Make a Camera Crane Out of a Painter's Pole and Some Gears

When all you've got is a video camera (or DSLR with video capabilities) you'll wind up with some pretty shaky, handheld shots. Camera cranes/jibs can fix that for a price, by allowing you to get smooth shots that look like the camera is floating. While normally costly, you can make this happen on the cheap with a painter's pole and some gears. Instructables user Mr. Noack took a Wooster Sherlock painter's pole, a tripod, and some gears, to create a camera crane on the cheap. He explains the benefits: The second Wooster Sherlock camera crane was built on the cheap for sure. Using only one pole cuts down the cost. Instead of having one crane that does it all, I decided to build this model specifically for manual tilt shots. The other great feature of this version is the ability to set up the camera for extreme high angle shots.