||||||||||||||| US005243370A United States Patent (19) 11) Patent Number: 5,243,370 Slater 45) Date of Patent: Sep. 7, 1993 54). CAMERA STABILIZER Article entitled "Ancient History" published in Steadi cam Letter vol. 1 No. 3 (dated Dec. 3, 1988). 76) Inventor: Dan Slater, 1352 Dorothea Rd., La Brochure entitled "Steadicam' (dated May 1976). Habra Heights, Calif. 90631 Steadican Film/Video Camera Stabilizing System 21 Appl. No.: 238,834 (date unknown). Brochure entitled "Moto Cam Pursuit Specialist' (date 22 Filed: Aug. 30, 1988 unknown). 5l Int. Cl. ....................... G03B 17/00; G03B 21/00 Brochure entitled "Steadicam Film/Video Camera Sta 52 U.S. C. ...................................... 352/243; 354/81; bilizing System (Universal Model III)" (dated Apr. 354/82; 354/293; 248/123.1 1983). 58 Field of Search .................... 352/243; 354/81, 82, Brochure entitled "Price List Steadicam Universal 354/293; 248/123.1 Model III" (dated Jan. 1, 1988). "Steadicam" (dated Feb. 17, 1988). (56) References Cited Brochure entitled "Panaglide" (dated 1983). U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS Primary Examiner-Monroe H. Hayes 3,756,549 9/1973 Lange. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Graham & James 4,017,168 4/1977 Brown . 4,156,512 5/1979 Brown .............................. 248/123.1 57 ABSTRACT 4,208,028 6/1980 Brown et al. 4,394,075 7/1983 Brown et al. A camera stabilizer which can be carried by the camera 4,474,439 10/1984 Brown ................................. 352/243 operator having three masses, one of which is a camera, 4,496,228 1/1985 Schmidt . maintained in positions separate from one another by a 4,621,785 11/1986 Embra , frame. Because the three masses are separated, the stabi 4,621,786 - 1/1986 Greenlee. lizer has a high angular moment of inertia making the 4,672,436 6/1987 Hawthorne ......................... 354/293 camera stabilizer less susceptible to unwanted move ment. A handle is attached to the frame at approxi OTHER PUBLICATIONS mately the center of gravity of the camera stabilizer and Brochure of International Camera Systems "Pogocam' has a gripping axis parallel to the plane of a camera (date unknown). Olnt. Brochure entitled Cawa Systems New Product Release (date unknown). 14 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets U.S. Patent Sep. 7, 1993 Sheet 1 of 2 5,243,370 U.S. Patent Sep. 7, 1993 Sheet 2 of 2 5,243,370 5,243,370 1. 2 excessively complex and expensive for most amateur CAMERA STABILIZER photographers. Several camera stabilizers have been designed for BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION amateur photographers. Such systems typically include 1. Field of the Invention camera carrying frames of various configurations. Some This invention relates to camera stabilizers, and more also include weights in the frame in an attempt to in particularly to hand held camera stabilizers which crease the angular moment of inertia of the camera allow the camera and operator to move while filming or system. However, each presently available system has taping events. several shortcomings. For example, in some systems, O such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,945,428, the 2. Description of Related Art frame encircles the body or head. Such a system is Advances in optical, video, and traditional photo inherently dangerous, particularly in action situations graphic technologies have made high quality portable where the device is most needed. U.S. Pat. No. photographic equipment available to a growing number 4,672,436 discloses a support made of a single staff and of film enthusiasts. As a result, photographers are con 5 a camera supported with its lens coaxial with the hold tinually creating motion pictures of increased quality ing axis. It provides yaw and pitch stability but essen and complexity. However, a problem encountered by tially no roll stability. Roll stability is accomplished by nearly all film enthusiasts is that of shooting smooth, gripping the unit with two hands at separated locations. quality footage with a hand held camera. This problem, This aggravates the problem of angular disturbances which is encountered when the operator tries to hold 20 because disturbances are transmitted to the stabilizer the camera steady, rotate the camera through an angle from a point other than the center of gravity, dramati (i.e., panning), or move the camera in translation, is cally increasing the torque and the amount of angular caused in part because of operator motion which is disturbance. Other systems, such as that of U.S. Pat. No. transmitted to the camera resulting in unwanted camera 2,806,416, are frequently designed to be held at shoulder motion. 