I am planning to video some of my outings next season and I am looking for info about the best places on the cat to mount a camera. I notice many of the youtube videos have the camera mounted somewhere out on the front of the hull. Also looking for how to mount the camera in the different locations ie homemade mounts etc. Thanks.

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Pete Knapp
Schodack landing,NY
Goodall Viper,AHPC Viper,Nacra I20
--

If you get yourself a GoPro Hero you can purchase all kinds of mounts for it. I love mine. The most ideal place for a camera is actually centered facing forward monted behind the rudders. That way you catch all the action and never dunk the camera. The only mount like that I have seen was used by Rick White in his sailing instructional videos. It appeared to be a couple of aluminum pipes mounted inboard of both hulls and angled reward to make a vee. Other options are on a helmet mount and on the hulls in front of the beam normally near the bridle wires. None are ideal and if you mount to the hull you have to realize that the camera is going to take a beating (which is why the GoPro is a good option). Probably best to have a mount that rivets to the hull with some plastic star rivets, I'm not sure a sticky mount will be strong enough and a suction cup mount will definitely come off.

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
--

Dave thanks for the input. I like your idea of mounting behind the rudders. I will put some thought into
building a mount. I will probably use a helmet mount as well as a handle bar mount on the tiller and tiller crossbar. Probably way too much vibration on the tiller, but easy enough to try and see what happens. I
am also thinking either a clamp mount on the lip on the front of the hull or a bridge across the inner and
outer lips. Easy enough to put a safety tether on the bridals. Ever seen one mounted on a boom? The
H18 has a rectangle boom that would be simple to mount to.

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Pete Knapp
Schodack landing,NY
Goodall Viper,AHPC Viper,Nacra I20
--

You really want to try and mount it to a solid platform. Anything that moves (i.e. Rudders and boom) are likely to give you poor results. The headcam can work but you have to be conscious of how much you move your head or people will get seasick. Ideally you want to be able to see the people on the boat and where it is going to get the best perspective. Hence the mount behind the boat. Most often I have seen people mount them to the bows. You don't get the same perception of speed but it is cool to see the crew get thrown about. I will be interested to see what you come up with!

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
--

I put my go pro on the rudder of my opti. i like it the most, i have tried bow, head and rudder. i have all of them on my channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/optikid16030

i typically mount to the spin pole pointing either forward or back
i have a head strap but it is impossible to restrict your movement and only yeilds small usable clips (and requires editing out all the heavy movements)

I have mounted to the tiller x-bar but the camera was to low and only provided closeups of my travler track...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcYdEYkw-NQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UGtFkCsSiY (see the rattle snake we sail over at 4:01)



Edited by MN3 on Dec 29, 2011 - 07:16 AM.

I just recently got a GoPro Hero2 and plan on mounting it somewhere on my P16. At first I was concerned that the 3M sticky mounts they come with wouldn't be enough...however, I mounted one on my surfboard and after taking a beating in 6-8ft waves for a couple of sessions, the camera was exactly where it should be and the adhesive is very stuck very solid, so I trust if on my boat.

I think that, with a fish-eye lens (which comes with the GoPro's) you can mount it closer to the front crossbar than the videos I see on youtube which have them mounted way out on the bow. Also, with it mounted close enough to reach you can control when to record video and when to stop. I think the only thing I might do to insure the adhesive will stick is lightly sand down a very small area of the nonskid texture for the mount to sit on. Also, there are kits that incluce flat surface mounts and slightly curved surface mounts. It's a really cool toy.

Side note, I will probably try the head-mounted / helmet mount angle as well, but the truth is those videos can be hard to keep watching because of all the movement. I think when the cameras are mounted to the boat and all you see it the horizon line and background change around the boat is a great angle.

My friend with a H-20 mounts his on the inboard side of the hull at the bow. He uses a window workers suction cup and has a saefty tie to the bridle. He is on U Tube and I can get you the link and more info if you want.. He is quite pleased with the GPS info and the vid..
Hal

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Hal Liske
Livermore CA
H 16 (6+ 1.. Friends) H 3.2 N 5.2 (2) H 17 (2) H-18
Nacra 5.8 (son's) H 20 (Friends)
It's a Sickness

I Need a A Cat Please
--

Those of you that use the gopro and other digital cameras....what kind of editing software do you like the best? I like the familiar Windows MovieMaker but It will not recognize the mp4 format that these cameras use. Lot of solutions on the net but so far haven't found one that works well.

