Camera mount ideas

Wide angles lens gives you more flexibility than you think. With our GoPro, we've had good luck either just aft of the bridle on the spin pole (under the jib), or on a small sprit extended out in front of the spin tack. Both locations give you a view of crew and boat on both tacks.

You would think that foreground items like the mast (or spin tack block) would dominate the view, but with the wide angle, they kinda disappear.

Edit - forgot the last sentence in your original post about being accessible while sailing. While the sprit idea is out, with a bit of dexterity, I think the under-jib position is doable.

Spin pole is always a nice shot, but you'll need a 'roll bar' mount as gopro calls them. I've mounted to the boom many times, it's pretty steady once you're going. I'd like to do an extension off of the spin pole or back of the boom but am not sure what/how to mount it.

I always tie the camera off to something substantial, but I've gone through two already. I have a foam float that's glued to the back door of my new one. Every time I lose one GoPro comes out with another one, I'm up to the Hero 3 now!

Is there a remote control available? Would be nice to be able to start/stop when it's out on the spin pole.

Another really great location is the top of the mast. You can only see one side of the boat, but it's a unique angle that can give outstanding shots.

Mike

Mike

I've got one with mine. Works well, just strap it to my pfd

The Drift has a remote. The new one is waterproof, not sure about mine so it gets a ziplock. I'll probably try the boom as I'd like to see forward in the vid. I think that's more natural and interesting.Let's you see what the sailors are reacting to. Hope to try things out at the Steeplechase.

p.s. Mac, I got one of those Ipod players like yours. Love it, probably won't use it while racing though.

We don't take it racing anymore. Kept trying to change the song during the race haha.

Here's a short clip I took with the camera mounted on the boom..

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zV4lwTy1cgk

Yep,Changin' songs is the only complaint I have about it.

Vid is blocked as private.

Eric (Isotope) posted that footage of the mark rounding scenario a while back; it appeared that the camera was mounted to the crossbar or tiller arm. Pretty good vantage point for what lies ahead.

Mike

Lets try this

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf2MyyFYbaw

Thought about that, Except it moves everytime you steer.The boom would be more static and drier (even though it's in a wp housing). Still an option though.

Mac, still private.

I have two cameras. One I mount on the compression bar (a rod between the bows), just off center looking back. The other I mount on the port rudder arm, close to the pivot point (just above the gudgeons) looking forward.

I don't wiggle the tiller a lot, so the rear camera gets a reasonably steady view. I think it's steadier than boom-mounting would be. I chose the port side so that it gets a good shot of the marks when rounding to port. The field-of-view is wide enough that it pretty much gets me in frame trapped out on either side. One advantage of mounting to the rudder arm is that a little weather helm keeps the camera pointed towards the high side a bit, which helps keep me in the picture. The downside is that the camera looks off-boat when tacking or gybing.

I am planning to mount a bar between the rudder arms near the piviots, so I can move the camera to the center of the boat. I'm also working on a gimbaled mount, so the horizon will stay level when flying a hull.

Although both can be accessed, neither camera is within easy reach on the water, so I generally turn them on at the beach and just let them record all day.

When I sail the Tanzer 16 (a monohull), I only mount one camera (to the tiller). It is easy to reach there, so I turn it off between races.

The newer model of my camera has a waterproof remote control. If I had that, It would be easy to start and stop recording.

I hope that helps,
Eric

I'm a little concerned w/ the camera being that low to the water, the lens would be nothing but moving water droplets. I'll be racing an f-18 in the ocean with a reasonable assumption of a strong breeze. I know it wouldn't have worked on my N-20.

I make my mounts out of electrical conduit, I just cut tabs in the end heat it up and shape it to the pole, then either duct tape or tec screw it on. I've never heard of the Drift before it looks like what I would want, how long does the battery last? Can you connect it to the extra battery pack while sailing?

I haven't had a chance to use mine enough to answer your questions, but the new Drift Ghost looks like the perfect boat cam. I need a housing for mine but the ghost is waterproof to 3 meters with a waterproof remote and preview/review screen, zoom and indexable lens. Rev Petey that does alot of the Sailing Anarchy vids and a lot of other stuff, sold me on it.
http://driftinnovation.com/ghost-uk/
http://driftinnovation.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=14a03cd7e83170f115e4c621e&id=f7de5d351d

Got a broken tiller extension laying around? Sure you do. Tape that to the boom, spin pole, brown eye, whatever, and clamp the camera on that.

I'd like to see a tripod of some sort, I guess it'd be a quadpod to work, coming off the transoms so the camera was up and behind the boat a fair bit so you can see the whole tramp, and just enough so the heads were still in the frame when trapped out. But something that's really tied in hard to the boat so you get a good feel for how it's going through the water.

You certainly have some good points on why a tiller-mount might not work when it's windy, but I think it's a great training aid for light air work, when moving the tiller is like pumping the brakes. It might be nice to be able to go back and see just how steady your hands are.

Mike

I never saw what the rig looked like, but Rick White has some neat shots in several of his videos that appear to use some sort of rigging off the stern of the boat to have the camera looking at the sailors and forward. I think that was the best angle I've seen to date. Some old battens and duct tape should do the trick.

By all means, mount a camera wherever you're comfortable with it. I rarely go out in winds over 15 kts, or in big waves. deck-height mounting might not work well in high wind or surf.

I have several videos, however, where spray off a bow hits the camera. It gives quite a sense of speed. I also have a near-capsize where the camera spent some time under water. That wasn't my best moment, but it's interesting to watch.

Treating the housing lens with rain-x helps shed water droplets, so they don't interfere with the picture.

Regards,
Eric

On top of the dagger board is NOT a good place!!! Waiting for the right type of storm to take all the water out of our river and possible retrieve it if it hasn't settled to far into the muck....

Ixnay on the behind the tramp thing. I mounted one on a post to the rudder pintles and it worked great until JC whacked it with the ugly stick during a gybe at Mug Race. Then all I saw was brown water for 30 minutes.

If you are going to do a forward looking shot, you probably need to mount the camera to an extension rod about 3 feet behind the rear beam. If it's beefy enough it won't bounce too badly. Now, if you can get it to move to the windward side, you're all set. Perhaps some linkage to the traveler?

And it has to be high enough off the deck so you don't just see the backside of the driver... But maybe those wide-lens models have solved that?

Anyone tried the windward shroud about head high (standing on deck) looking forward? Sure it would bounce around on the opposite tack and be covered by the spin, but at least you'd have a

good side

to work with?

1 on end of Spin Pole, 1 on the tiller arm.

I like the tiller arm one.

who schooled you on USA 1 with the blue spinnaker?

That was Brett and JC on the Marstrom 20.

Thanks Tad,
That helped.
I like the tiller angle but the movement and water was what I expected. The Drift has a pretty wide angle I think I'll probably try the boom and see how it works.
What did you use for editing? I'd be interested to hear from non mac folks about this.

Windows Live Moviemaker. It's free and pretty darn good / easy to use. You can upload to Youtube straight from the software too.

I used PowerDirector for some videos in the past, simple to use and had plenty of features for amateur videos:
http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector/introduction_en_EU.html

Mounting positions are personal, I like filming from the spin pole and using a headstrap.

most head mounted cams are hard to watch - you don't realize how much you look around when sailing.

I wonder if a shoulder mounted cam might provide an interesting angle? It would get you coming and going on port vs. starboard.

I think I already have that in a bundle that came with the computer. Sounds good. I like easy.

Gopro has a chest mount, that might work:

There was an F18 teamrace event at my club that used heavyduty suction cups with some tubes to keep the camera centered behind the boat, it makes for a nice vantage point: