Power Kite Forum

Simplest Camera Mount In The World

apextech - 13-4-2011 at 04:00 PM

Here it is, and, and it works



erratic winds - 13-4-2011 at 04:16 PM

IMG tags are doubled in your post...may cause images to not show up for some browsers..

That's a heckofa macguyver-in' camera mount there, very nice! Wonder what it would take to shake it loose and spin....

bobalooie57 - 13-4-2011 at 04:20 PM

Nice, simple,effective... Now go get some video!!!

apextech - 13-4-2011 at 04:24 PM

Those pics are the best I can do for now (I'm lame), video is downloading off the card as we speak, I'll start editing it tonight. The rubber between the clamp and the axle keep it solid.

bobalooie57 - 13-4-2011 at 04:35 PM

How do you like your Tachyon? I've been loving mine. Nice camera for the $. :thumbup:

apextech - 13-4-2011 at 05:30 PM

You're right, you cant beat it for the price, mounting you have to be a bit more creative as it is limited, but I'm having fun with it. I really wanted to get away from the helmet cam, so this is an attempt to to that, and it seems to work just fine except the kite is not in most of the vid due to the narrower field of view, 90d I think vs a gopro at 135d, but that being said I like the cam just fine especially for under $100 and I can use it as a dive cam to inspect the hull of my sailboat while its in the water when I clean it.

bobalooie57 - 13-4-2011 at 06:08 PM

I bought the extra 3 foot piece of 3M Dual Lock tape. That stuff is amazing, at 30# per sq.in. hold strength, a 2" piece provides plenty of hold. I still use a loop of 400# kite line for a leash, just in case. I larkshead one end to the door-latch, other end to my helmet strap or the buggy mount I made from sch.40 PVC.

flexiblade - 13-4-2011 at 09:34 PM

So is this going to be some footage of Moss Landing? Curious how the South reach is doing after last year - the drainage (around 2 miles south of the Moss Landing area) had cut the beach into two - no longer a 7 mile reach to the South. Oh, and nice mount - all that counts is if it works.

apextech - 13-4-2011 at 09:50 PM

Mount worked great! I have a 26 min. video I have to edit down a bit before I finalize it. Do you mean by drainage perhaps the Salinas River, yes the mouth is wide and in force this time of year, went to find the most beautiful kiteboarding launch and Buggy beach just to the South of it, and later went back after the big storm to find 50' of the bank missing and the rest covered with limbs, branches and such, flat was now scalloped and steep, too bad.

I buggy north of there, right now even the access road to one of my favorite beaches is still under water, Seaside was littered with driftwood, trees on Moss north, hoping for another storm to take it all away. The main Moss landing beach exposed a pipe buried 4' under the sand and took that 4' deep x 50' wide part of the beach out to sea.

apextech - 14-4-2011 at 08:56 AM

Heres a rough on the vid, I cant believe I misspelled Moss Landing, but oh well. I am trying to figure out how to embed this, can anyone help me with this. Thanks

http://vimeo.com/22381986

DAKITEZ - 14-4-2011 at 09:02 AM

the beach looks good .... I can't wait to be riding there next week

PHREERIDER - 14-4-2011 at 09:03 AM

DIY mount , nice . very cool spot

DAKITEZ - 14-4-2011 at 09:07 AM

was that a seal at the 5:00 mark?

apextech - 14-4-2011 at 09:09 AM

1 dead sea lion

arkay - 14-4-2011 at 09:52 AM

Very cool! That's more or less where I started, but I didn't want just my knee and leg in the shot. I wanted more of me, handles/bar, and of course the kite. That low on the axle, it's hard to get that angle. But certainly an option to get video! I was surprise how little vibration there was given that you were literally bolted to the axle :)

I use a super clamp, which is used in photography for clamping a camera to just about anything, and it doesn't move. It give you a stable port to put a hex bolt, or extension to get you way up.

I would love to get a solid home brew setup when I wear this one out in a few years...

Manfrotto Super Clamp $20-30 <-- The base clamp with a stud for 1/4-20, all you need, gets you a few inches above the axle

I then used some lightning rod and made a fitting for the base and drilled/welded a 1/4-20 bolt in the top. Made extentions for 12" 24" 36" as testers. 24" worked well for me to get the angle I wanted... great for 3$, but I wanted to play with a flexible arm which is above my capabilities.... so... good setup for ~25$. would be interested to see if someone could make a solid extension on a home brew clamp. With the weight and height of the camera, I'd imagine that clam would need to be pretty darn solid and grippy.