This doesn't really answer your question but there are quite a few good tools and articles on videohelp.com. I haven't done any editing for my GoPro yet, but that is where I went for tools in the past. Normally you have to convert your video to another format from MP4, I use AVI for the most part. TMPGENC has always been a solid editing software especially for frame by frame splitting and splicing, some versions of it are still free.



Edited by Wolfman on Dec 31, 2011 - 02:08 PM.

--
Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
--

Quote

Those of you that use the GoPro and other digital cameras....what kind of editing software do you like the best?

i use xilisoft video converter (FREE) and windows live movie maker...........between the two of those you can do quite a lot very easily with great results and no expense!!!

Got a Gopro for christmas , bought this clamp to put it on the bowsprit
http://www.flymount.com/. If you get the gopro tripod - mount , you have
access to a world of accesoires ranging from very pro http://www.manfrotto.us/ to
the stuff you can get from the local camera store.
Gopro has a wide range of mounts itself.
For editing my first movie, I used " final cut pro" , and it was a pain. first a had to learn the software,
then it took me 8 hours to edit this 10 min movie.http://youtu.be/EC2ucO6AiJ4. Made some painful
mistakes in it.
So, next time I'll use imovie and try to get some different camera-positions.

Regards, André



Edited by catmodding on Jan 02, 2012 - 12:36 AM.

--
Tornado (80's Reg White)
Prindle 18-2 (sold)
Dart 16 (hired and hooked)
13 mtr steel cutter (sold)
Etap 22, unsinkable sailing pocket cruiser.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands
--

Quote

what kind of editing software do you like the best?

Mac's make video and audio easy. Comes with I-movie built in and is great for easy video editing .

@ MN3 ,
Yes, mac makes it easy with i-movie, final cut pro is for professionals. Problem on a modern mac is you get
i-movie in a package called i-life, You must register and create an mobile-me account before you can use it.
Just want to edit a little video, not become part of a community. So I removed i-life from my mac.
Problem is solved now, got an older version of i-movie

--
Tornado (80's Reg White)
Prindle 18-2 (sold)
Dart 16 (hired and hooked)
13 mtr steel cutter (sold)
Etap 22, unsinkable sailing pocket cruiser.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands
--

i movie comes with every mac. so does iphoto, idvd, etc. (i-now-broke too)

I-lfe upgrades these programs into a more pro / featured versions (and more complex). I have this upgrade.

Mobile-me is not (or was not) needed to register/use i-movie (i dont recall needing it for the I-life upgrade either), and it is free. I have it for my "Find my Iphone" application, i have never had to log into any "community" ...

Final Cut is def high-end, I used Premiere and After Affects in art school so video software is not that tough for me to learn. ... glad you got a solution that works for ya

When I removed i-life from my mac, i-movie i-photo i-dvd were gone, yes i did it myself.
But lets forget it, its off topic and I found a way to edit my videos,
Instead I would like to give my best wishes for 2012 to everyone, from over here in Europe.

Regards, André

--
Tornado (80's Reg White)
Prindle 18-2 (sold)
Dart 16 (hired and hooked)
13 mtr steel cutter (sold)
Etap 22, unsinkable sailing pocket cruiser.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands
--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofkgJB9USPM

This video has the best camera angle I've ever seen. Go right to 2:40

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Nacra 6.0 NA
Ogden Dunes, IN
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I use http://www.avs4you.com/ products for a lot of different video/audio editing/processing. The whole package is about $80 but well worth it. It reads the GOPro video format and allows output in a variety of formats.

