Michael Buday here. We met at HDEXPO where I immediately bought one of your STEDDIEPODS for my son. First of all, let me say without hesitation that the STEDDIEPOD is a fantastic product – which is something I don’t often say about ANY product.

A little perspective here:

About 18 months ago, I bought my son (who is now in film school) a GLIDECAM 2000 PRO – which I paid about $400.00 for (not including the vest which set me back even more). When the GLIDECAM arrived, I was expecting to spend a couple of hours getting it setup and balanced before letting my son loose with it, but two hours quickly turned into an entire evening – which in turn carried on into the following morning.

Now, I’m a pretty handy guy. I’ve been a professional editor in Hollywood and London for over 20 years; I’ve run camera on several occasions and I do all my own electrical and plumbing repairs in my home. So, when I say I’m handy – I am – but setting up that GLIDECAM proved to be one of the most frustrating experiences I’ve ever had with a piece of video gear. I found the counterweight system employed by this model of Glidecam to be crude and extremely difficult to get right – despite the thorough instructions that come with the product. Further, once I FINALLY manage to balance the contraption with my son’s VX-2000 camcorder, the slightest change in camera weight or orientation would throw the whole thing off again – and I mean ANYTHING would throw it out of whack (different battery, opening the LCD monitor, plugging in a cable into the headphone jack of the camera –anything!).

Even after we got the GLIDECAM setup, making it do what we wanted it to do was extremely difficult. Now I realize that operating a camera stabilization system is no panic and it requires a lot of practice – but this was ridiculous! Once the camera was in motion, stopping any movement of the gimbal in a smooth manner was next to impossible.

I won’t bore you with anymore details about the GLIDECAM, but our overall impression was that it just wasn’t worth the cost.

So, after seeing your demo of the STEDDIEPOD at HDEXPO, I realized that I’d finally found a versatile and inexpensive camera stabilization system that was easy to setup and learn.

I brought the STEDDIEPOD home the night of HDEXPO and decided to give it a whirl right away. I was amazed – first of all, the build quality is outstanding. Secondly, it took me all of ten minutes to:

1. Unpack the STEDDIEPOD
2. Mount the tripod plate to camcorder
3. Mount the camera to the tripod head
4. Unfold the three stabilization legs
5. Balance the STEDDIEPOD

That was it. I immediately fired up the camera and within about 20 seconds, I was easily producing steady shots while moving all the around the house. Within half an hour of bringing STEDDIEPOD home, I’d unpacked it, set it up and mastered it!

The next day my son came home from college for the weekend. I showed him the STEDDIEPOD and within 5 minutes he was on his rollerblades testing the system out while flying the down the street. Cut to one week later; he’s now using it everyday on a film he’s shooting and says it was the best investment we’ve (I’ve) yet made (other than the camera that is).

So what more can I say? The product is beautifully built, cleverly designed and it just plain works out of the box. Plus, it’s extremely versatile. In fact, the expensive Bogen tripod I bought looks like it’s going to be used less and less now that the STEDDIEPOD is part of my son’s camera gear.

It was great meeting you and thanks so much for a great product!

After much thought about the purchase of the Steddiepod we purchased one to use at one of our weddings. The Steddiepod showed up at our door 1 Hour before the wedding. On the way to the wedding we balanced it in our car and literally shot the wedding one hour after we got there. The Steddiepod is a must have for any wedding Videographer, it is light weight, built well, and does all it claims to do, we highly recommend it.

I have tried just about everything from steadycam junior to the Glidecam 4000 and the piece of equipment that "gets it done" is steddiepod. Easy to balance, easy to use and doubles as a monopod as well. I bought this on a Friday and used it to shoot a promo on Saturday. For me steddiepod is the way to go.

I have tried the glidecam 4000, had one for a couple of years, had the steadicam junior also. Both a pain in the butt. I bought the steddiepod and haven't looked back. Bought it on a Friday and used it the folllowing day to do an entire shoot in Hollywood on Hollywood blvd and in the Ripley's museum. Works as a steady platform AND a monopod. Priced right also.

Out of the box the steddiepod was hands down better. Put the shoe on the camera, put the camera on the "pod", folded the legs down and shoot. I also had a mattebox on, as well as two lavolier mic receivers taped to the upright. Not only shot, but when we had to stop and talk about the next shot, I just set the steddiepod down on the street and talked. It is the best thing that I have ever used for "run and gun".

