Steadicam set up

[jgcox]

Every year in about 6 months from now I do a night photography project as kind of a gear check. This year I'm thinking of getting a steadycam system as they've come down to under $100-$400 for something basic. This will be street photography in the middle of night, the middle of winter, and throughout Canada, I always try to hand hold everything.
I don't know how much I can learn about that system shooting at night at open apertures. Do you think it would make a noticeable impact on my photos or is $100-$400 better spent elsewhere?

[thill1111]

Steadycam is a tool for handheld motion pictures - film or video.  It's really designed for smoothing out hand held shots with motion.  It's not really made for shooting stills.  When you ask will it help your photos, I don't think it will help any more than using careful handheld technique and in body or in lens stabilization.  Maybe others have experience with steadycam for stills and can attest to that.

[Colorado David]

When Steadicam systems were more like $20,000, every now and then I would hire a Steadicam operator who owned his own system.  We would mount my camera on his system for the shoot.  This was all motion work, not still.  This guy was very good and the shots with motion were great and he could work fairly long sessions.  But when we had a shot that started with motion and then had a sustained static shot at the end, he would work his rear end off to make it work.  He'd sweat profusely and need more frequent breaks out of the vest.  Making it still and static was the hardest thing he had to do.  You might look at the Kenyon Labs gyros instead. http://www.ken-lab.com

[RobertJ]

LOL, I think in some cases, a Steadicam would make your still photos even worse.  The Steadicam works the best while you're moving, not while standing still.  The Steadicam is for "flying" the camera around while running, walking, going up and down stairs, walking backwards, etc. 

The whole rig needs to be balanced, and it's on a gimble, so if your hand moves (or the arm from the vest moves) the camera system itself doesn't wobble, but the gimble beneath it will rotate/move around.

I had one and operated one back in the early 2000's with a now VERY obsolete Sony Mini-DV camera, and it's such a great device.  Very fun to use once you get it balanced.  But yeah, it's for MOTION PICTURES.