Very cool!

Wow, that`s a great idea! The footage looks absolutely smooth.
What wide-angle converter do you use with the xacti?

Great find that 'JanCam'. :)

Hello Jan yes I would imagine the smoothness of the shot in the boomstick being relational to the smoothness ofthe road surface. I like that you have weighted this and it is free from the bicycle frame BUT it does look a bit dangerous on the bike, since you have to have a hand on it but the result is rather sweet.
SO I guess if we could fashion a working shockmount for the camera on a boomstick would be nice.
I have been toying with the idea of a short boom (possible jib like configuration) with articulation
in the handset for up down and pan.
I appreciate your ideas and this video, thank you.

I saved this great teaching film. I am also a Dutch person. But I am 4th generation USA. I grew up in Oostburg Wisconsin, a small dutch town. Thanks for your site and your films

loved that. Need a strong arm after a bit though!

Jan very good. Beats a monopod. Shows the great flexibility of the ultra small Xacti's. Must show you my Steadycam Merlin with two Xacti's one wide and one closer. A rig I discovered after finding one Xacti on a Merlin to be too light! I have three Xacti HD 700's. One in each color red, brown, silver. I organize my foot using color coded folders. I am a FCP user.

Great skills, Jan! Thanks for sharing.

astonishing results with this setup. Only a dutchman would think of using it on a bicycle. I have a Kodak V1233 much smaller than the XD1000 but still capable of 720p resolution videos, will try something symilar with what you have. Great idea, great video.

which letus could i use with an hd1a?

HAHA Leuk zeg dat filmpje. De JanCam wordt een Groot succes als het aan mij ligt. bedankt voor het vertellen gister In de foto/film zaak!! TOP

I'm really sorry to ask a newbie question, but I'm trying to understand this setup. The explanation is only on the video, and in Dutch, so it was hard for me to catch.

So it's basically 3 parts:
2.5 kg counterweight (somehow attached to a microphone pole?)

A Gitzo G557 boom microphone pole
shopping.yahoo.com/p:Gitzo%20G557%20Microphone%20boom%20pole:1993251107

A Bogen-Manfrotto 482 head (again, somehow attached to the boom microphone pole?)
amazon.com/Bogen-Manfrotto-482-Micro-Ball-Head/dp/B00009R6ME

Is that correct?
I really like this setup, and I'd love to be able to recreate it with my HD1000.
I'd like to use it for interviews and basic video-blog work.

Also, can I ask what kind of lavalier mic you were using? I'm trying to shop around for a good mic to use with the hd1000, but it's hard to get good information as I live in Tokyo - every shop I go to either doesn't know, or they explain in really hard Japanese.
I get a lot of people in shops with the response, "why would you use a microphone - there's one on the camera, isn't there?"
I know quickly that they won't be of much help...
Any tips for getting good audio with this camera would be greatly appreciated! :D

Great idea well presented. You've inspired me to do something similar.
Well done and thanks.

Very clever and impressive - you are an inspiration Jan!

While watching your video I envisioned using a monopod in a similar manner (which I had never thought of before). I put a ball head mount on the monopod's mounting screw and tried it for self-recording as well as the high and low angle shots. Grasping the monopod near the base and leaving enough pod extending to allow my forearm to be used as a brace produces excellent results.

My unrelenting desire to improvise inspired me to come up with an 'el cheapo' version of your Jancam. It would be made of PVC pipe sections with pipe coupling joints and maybe a bungee cord to hold it all together, when unfolded, like a tent pole (or maybe use a clevis pin at each joint instead). The attaching 1/4-20 bolt for the ball head mount would be bolted in place with stop nuts in a PVC end cap. The counterweight base would be a metal pipe floor flange to which washers could be added if more weight was needed. I'll probably never make one, but if I should ever find myself needing such a device........

I thoroughly enjoy your work posted here on vimeo. Thank you for sharing!

I'd love to see it Thomas!
Your idea sounds pretty cool.
I'm a super-busy foreigner living in Tokyo, so it's hard for me to find time to think up or realize ideas like this, but I'd love to do something like the Jancam - amazing work.
If you guys ever need info from Tokyo, feel free to ask!

WHAT did you sayyy???? ;)))
It looks like I'm not the only one to come up with the pvc idea I made one up about 3-4 month ago , first as a steadicam and than thought about a hand held crane.
Mines not nearly as good as your is and doesn't work as well either.... Why???..... Hellpp!!!
I love your tutorials their great an very entertaining :))

Thanks for sharing.

I love all your videos for various reasons, some informative, some educational and some just really lovely. But whatever you do amuses me, I think you are a very nice man, and the rest of us agree on these points.
All the best from the filmic TV crew.

Normall.

I was doing almost the same setup a few days ago with a tripod instead of a broomstick. Without the counter weight, so I had to brace the tripod on my hip. The broomstick seems much easier to handle though.

Hi Jan: An Aussie hang glider pilot turned me on to this site, and your videos are so very helpful, thank you very much!

I'm a long time pro aviation photographer who wants to do a documentary on hang gliding but can't decide on the right HD camcorder. I like the Xactis a lot, mostly because of the HD2000's 60P recording rate, and was looking for reassurance that the lack of optical stabilization wouldn't present problems with pan stutter or editing on Premiere Pro CS3, but I think you've answered those questions with these excellent tips, and the jancam in particular. Also the Gobi tripod you show in another clip (spider tripod) looks like a great wide movement solution, and I've already got three of them in various sizes for mounting on the glider.

I was thinking I'd make up a Jancam with a carbon fiber rod, which would be stiff like aluminum but much lighter overall. Now just got to find one, then figure out how to mount the hardware.

Thanks again!

Well, dummy me, the Gitzo booms come in carbon fiber too, up to 155"!

Thanks Jan, appreciate the tip. How does 1280x720 look on full HD tv?