**Building a DIY Camera Tripod System**

The author of this article shares their experience and knowledge on building a custom camera tripod system. They start by discussing the importance of having a good tripod, which can make a huge difference in photography and videography. The author mentions that they were initially looking for a way to stabilize their camera, but after researching various options, they decided to build their own tripod using a microphone stand.

The author explains how they found a microphone stand with a ball joint head on it, which gave them the flexibility to move the camera in any direction. They liked this feature so much that they bought additional ball joints and attached them to their existing tripods, allowing them to easily switch between different cameras. The author emphasizes the importance of having a sturdy tripod that can hold the camera's weight, even when moved at an angle.

To evenly light the table for overhead shots, the author used a strip of LEDs that came with a remote control. They found this option convenient because it allowed them to turn the lights on and off, adjust their brightness, and change their color temperature without having to physically interact with the lighting setup. The author notes that they had to purchase two packages of LEDs to cover the entire table but were pleased with the result.

Another consideration for the author was the material used for the tripod frame. They decided to use metal because it was smaller and took up less space on their desk, while still being sturdy enough to hold the camera in place. The author also mentions that they weighed the pros and cons of using wood instead of metal but ultimately chose metal due to its rigidity.

**Color Temperature and LED Options**

The author notes that people often have a preference for the color temperature of LED lights, and there are many options available on the market. They found their preferred color temperature by chance and choose it because it matches their existing video lighting setup. However, they acknowledge that others may prefer different color temperatures or may want to diffuse the light in certain ways.

The author shares that there are many temporary solutions for diffusing light, such as using wax paper, masking tape, or Scotch tape. They also mention that Casey Neistat and Lynn Darbin have created excellent video examples of DIY lighting setups on YouTube, which may be helpful resources for those interested in trying something similar.