lots of places you can mount if you are willing to do lots of edits

have mounted to the rotating mast just under the boom

mid-boom

main beam

and a helmet

go-pro wasn't available so got a pentax optio,

but now canon, olympus and fuji also make waterproof "sports" digicams

the big advantage of the gopro is the wide angle lens, but that also limits some possible viewing positions like the top of the mast looking down

personally i think lots of short edits and a clip that is under a song long is the only way to go

a 5min clip from the end of the spin pole with clicking water is a bit .......

so imho you need to go out and shoot about an hour of footage over a season from lots of positions and then trim your clips down to a few seconds of fresh action each

then use really easy editing software to stitch them all together

i tried and failed a couple of times to make anything with windows moviemaker

but imovie on a macbook was easy

after that it was possible to go back to moviemaker and make something ok but i miss the effects that come bundled with imovie

http://vimeo.com/5075989

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j55lMDEBmP8

no sailing now as

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OKsYJmX3so



Edited by erice on Jan 02, 2012 - 04:09 PM.

Those are some good vids and beautiful lakes

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Nacra 6.0 NA
Ogden Dunes, IN
--

I've had a Go Pro for a while now. It's a lot of fun and I can't wait to get it mounted on the Prindle. Check out this video of the camera mounted on an acrobatic kite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie4_8XHdOEc&feature=youtu.be

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Machineman
"El Terrible"
Prindle 16 ('82)
St. Louis (S. IL)
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Machineman, met a guy over at Creve Coeur Lake, goes by the name "creative" here on this website, he's designed and installed a frame to carry his GoPro on his Hobie Wave, check out a few of his posts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK4rt1rZPLI

--
TurboHobo
H14T
H16
P18
G-Cat 5.0
P16
--

For Editing: I have an older mac laptop which came with iMovie 08. Macs are incredibly user-friendly, after about an hour and a few beers I was making decent edits with music and clip effects.

I do find that when browsing youtube and vimeo, it helps keep my attention when users edit out all of the boring stuff, keep it to flying a hull and other fun things.

Thanks to everyone for sharing video links!

--
Redondo Beach, CA
'80 Prindle 16.
(Got it for free!)
--

Re-visting this topic, I finally did a very simple and practical mount for my gopro. The package I bought came with a strap, maybe 18" long, with the GoPro mount base in the middle, it is intended for strapping across the top of a bike helmet, however, I just strapped it around the aft end of my boom, leaving the camera upside down, out of the way of anything functionally necessary.

For added insurance, I tied a small leash to the boom incase the strap came undone.

With the wide-angled gopro, it was basically able to capture everything in plain sight looking forward, for a better idea of what I mean, I made a very rough-cut 2:00 min video:

Here is the link https://vimeo.com/44013579

I'm hoping to get stronger winds and more exciting footage this summer. That day was very light coastal wind, just got a hull up a few seconds with the help of going over swells. But it made for a really comfortable trapeze session, I could have probably taken a nap out there.

--
Redondo Beach, CA
'80 Prindle 16.
(Got it for free!)
--

Cool video! I like that vantage point. Kinda neat to see your mainsheet going through the blocks.

I like the idea of a camera attached to the boom because it'll always point back toward the center of the boat, no matter how you set your sails. Thanks for sharing this. I need to play with it!

Tom

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Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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I've tried a variety.

Here is one with the camera mounted on the inside bow with the suction cup mount:
http://youtu.be/izZyraV6sHI
Gives good view of hull flying and both the crew.

Here is the camera mounted on the tiller cross-beam:
http://youtu.be/J74OO8o0wso
Good forward view of any race action. Makes you feel like you are on the boat. But you can't see the hulls in the air and the crew view is reduced on one side.

I've been wanting to try a boom mounted view so that the action will always be focused on the center of the boat like mentioned above. But no hull flying and the crew is really cut off.

Maybe extend a pole from the boom so that the camera can get more of the boat and crew?

--
Uwe
94 Prindle 19 - "überKat"
DFW, TX
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How long a pole do you figure? Are you talking inches or feet?

I'm interested in playing with something along these lines. I've got the better part of a foot of boom that extends past my main, so lots of room to clamp to with any number of arrangements. The boom extends well past the rear cross-beam, so no danger of getting poked by a sizable camera mount, even if it's a couple of feet long.

Just trying to figure out what works.

Tom

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Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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