25 height or in front of the operator. Maintaining the cam The problem of unwanted camera motion during era system in these positions requires the operator to hand held filming is especially noticeable when filming hold the device with flexed muscles. As a result, the conditions require panning, moving the camera, or operator's muscles fatigue rapidly and contribute to where either the camera or the camera operator is re camera instability. quired to move. Turning or carrying the camera in a 30 smooth even fashion requires a great deal of skill and SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION experience, particularly in action scenes where the can It is an object of the invention to provide an im era operator is walking, running, or riding in a vehicle proved camera stabilizer that effectively reduces un to follow the subject of the film. In action situations, the 35 wanted camera movement in all directions. already difficult task of holding a camera steady despite A further object of the invention is to provide an motions resulting from the operator's breathing, heart improved camera stabilizer that is relatively inexpen beat, and involuntary muscle movements, is severely sive to manufacture and simple to use and compact to aggravated by environmental conditions. As a result, store in a wide variety of filming and other environ footage is frequently erratic, jerky, difficult to watch nents. and visually unappealing. Although sudden transla In accordance with these and other objects, a pre tional disturbances and unsteady camera movements ferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a contribute to this problem, angular disturbances, partic rigid frame to which three peripheral masses, one of ularly high frequency angular disturbances, are most which is a camera, are connected. The masses are main prevalent and are also most difficult to control. 45 tained in relatively widely separated positions by the Film Inakers have eliminated unwanted camera frame. As a result, the camera stabilizer has a relatively movements in most contexts by using complex camera high angular moment of inertia in all directions. The hoists, booms and damping equipment which is not stabilizer has a handle which is located at the center of operator-held. When operator-held filming is necessary, gravity of the entire system. The stabilizer has a handle many film makers rely on systems similar to that de 50 having an axis parallel to the plane of a camera mount. scribed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,488. In this system, the This configuration enables the space above the handle camera is mounted on a gimbal device attached to an to be unobstructed and facilitates a horizontal gripping articulated arm. The arm is connected to a body harness orientation. which is worn by the camera operator. Shock isolation Other objects and aspects of the invention will be systems in the arm and gimbal device minimize un 55 come apparent to those skilled in the art from the de wanted camera movement. Additionally, the system, tailed description of the invention which is presented by including the camera and its associated equipment, is a way of example and not as a limitation of the present relatively high mass body with relatively high angular invention. and translational moments of inertia which help to elim inate undesirable camera movement. The harness low BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS ers operator fatigue by transferring the bulk of the FIG. 1 is an elevated perspective view of a camera weight of the system to the operator's body. However, stabilizer in accordance with a preferred embodiment of while the system works well, it is prohibitively expen the invention with an attached camera and being held sive and complex for most amateur photographers. by an operator. U.S Pat. No. 4,206,983 also describes a body-mounted 65 FIG. 2 is an elevated perspective view of the stabi camera stabilizer. The stabilizer relies on a complex lizer of FIG. 1. system of articulated arms and damping devices to mini FIG. 3 is a cut-away partially exploded view of a mize unwanted camera movement. However, it is also portion of the stabilizer shown in FIG. 2. 5,243,370 3 4. FIG. 4 is a side view of the camera stabilizer of FIG. number of threaded holes 35 provided at convenient shown in a monopod configuration. locations. FIG. 5 is an elevated perspective view of an automat A first mass 20 is attached at the bottom of the verti ically adjusting handle which can be used with the cal strut 26. In the embodiment illustrated, the first mass camera stabilizer. 20 is manufactured of metal such as brass and is pro vided with a threaded hole to enable it to be threaded DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED onto the end of the vertical strut 26. EMBOOIMENT A second mass 22 is attached to the rear end of the A camera stabilizer in accordance with a preferred horizontal strut 28. Although the size and weight of the embodiment of the present invention is indicated in the O masses may vary considerably depending on operator's drawings generally at 10.