**Conclusion**

The author concludes by thanking their viewers for watching the video and invites them to share their own projects with him on social media. They also encourage viewers to support their content creation efforts by becoming patrons on Patreon, which offers exclusive benefits such as early access to videos and additional content.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey I'm Bob and I like to make stuff today I'm going to use a mic stand to make an overhead camera rig I got some angle iron a steel rod a flat bar and some Square Tubing I measured 18 in on the Square Tubing and cut four pieces to that length with the angle grinder I clamped all four pieces together and used a file to clean up the edges the angle iron acted as my verticals and the square tubing as my horizontals I held the in place with some magnets to keep them at 90° angles and then welded all the joints together just so you know the square tubing was 1/ in and the angle iron was 3/4 in so the square tube fit down inside the angle iron I made a second frame in the exact same way and then I cleaned up all the joints with the flap disc on the angle grinder and some files I added another 36-in piece of square tubing in between the two frames and squared everything up with the magnets this bar is for the backs side if you wanted to you could add one to the front but I didn't see a need I measured up 6 in from each side and then set the rod in place to match the marks I found out quickly that welding around a curve was a little bit harder to do cleanly than a straight line when that was finished I flipped it over and added a flat bar between the bottom back two corners now I didn't video it but I ended up taking this out and putting in angle iron instead to make it more rigid after that was in place I went back and grinded down all the edges and then spray painted the whole thing flat black I designed this to fit my desk knowing that my parts containers behind it were too big and needed to be replaced anyway but this fit perfectly well on my desk for the overhead mechanism I found a mic stand that was $17 that had everything I needed it had all the range of motion and the thread on the end of it was actually the same size as a tripod it came apart really easily and then to fit it around my Steel Rod I just had to add one little rubber bumper that you would put under a piece of furniture that helps it clasp really tightly around the steel rod and hold in position I really like the gorilla pod from Joby it has a really nice ball joint tripod head on it and so I've bought that same head and put it on all my tripods so I bought another one to add to this system that way I can really easily move the camera from one tripod to the next having the ball joint really gives you a full range of motion you can set the camera wherever you want based on the top mechanism and then once it's in place you can point the camera anywhere you want because of the ball joint and the whole thing comes on and off with one click I wanted to evenly light the table and I wanted the lighting to be fixed so I got a strip of LEDs that happen to come with a remote it just plugs together and you can turn them on and off and change the brightness with the remote which is really handy the strip has adhesive on the back of it so you peel off the tape and then just stick it to the surface where you wanted them to stay there are marks every couple of inches where you can cut the strips and then once you get them all in place you can go back and make connections between the two places that you cut they have little terminals that you can solder together with very short wires like this I had to get two packages of these LEDs to have enough to cover all the space but once they were all wired together it gave a really nice even light Li in to the entire table the overhead shots work really well and even banging on the table with a fist didn't move the camera very much so I got to say I'm really excited about how this turned out it's way cooler than I thought and it was way easier than I thought it was going to be I was really over complicating the mechanism up here in my brain for a long time trying to come up with something really clever but something that would be easy to pull off as well and that microphone stand just turned out to be the perfect option to put there it gives me the full range of motion that I wanted and even though it's lightweight it's still actually sturdy enough to hold the camera in place if I put it up at an angle or did something crazy with it I also went back and forth about whether to use wood or metal for the frame and I ended up on metal mainly because it could be smaller and take up less space on the desk itself it's super rigid because it's steel but if you wanted to use wood it would work just as well I think it would just have to be a little bit bigger so that it was sturdy so if you're going to make one of these another consideration that may be different than what I chose is the color and the density of the LED strips you may want more or less LEDs in the strips to increase brightness and you may want to use a different color temperature I pick this color temperature because it's the same as all my other video lights so it just makes it easier for me to work on the video but people always have a preference about the color temperature that they like the most and you can get the strips and a lot of different options if you did find that the LEDs are kind of harsh for what you're doing there's a lot of different ways you could diffuse the light you could do it with wax paper masking tape Scotch tape there's a lot of different ways that you could do it that would be temporary so you could take it on and off as you needed to of course there's 100 way ways to do everything including this and there's a lot of these already on YouTube that are really well done Casey neistat has a nice one Lynn from darbin or has a nice one I'll link those down in the description so you might want to check those out if you're looking to do something like this so you can see the options I hope you like this project and if you did you might like some of my other ones I've got playlists with a lot of different types of projects woodworking Electronics 3D printing all sorts of stuff that you might want to check out and I would love to see some stuff that you are working on no matter what it is share it with me on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook if you like these videos and you want to support what I'm doing patre is a great way to do that supporters on patreon get to watch these videos early they get exclusive content and a bunch of other stuff so go check that out that's it for this one guys thanks for watching I'll see you next timehey I'm Bob and I like to make stuff today I'm going to use a mic stand to make an overhead camera rig I got some angle iron a steel rod a flat bar and some Square Tubing I measured 18 in on the Square Tubing and cut four pieces to that length with the angle grinder I clamped all four pieces together and used a file to clean up the edges the angle iron acted as my verticals and the square tubing as my horizontals I held the in place with some magnets to keep them at 90° angles and then welded all the joints together just so you know the square tubing was 1/ in and the angle iron was 3/4 in so the square tube fit down inside the angle iron I made a second frame in the exact same way and then I cleaned up all the joints with the flap disc on the angle grinder and some files I added another 36-in piece of square tubing in between the two frames and squared everything up with the magnets this bar is for the backs side if you wanted to you could add one to the front but I didn't see a need I measured up 6 in from each side and then set the rod in place to match the marks I found out quickly that welding around a curve was a little bit harder to do cleanly than a straight line when that was finished I flipped it over and added a flat bar between the bottom back two corners now I didn't video it but I ended up taking this out and putting in angle iron instead to make it more rigid after that was in place I went back and grinded down all the edges and then spray painted the whole thing flat black I designed this to fit my desk knowing that my parts containers behind it were too big and needed to be replaced anyway but this fit perfectly well on my desk for the overhead mechanism I found a mic stand that was $17 that had everything I needed it had all the range of motion and the thread on the end of it was actually the same size as a tripod it came apart really easily and then to fit it around my Steel Rod I just had to add one little rubber bumper that you would put under a piece of furniture that helps it clasp really tightly around the steel rod and hold in position I really like the gorilla pod from Joby it has a really nice ball joint tripod head on it and so I've bought that same head and put it on all my tripods so I bought another one to add to this system that way I can really easily move the camera from one tripod to the next having the ball joint really gives you a full range of motion you can set the camera wherever you want based on the top mechanism and then once it's in place you can point the camera anywhere you want because of the ball joint and the whole thing comes on and off with one click I wanted to evenly light the table and I wanted the lighting to be fixed so I got a strip of LEDs that happen to come with a remote it just plugs together and you can turn them on and off and change the brightness with the remote which is really handy the strip has adhesive on the back of it so you peel off the tape and then just stick it to the surface where you wanted them to stay there are marks every couple of inches where you can cut the strips and then once you get them all in place you can go back and make connections between the two places that you cut they have little terminals that you can solder together with very short wires like this I had to get two packages of these LEDs to have enough to cover all the space but once they were all wired together it gave a really nice even light Li in to the entire table the overhead shots work really well and even banging on the table with a fist didn't move the camera very much so I got to say I'm really excited about how this turned out it's way cooler than I thought and it was way easier than I thought it was going to be I was really over complicating the mechanism up here in my brain for a long time trying to come up with something really clever but something that would be easy to pull off as well and that microphone stand just turned out to be the perfect option to put there it gives me the full range of motion that I wanted and even though it's lightweight it's still actually sturdy enough to hold the camera in place if I put it up at an angle or did something crazy with it I also went back and forth about whether to use wood or metal for the frame and I ended up on metal mainly because it could be smaller and take up less space on the desk itself it's super rigid because it's steel but if you wanted to use wood it would work just as well I think it would just have to be a little bit bigger so that it was sturdy so if you're going to make one of these another consideration that may be different than what I chose is the color and the density of the LED strips you may want more or less LEDs in the strips to increase brightness and you may want to use a different color temperature I pick this color temperature because it's the same as all my other video lights so it just makes it easier for me to work on the video but people always have a preference about the color temperature that they like the most and you can get the strips and a lot of different options if you did find that the LEDs are kind of harsh for what you're doing there's a lot of different ways you could diffuse the light you could do it with wax paper masking tape Scotch tape there's a lot of different ways that you could do it that would be temporary so you could take it on and off as you needed to of course there's 100 way ways to do everything including this and there's a lot of these already on YouTube that are really well done Casey neistat has a nice one Lynn from darbin or has a nice one I'll link those down in the description so you might want to check those out if you're looking to do something like this so you can see the options I hope you like this project and if you did you might like some of my other ones I've got playlists with a lot of different types of projects woodworking Electronics 3D printing all sorts of stuff that you might want to check out and I would love to see some stuff that you are working on no matter what it is share it with me on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook if you like these videos and you want to support what I'm doing patre is a great way to do that supporters on patreon get to watch these videos early they get exclusive content and a bunch of other stuff so go check that out that's it for this one guys thanks for watching I'll see you next time\n"