1. .
  2. Patrick Nagle



    Making a Fig Rig

    Hello everyone! Pat Nagle here to help talk you through another build and shoot. In this issue I’ve decided to go back to a DIY for some video. I have been shooting video more and more these days so I’m always trying to find ways to improve my video without breaking the bank. So for this month we will be making another type of camera stabilizer. Stabilizers are essential to getting good smooth footage and for a DSLR, it could be difficult to hand hold and still get some nice smooth footage.

    The type of stabilizer we will be making today is known as a fig rig. This is a great tool to have for video for one main reason, more room to handle. DSLR can be awkward to hold for video and next to impossible to get good looking footage. With a fig rig, you have all this other room to hold the system while suspending the camera in mid-air giving us that clean look. This is a very easy project and should only take about 30 minutes to put together once we have gotten the materials we need.


  3. Materials needed:

    • Drill
    • ¼” drillbit
    • tape measurer
    • PVC cutter or Hacksaw
    • ¾” PVC pipe (4 ft. long)
    • ¾” PVC elbows (X4)
    • ¾” PVC T-joints (X2)
    • ¼” Machine Screw (3” long)
    • ¼” wing nut


    Now that we have all of the materials and tools needed for the build, it is time to make the cuts in the PVC pipe. First make the measurements by marking the 4-foot-long PVC pipe. We will need 2 pieces that are 11 inches long and 4 pieces that are 4 ¾ inches long. This will give us a leftover piece that is about 6 inches long which is perfect. It will serve as the top handle. With all of our pieces measured and cut, it is time to just put them together. The pieces that are 11 inches long will be the side pieces and from there it’s very simple by just assembling a square. The elbows are our corners and the T-joints act as placements for our camera and the top handle. Next we drill a hole in the bottom of the T-joint for our camera to mount on. This is where the ¼” machine screw will go through and screw into the bottom of our camera. Unless you want to paint it for a more professional look, you are now done! Time to go out and see what kind of footage we can get.

    Hope you all enjoyed our build and shoot…happy shooting everyone!