I probably could never count on dead calm. I would like to try this with a wider diameter than I was first thinking. Not too wide, but wide enough that if I wood hammered a speared ring into the earth, I might have enough stability to not chatter:). Next week, I'm gonna get something and try this. Need to find a hacksaw. Somebody I know must have one

I purchased a 10' pipe and trimmed it to 7' at Loews. Even sawed a spear tip to the end of it so it can be driven into the earth. I only drove it in with my bare hands o a grass lawn and with light wind it seemed to be great. No additional bracing or legs. Might try slightly bigger diameter with pvc pipe and same length. Still not certain I can get away with no additional legs for support but the lesss DIY I need to forge the better. I got 2" dia. Might try 3+ and saw off the same way. Then I need some soft ground to make a radius of poles without looking suspicious, but I'm thrilled with my $10 purchase and need to try more. Thank you!!

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Very good!

Can't be certain is completely stable enough until cams are affixed and tested, but maybe you can eliminate bracing.

So, $10 x 8 @ 2" is $80 and price will go up from there using larger dia., why I stayed with 1 1/2" and wood bracing, but up to you.

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I might want extra diameter for better default support. I don't like anything bigger than 2" for these poles because it just kind of feels the right diameter. We'll see:)

$80 is peanuts compared to what I had in mind to get pro tripods and sandbags, so I need to explore this idea a little more. I just have never tried shooting on grass that may not be trimmed. Will I won't I lose the feet? With multiple cameras, I'm hoping they can record that. Need to try because this is a great work around for space

Before I do a 3D + photo assembly, I thought of a idea for stabilizing pvc piping.... what if there was no tripod but instead a pvc pipe as I have it (2" dia) was plugged into a storage pail of beach sand like this:

https://m.uline.com/h5/r/www.uline.com/ ... lsrc=aw.ds

It's a bit of a bitch to move multiple set ups of this (8 at least for me to feel comfortable). The reason I'm thinking about this is because I have some anxiety about plugging sharpened pvc pipes into some strangers earth; be it a park or whatever short of a private home with a lot of grassy and soft earth. I've attached a couple of screenshots of my backyard driveway. I want to potentially do this on property that I know will be ok. No additional spearing of the ground though it seems to work well if the ground was soft enough. My driveway isn't this. It's hard earth with a lot of rocks for driveway. I want to do this in 3D to paint a full picture if I'm not being clear or if even for my own reference. See attached photos. Imagine that the yellow garbage can is an actor or actors. Do you think this could work?

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I am sure something like that would work, as long as it is deep as that 2 ft min, but dry sand will not pack well, my only thought and to dampen it would make it weigh a lot more to move, would just be a bitch to carry those around for a portable setup, but not to bad if just sitting in your own yard.

I still think you will need at least one brace off the top, be it made of whatever, to stop the top of the pipe from chattering, but give it ago without bracing and post your results.

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Hopefully this weekend when I get to Loews. I hope. I'm gonna try this and post something. Not just the setup. An actual recording and photosetup of the actual pipe, pail, camera setup. I'll have water to make the beach sand, solid. Chatter may still be an issue. I would never try to shoot with strong wind, but (god forbid) there's light-light wind, I think this may work if the pvc pipe is thick enough. That's the only reason I think about a wider diameter for the piping. If there's good support for a larger diameter, there's less chance of chatter in my mind. Will try this with the 2" that I have. I'll go up if I need something wider. Transportation should be minimal since I live in the apartment adjacent to the driveway photos and it's just me my wife and a cool neighbor upstairs...and a landlord who probably doesn't mind I hope. And we have a storage basement if I need to set these pails aside and out of the way. Want to try just one camera first. Minimal camera support but deep in a bucket of sand (wet or dry).

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Cool! Would like to see how it works, I am not sure if you can start the recorder to test with just one PS Eye, but should be able to at least view it to see how steady it is over a period of time.

Drive it into the sand bucket anyway, so sand fills inside of the pipe will help.

Larger diameter pvc might help some, but pvc is still a flexible material, I live in Florida and it is very rare not to have a slight breeze blowing at least 3-5 mph.

You could try a more sturdy material, like a 1/1/2 or 2 inch aluminum pole, but I don't know how readily available that would be to buy, or cost, but even a wood 4 x 4 will still slightly jitter at the top without a brace, especially if need it to be 8 ft out of the ground for the high cams.

I have tried it with just the 1 1/2 in. pvc driven into the ground 18 in. and the top still chattered even at my low cam height of 1.20 m, and 2 in. isn't that much more diameter, but all you can do is to try it yourself, your way, or with larger diameter pipe and see how it goes.

Pretty nice area where the pics were taken, fair amount of shade it looks like which is good, if that's the area you plan to set up in, but what really matters is what the cameras see, so turning down the exposure to 60, or below and the gain to below 16 may help, a little grain in the recording won't really affect the tracking, just avoid massive grain in the footage.

Don't get discouraged if the first attempts don't go well, they probably won't, but will improve as you work through any issues.

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There wasn't enough wind this morning to know if it'll hold up in it, but this is what I made yesterday and just tried a distributed recording using my iPhone as a hotspot. I forgot that I needed. At least 3 cameras for this to bring into the studio, but the real test was the bucket. It's a an 8ft tall 2x4 supported by QuickCrete (red bag). 50 lbs. it hardens quick. Heavy as hell but that's kind of the point. Last night there was some wind and, only if I touched the 2x4 was there chatter. Otherwise, I think this is going to work great:). See photos attached