Dave's Camera Mount

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Postby uscgairdale » Sat Aug 02, 2008 3:57 pm

Here's how I get my video footage. I built this camera mount back when I was flying a Pterodactyl, er I mean a Scare-a-dactyl. Anyway, it's worked well on several machines with different cameras too. It's not pretty, but hey, it's not like you can see it in the footage.

It's basically a plate that has a post mounted to it with some 1" angle. At the other end of the post (1" square tube) is an extruded aluminume bracket that was a spare part to the Pterodactyl. It's nice because it has a curved surface that mounts nicely to 1" or 1 3/4" tubing. That bracket is mounted to the airframe with a hose clamp. The key to this mount are the pieces inside the square tube that allow you to really tighten down on the hardware without squishing the tube. The dangling string is a backup incase the whole camera were to come off of the mount...the last thing I need is the wife mad at me for losing our camera!

In this shot it's set up for mounting to the top of a tube like a wing strut. I can also hang it below a tube by moving the square tube to the otherside of the angle so that there is room for the camera next to it. Confused yet?...me too.

Dave
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Postby uscgairdale » Sat Aug 02, 2008 4:05 pm

The camera physically mounts to the plate with it's existing attach points. The plate just needed a 1/4" hole and a "small post". This is the same type of attachment that is on a tripod.

Dave
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Postby uscgairdale » Sat Aug 02, 2008 4:08 pm

Here's a close up how I crush proofed the square tube. Both ends of it have these so that the camera angle can be adjusted. It's just 3/4" round stock that has a 1/4" hole through the center.

If you crush that then I never want to shake your hand!

Dave
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Postby uscgairdale » Sat Aug 02, 2008 4:12 pm

The last part to secure the camera is part of bolt that threads into a nutsert in the bottom of the camera. I've lost several of these over the years...I should paint the damn thing bright pink.

Dave
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Postby uscgairdale » Sat Aug 02, 2008 4:20 pm

A few more thoughts:

My camera is a Panasonic mini DV camcorder, model no. PV-DV52D. It's about 5 years old, but works just fine. If I were going to get another one I would opt for one that stores the media on some sort of storage device instead of messing with tapes. Someday I'll break down and get one of those small lipstick style camera systems and mount the thing to my helmet. That would also be easier to mount to tubing.....all you would need is some Adel clamps.

I use some pressure sensative rubber tape to protect my tubing from scratches and the like. It also helps to reduce some of the vibes from the airframe and comes right off when I need to remove it. Any sort of thin rubber material would do the same thing.

Being able to really tighten down on the square tube is what really makes for a solid mount and thus a stable picture.

I'm sure that there are other ways of mounting a video camera. This just happens to be how I do it.

Dave
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Postby Shannon » Mon Aug 04, 2008 7:23 pm

Here's an interesting Cam mount for a reasonable price. http://www.fourtreks.com/modular_camcor ... t_kit.html
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