Great Scott!’s Overhead Camera Rig with Adjustable White Lighting

If you want to record your electronics and other small DIY projects, a tripod is great, but having a rig that points directly down onto your hands and subject matter can be even better. Add in adjustable lighting and a built-in monitor like Great Scott’s! device, and you’ve got a really fabulous tool to take your video abilities up a few notches.

Mechanically, the cuboid rig is made out of PVC pipe, along with 3D-printed connectors, giving it dimensions of 71 x 61 x 71cm. Not huge, but big enough for Scott!’s intended shots. Two internal lengths of pipe were also added in order to support the monitor, which connects to the camera mounted overhead with a mini HDMI cable.

Two types of LED strips are attached to the top surface of the overhead rig, made out of plywood and aluminum. These are driven with a single TC4427 MOSFET, replacing the two TC4420 MOSFETs used in his previous Portable LED Panel build, on which the control circuit here is based. The dual-LED design allows this overhead lighting to be adjusted with a pair of potentiometers in order to give the shot just the tint needed, monitored in real-time via a screen that’s within easy view.