Adventureskope

Make your own panning time lapse camera rig – for less than the price of a coffee.

I’m going to let you guys in on a secret. I debated spilling the beans on this one, but it’s just too good to keep to myself. Some of you might be wondering what the camera rig I used for shooting this panning time lapse video. Where I bought it, how I calibrated it, where the custom parts were made and how many hundreds of dollars it cost and how many countless hours of R&D, manufacturing and testing it took to create. The truth is – it cost me three bucks and about 10minutes to make. The rig is made from an old fashioned kitchen timer bought from the dollar store for $3. The steps to making it were pretty easy – cut the protruding dial off and then stick one of the GoPro helmet mounts onto the dial. Easy. The most time consuming part was sawing off the dial.

The thing that gets me so excited about this, beyond the potential for making some cool video is the simplicity. This is something that nearly anyone could make, everyone can afford and the artistic results look pretty cool. Too often the default choice for expanding our creative scope is to whip out our credit card and spend up large. If you take a moment and think about another way to skin the cat the potential and the accessibility is right there in front of you, just waiting. I didn’t come up with tis idea; I stood on the shoulders of giants and found out about it on the web – that’s why I’m passing it on. The rising creative tide floats all boats. Feel free to pass on any cool DIY creative ideas you’ve come across, I’d love to hear about them!

Cheers,

Scott