When it comes to documenting a build, few people can top Frank Howarth’s creative use of camera shots and storylines to make otherwise mundane processes seem like Hollywood handiwork. And like any skilled videographer, Howarth spends just as much time building his own rigs for specific shots as he does actually filming them.
Most recently, the Oregon-based woodworker built what is quite possibly his most impressive rig yet in the form of the Orbiting Time Lapse Camera Rig. Designed to rotate around a fixed point while documenting a process via time lapse, Howarth built the rig in true Howarth fashion –– out of CNC-cut wood parts.
Says Howarth:
“(This) camera rig allows me to shoot a time lapse while moving slowly and smoothly around a subject. I built a 1:100 gear reduction with two 80 tooth gears and two 8 tooth gears. The gears were cut out on the CNC router from ½ inch birch plywood. This gear reduction is between a variable speed motor and a camera boom. This allows the camera boom to rotate at a very slow speed.”
