you will need to make your DIY fig rig:
1 (one) bicycle rim
1 (one) closet track rail
1 (one) bolt to attach to the bottom of your camera or tripod mount
1 (one) steering wheel pad
For the main piece, the circular metal piece, I used a bicycle rim. These rims are not only perfectly round but usually made of very light materials like titanium, carbon fiber etc... That's really light which is good since you don't want to add too much weight to the whole rig.
Another reason why a bicycle rim is a great choice is that they are free!!! yes, go to any bicycle shop and ask them if they can give you a used rim they don't need anymore. Bike shops have lots of them and they are always throwing them away. Make sure you tell them it's for a project and they'll be glad to help you out. When I went to the bike store, I was actually looking to buy an inexpensive one. I found one for $24.99. The salesperson was telling me about some of its features when I interrupted him and told him that I wasn't going to use for a bike but instead for a project I'm doing at home. That's when he told me to talk to the shop guys that they will give me some for free. And indeed, they gave me three really nice black rims. All of them used, but in great shape.
For the metal cross section (the piece that intersects the rim where you'll mount your camera), I used a ClosetMaid 30"ShelfTrack I found in Lowes. They come in white and black, obviously you want the black one unless you're going for the multicolored fig rig. That seemed to work great. It's not as light as I wanted it to be, but I liked that it already had holes that I can mount other stuff to it. And after cutting it to fit inside the wheel it did not add too much weight to the rig.