I am on location now using the Steddiepod. This new version is AWESOME. All yestersay my camera never left the Steddiepod and I was able to get 12 different angles of the same shot which would have taken me triple the time or longer to do if I didn't have my Steddiepod.

Great job in the new version!

I used the Steddiepod this past Sunday at a wedding. I had two HDR-FX1's. One was set up on a tripod and the other was on my Steddiepod. This was the first time I really used it and I'm extremely pleased with it. I was able to get shots that would have been very difficult to get any other way. I was the only one shooting the wedding and I did lots of running around. The Steddiepod enabled me to get a much higher overall production level. I was able to get some awesome shots at the reception that I know my clients will love. In short I think that the Steddiepod is worth every penny of the $449 that I paid for it. I can't imagine shooting a wedding or other event without it. The thing to bear in mind is that the Steddiepod does a number of things very well but it is not the same thing as a tripod when it comes to stationary operation.

Our purchase of the first generation Steddiepod more than 4 years ago was one of the best investments we’ve made. It has allowed us to get shots and angles we wouldn’t have been able to get otherwise. It’s easy to set up and is very versatile. We can’t imagine what we’d do without it.

Since arriving here a week ago, we've been able to use our EZ Prompter Stealth quite successfully with three of our production clients. Since most of our local advertisers have a very limited commercial production budget, purchasing a prompter never made fiscal sense. At about $600, the EZ Prompter Stealth has already paid for itself. Our clients love it. They don't have to memorize copy or try and read cue cards. It sets up in seconds and fits beautifully on our small HDV cameras with an adaptor ring. Great product. We intend to get a lot of use out of it.

This thing is awesome!!!

I'm taping 20 - 3 minute speaker videos in 4 hours on Saturday. Pretty much the people will be speaking into the camera and have 15 minutes to get there part done. I was stressed... now I am confident that it will be easy.

I just wanted to say that my experience with the new barber boom and the steddiepod made my job as a director a lot of fun. I was finallly able to get the camera movement that normally cost an arm and a leg. The flexibility of the boom allowed us to work in small rooms as well as outside. It is definitely scalable. The steddiepod sets up so quickly, you are ready to shoot in no time. I would recommend both the new barber boom and steddiepod for any production.

Dear Eddie and Michelle,

Thank you BOTH so very much for the FANTASTIC service and GREAT PRICE on my new 30' Barber Boom. You both were also extremely gracious, helpful, and knowledgeable about the assembly process.

As you know, I have been a professional producer/director/cameraman/jib and Barber Boom operator for over 17 years with many A-list credits including Tupac's I GET AROUND video, THE GREAT WHITE HYPE with Sam Jackson and Jeff Goldblum, and ESPN Boxing. Besides the original Barber Boom 20 which I purchased in 1996, I have operated nearly every other jib/crane out there including the Jimmy Jib and Cam Mate. This new Barber Boom far eclipses all of them. It is truly a modern boom for today's lightweight cameras. But don't let the "lightweight" fool you. I had a Sony F900-R fully equipped on it for the Fox series LIE TO ME.

This boom is fully adjustable from 6'-30' by the inch. It is great to FINALLY get the exact length you need to the nearest inch...NOT THE NEAREST 4 FEET. It is EXTREMELY easy and fast to build. Best of all, You can actually fit it all in a Mini Cooper....but I haul mine in a Jeep Grand Cherokee along with all of my camera gear, lights and luggage. No trailer/cube truck parking hassles. The controls are smooth as silk...the pan and tilt are amazing. I actually did a 3-continuous 360-tilt-down shot on a short film (The Burrow) with a Sony EX3.

And it's NOT just for the high, wide crane shots anymore. I get great looking dolly shots, high-angle/low-angle/subtle movement shots as well as the BIG 30 FOOT crane shot! On some of the music videos I have shot, as much as 75% or more of the total footage was shot on the Barber Boom. This boom can be as creative as you are.

Before anybody buys or rents those old "dinosaur" jib-cranes, I would HIGHLY recommend the new Barber Boom. Thanks again for building a boom that actually works!

With Extreme Sincerity,

Victor J. Pancerev