Kickstarter

Welcome to my Kickstarter Page.

The Hummingbird Arm is a wearable DSLR camera stabilizer that beginners and students can afford.  The Hummingbird provides filmmakers with hands-on steady cam experience without making a huge investment. They’ll be able to practice shots and incorporate smooth dolly-like footage into their videos. The Hummingbird Arm will be a vital, low cost alternative to a handheld DSLR stabilizer and significantly less expensive than a $25,000 pro rig.

The Hummingbird Arm reduces camera shake and jitter via a mechanical arm that isolates the camera from the operator.  It’s compact and lightweight, but rugged.

The Hummingbird Arm was specifically designed for small cameras and DSLRs like the Canon 5D, 7D, T3i, and Panasonic GH2, which are becoming increasingly popular for use in lower budget projects, including commercials, music videos, industrials, weddings, shorts, websites, TV and for extreme sports videos. With a little practice, the Hummingbird Arm will help operators using these cameras get solid and engaging footage at a price point that is a perfect fit for modest budgets.

It’s a common practice for Steadicam® operators to add as much as 20lbs to their arms in order to fly lightweight cameras. By optimizing the geometry of the Hummingbird Arm, using high tolerances and some old fashioned tinkering, we’ve been able to minimize the additional weight needed.

I have been lucky to have the help of the legendary Steadicam® Arm builder Robert Luna. Robert’s experience and expertise with Steadicam®technology makes him an invaluable resource.

My goal is to raise enough money to build 5-7 arms and integrate improvements from the prototype. I plan to lend them to filmmakers for free for 6 months to field test.  There’s nothing like the daily grind of a film shoot to help work out kinks in the design and suggest enhancements or new features.  My goal is to have the Hummingbird Arm ready to sell within a year.  I’d also like to use money from the Kickstarter campaign to buy tools and materials that will be needed to repair the arms and provide support for operators in the field.

The Hummingbird Arm will be an essential filmmaking tool that fills the growing demand for an affordable stabilizing arm.  Similar arms on the market range from $2500-$25,000. I’d like to sell the Hummingbird Arm for less than $1000. 

There is still a lot to be done and improvements to be made. I’m working on developing a tool-less adjustment mechanism for the Arms, which will make it quicker and easier to adjust for different weights of cameras and lenses. A new gimble is also in the works with better bearings and much stricter tolerances. I'd also like to add a belt to the harness and am considering developing this rig into a lightweight running camera stabilizer. With enough funding I can get these new designs incorporated into the final product.

I look forward to the challenge and thank you for your time and generous contribution.