Manfrorto Heavy-Duty Flex Arm $20 <-- gets you elevated up 26" and it bendy but is heavy duty enough that it won't move without some elbow grease.

Manfrotto Magic Arm $130 <-- This thing is super crazy. You could make it, but their tolerances are tight so that it doesn't slip or wiggle free. You could angle the camera over or around the tire and get some crazy shots. Well worth the price if you really want the shots, but I won't be buying one of these any time soon :)

apextech - 14-4-2011 at 10:06 AM

this mount was made from stuff I had around the house, looked at all kinds of different options, then the bulb went off and we have the totally uncool, cheesy mount you see here, but it does work and if I flip the buggy it wont hurt the cam, as well it has over 4" of ground clearance, so that works for me for now.

DAKITEZ - 14-4-2011 at 11:15 AM

we can see if we can video of each other next week

indigo_wolf - 14-4-2011 at 11:51 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by arkay
Manfrotto Magic Arm $130 <-- This thing is super crazy. You could make it, but their tolerances are tight so that it doesn't slip or wiggle free. You could angle the camera over or around the tire and get some crazy shots. Well worth the price if you really want the shots, but I won't be buying one of these any time soon


Assuming that's MSRP, because even Amazon has it for about $85. Much more tolerable and closer to the break even point for T/E DIY.

And the Super Clamp definitely rocks.... just on general principle.

ATB,
Sam

arkay - 14-4-2011 at 10:27 PM

In watching popeye's video from NABX it looks like he has a superclamp handle in the rear facing video :thumbup:

nocando - 19-4-2011 at 01:13 AM

They are called Ultra Clamps or something like that they are handled by prople the supply Drift HD Cams

have just bought OZ version called the Camzilla 50 AUD

www.camzilla.com.au

702dirtsurfer - 20-4-2011 at 10:29 PM

Thanks for sharing the killer idea! I mounted ky phone to a grip clip with zip ties and not only was I shocked how well it worked and looked,but I could hear the music playing from my phone as well! Ingenious and cheap,my kinda style!

apextech - 20-4-2011 at 11:15 PM

Thanks for the comments, I think my favorite part of this is the quick change of locations, if you check the video I change the camera from one axle to the other in @ 10 seconds, I indexed the mount so I can replicate the angle from one side to the other, Ive used it also clamped to the headstock of the Flexi for a sideways kite shot, again very stable though not the greatest video.

I cleaned the top of the clamp with acetone and adhered @ 2" of the dual lock velcro to the top of the clamp to the base of the cam mount, I took the goggle mount apart and ground down the plastic protrusions on it for a smaller mount and then filed a notch between the teeth on both sides of the upper jaw of the clamp so the tywrap would allow the other teeth to bite into the rubber pad that kinda makes the whole thing hold real well.

flexiblade - 25-4-2011 at 06:51 PM

Hope you and Dino were able to hook up - good solid guy for some wind fun. I took (stole) your idea and integrated some parts I had laying around the shop and constructed my new gopro axle clamp - was posting it here because, well, it was your idea. Thanks.



and yes that is a vice grip - and yes it does stick off the axle about 5 inches or so - but it works real quick and tight. still need to add a wrap around for the clamp handles in order to bind them together so they don't come undone with a big bump or jump.

DAKITEZ - 25-4-2011 at 07:00 PM

Blade ... would a couple hose clamps work to replace the vise ?

flexiblade - 25-4-2011 at 07:05 PM

It would kinda defeat the purpose of the clamp, instant release - relocate - reclamp. All in about 5 seconds and it holds like a monster - and no heat give in the welds - totally solid. My old system was comprised of 2 of these with a mounting plate. It was a serious pain to loosen at the end of a session and then push it flat so as to get it to fit nicely in my trunk. Not a problem with the new system.

I don't know if you can see it clearly or not but the vice grip jaws have been ground down slightly and pieces of a larger pipe have been welded to those jaws - very solid rig.

Pipe_Clamp_(300)_std.jpg - 9kB

WIllardTheGrey - 26-4-2011 at 01:36 AM

Is there a purpose to the long bolt sticking out of the side? Looks like it could be painful.:o

rocfighter - 26-4-2011 at 05:13 AM

I figure the bolt is a height ajustment clamping device. For safety I would replace with a set screw. Or much shorter bold. Either way both mounts are great ideas.