randylervold

randylervold

moderator
I just bought a new Canon SD950IS and love the small size. Turns out it shoots pretty good video too. I'd like to mount it on my fwd canopy crossbar, which is 3/4" square tubing bent in an arc, so as to shoot formation flying etc. With it positioned in front of me I can turn it off/on and reposition it easily. Anyway, what sort of mounting system have others used -- I'm looking for something that can be zip tied on to the crossbar and has a tripod mount for the camera. Any ideas?
 
I got a new video camera about a week ago and after not seeing anything off the shelf to mount it with I decided to fabricate my own. Picked up a 3/4"x3/4"x1/2" PVC "T". Cut it in half lengthwise and fit 1/2" PVC pipe into the side hole with a 1/2" bolt through it to mount the camera. In the split "T" is a padding of weather seal and this gives it a tight fit against my roll bar brace and will enable me to ziptie it to the brace on top and bottom.

Have not tried it out yet and sorry I do not have it at home to take a picture of it. If you are interested I'll take a picture of it tomorrow and post it.

If anyone has other types of mounts please let us know because not sure how well my homebrew mount will work.
 
Would love to see a pic, makes it much easer to understand what you've done. Anyone else have any methods they've used?
 
I'm wondering if it's possible to buy just a tripod head that could then be zip tied onto my crossbar. Do tripod heads exist with any sort of vibration isolation? There must be some professional photographers in the ranks here.
 
Never underestimate the magical properties of Velcro and Velcro straps - I have done away with lots of fancy clamping/mounting designs by just strapping and sticking stuff where I want it. As a bonus, it usually gives you nice vibration isolation!

Paul
 
Flash Bracket ...

randylervold said:
I'm wondering if it's possible to buy just a tripod head that could then be zip tied onto my crossbar. Do tripod heads exist with any sort of vibration isolation? There must be some professional photographers in the ranks here.
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I bought a flash bracket (the kind that screws into the base of the camera and holds flash on the side).

Cut off the flash attach point and add hardware to attach this to the baggage compartment center structure of an RV6 tipup.

Don't have pix handy but will try to dig some up along with resultant video.

James
 
Pictures

Had a chance to snap some pictures yesterday of the video camera mount I am making. It has not been actually mounted yet and one thing that is clear is the with the larger battery it has an aft CG. I'll need to use the smaller one that is half the size and weight. I also found that using a bushing allowed the camera to swivel with some tension. I was debating using something like this or taking the locking set nut off of my mini tripod. Originally I mounted the top of the mini tripod to the PVC pipe but the locking screw was not strong enough to keep the camera from flopping over with any movement then after I tightened it up too far it stripped the threads in the plastic head.

It will be a few days before I can try this out but it seems to be sturdy. My two concerns will be how well it stays attached to the brace with either zip ties or velcro ties, and vibration damping.
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Mike & James,

Thanks for your ideas and pics. I went to a Camera store last night looking for hardware that could be cut up and adapted. I ended up buying a small tripod that I plan to remove the legs and fabricate some sort of mount, still noodling on how to mount it but I have some ideas. I'll try to post pics back here so you can see it.
 
A RAM Mount works perfect in this case, and it's easy to articulate. It might be too bulky in some respects, but the video turns out rock solid. Below is an example of what I've used. It works perfect in my Citabria, and I even stuck it on the rollover structure of a T-6 I was flying with great results.

mount2.jpg


mount3.jpg


Some footage from it, can be seen here (Mostly the Citabria acro)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHzwdJJtIfY
 
Remote Pan/Tilt Head

Here's something to consider for video and still work: IR Remote Pan/Tilt Head Some very creative things could be done with this when adapted to various mounts inside and outside the airplane. B&H also sells this unit for considerably less but I linked this page because of the detailed description. Similar units are made by other manufacturers. Limited IR range in direct sunlight, so I'm not sure if you could control it on a wing mount (or if it would hold up to aerodynamic loads).

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RAM

Chris,

Which components (part numbers) make up your RAM mount. Their site is very confusing to navigate and you have exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks
 
Wing mount gimballed video camera

This is slightly off-topic, but I thought some of you might be interested to see the pictures of a Cloud Cap Tase Duo (cloudcaptech dot com) mounted under the starboard side of Bad Chicken.

http://picasaweb.google.com/amitdagan/TASE

There are wires running into the cockpit, enabling full control of the cameras and gimball.
 
Capflyer said:
Chris,

Which components (part numbers) make up your RAM mount. Their site is very confusing to navigate and you have exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I actually stole the RAM Mount from my Lowrance Airmap 2000. I then purchased the ball that screws into the camera. I believe these are the part #'s:

RAM237 - 1/4-20 screw with 1.5" Ball.
RAMB121-238 - Yoke mount w/plate

Chris
 
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