A HomeMade Tower Camera Mount?

crazyjd525 · Newbie Joined: 25 May 2004 Posts: 36 City: belton

Has anyone came up with any good home made Tower Camera Mounts? If so please post pictures!

DJew Jake · Posted: May 27, 2004 2:18 pm Post subject:

If your tlking about having a mount that bolts to the swivel and follows the rope then take the swivel bolt out, replace it with a a peice of threaded pipe and screw the cam onto the the other end on the ripod mount, then tape a closehanger to part of the camera and bend it aorund the rope.

wakeboardr2000 · Outlaw Joined: 16 Jul 2003 Posts: 207 City: Lake Anna, Va

that sounds like a good idea. u got any pics of something like that??

hitit · Outlaw Joined: 26 Aug 2003 Posts: 178 City: Nor-Cal

Just buy the one in Overtons. The time and money you send trying to make one your self wont be worth it.

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac

hitit, if he wants to make a camera mount give advice pertaining to the project. It's ridiculous to tell this guy it would be a waste of time and money when he will most likely save money and probably enjoy building this mount.

J_DOGG · Posted: May 28, 2004 8:05 am Post subject:

Nor*Cal, I understand what you are sayn', why be negative BUT he's right!

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac

J_DOGG, if the guy wants a project let him have a project and don't rain on his parade.

If I wanted to I could make a better tower camera mount than what is found in overtons. I'd rather have someone operating the camera by hand but if he wants to make one empower the guy.

For some people knowing you can make it better than the retail version makes the process enjoyable.

J_DOGG · Posted: May 28, 2004 8:29 am Post subject:

I never said don't do it, projects are great.
BUT, unless you have access to a slew of different fabrication tools it's very counter productive. If he doesn't do the R&D he could get 75% done and realize he can't make that one last part to finish it.

I guarantee he will not save money and produce a better product. He may be able produce an inferior product and save money but then that would be a waste of time in my book.

crazyjd525 · Newbie Joined: 25 May 2004 Posts: 36 City: belton

"Dang!" You guys are getting riled up over a camera mount! Thats Great! Yea the mount aframer created sounds good! Yea I'm about to just get the Air Tracker system, I would rather always have some one filming from the back but everybody complains about it and a lot of times when I go the flagger sucks at filming. What is the best waterproof camera housing? I saw the forum on the Epic, that looks like a good system. Thanks Guys!

J_DOGG · Posted: May 28, 2004 8:38 am Post subject:

We are not getting riled up at all.....it's called a discussion and we comparing our opinions on the subject...

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac

There isn't much to that. Looks like some plate steel, u-bolts, and rod. There's probably some sort of bearing and tensioning thing up near the top. We're not talking about anything complicated or expensive. This mount cost $169 from overtons.

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac

DCdave56 · Posted: May 28, 2004 10:27 am Post subject:

I just lost two minutes of my life I can never get back.

crazyjd525 · Newbie Joined: 25 May 2004 Posts: 36 City: belton

I didn't mean you guys are getting mad at eachother or anything. I understand that it is good to discuss and compare ideas. I guess I just meant that I'm glad that guys on this forum are intersted in a little bit of everything! This is Great!

salmon_tacos · Posted: May 28, 2004 11:34 am Post subject:

Hey,

I just thought of an idea that I think would vastly improve the camera mount. I'd patent it but I'm not going to because the market is too small and it's not worth my trouble so anyway....

The problems with these camera mounts is that their motion trails the motion of the rider a bit and that they always try to keep the rider centered. When you shoot by hand, on the other hand, you let the rider move toward the outside of the frame on the cut out. It looks much better this way. My idea wouldn't get rid of the motion lag but it would make the rider move back and forth in the frame.

So, here's what you do:

Instead of one axis for the camera platform and the camera arm, you make two axes. The one for the control arm should be behind the one for the camera platform. Then attach the arm to the platform behind both axes to create a third "moving" axis. The arcs will not line up so you'll have to slot either the platform or the arm but that's no big deal.

The end result will be a camera mount where the camera pans through a smaller arc than the arm (rope). Ideally, the distance between the camera and platform pivots would be adjustable so the arc differential could be adjusted.

If this is unclear, let me know and I'll make a picture.

BTW, the same effect could be accomplished with gears but I thought that would be a little complicated. If I were making a commercial version of this, however, I might consider gears.

salmon_tacos · Posted: May 28, 2004 1:06 pm Post subject:

Please excuse the quality of the picture; I wasn't feeling anal enough to line stuff up, include all the little washers, etc. Laughing

BTW, those disks in between the camera platform and the main plate are supposed to represent some kind of clutch disks to dampen the movement of the mount.

rybassett17 · Addict Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 562 City: Cadillac

nice drawing Wink

crazyjd525 · Newbie Joined: 25 May 2004 Posts: 36 City: belton

Thats great salmon tacos! I'm gonna go to the home depot and start gathering materials soon! Thanks for all the great discussion guys! Razz

dyonisus · Posted: May 30, 2004 4:42 pm Post subject:

I too would prefer the footage by hand, but that hook up looks sweet...

andrandre · Soul Rider Joined: 13 Jan 2004 Posts: 258 City: Toronto

Yo the sickest thing to do is replace your rearview mirros on your boat with a 7.2 inch lcd monitor, you can get them on ebay for 100 bucks and set up a sick system so the rider can do a good job driving while catching some sick tricks, cause i hate driving and missing good tricks cause i have to pay attention to where im going

3UPPPrInCeSS · Newbie Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 25 City: London

Hyperlite I know what youre saying, I always miss the sickest stuff when I have to drive..3UPP needs to invest!

crazyjd525 · Newbie Joined: 25 May 2004 Posts: 36 City: belton

Unless you have a guy that likes to film to get great footage to make a video or something, its hard to get someone to film b/c they feel like they are missing the action too b/c they are looking through a small view finder. They should start making towers with built in state of the art camera mounts!!!!! Idea

John Jared · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 726 City: Round Lake, IL

salmon_tacos · Posted: May 31, 2004 8:24 am Post subject:

John Jared,

There is one axis in the front for the camera platform and one in the rear for the arm. The rear "finger" of the arm then inserts into the slot on the camera platform. This mechanism would definitely work. I even made a tiny "prototype" out of some thick paper and staples at work.

BTW, I noticed that in my drawing the blocks on the side would excessively limit the motion of the arm. Moving both pivots forward would fix that.

Also, if anyone does decide to use my idea to improve a commercial product, just send me one and we'll call it even. Smile

John Jared · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 726 City: Round Lake, IL

HaveNewACL · Outlaw Joined: 21 Dec 2003 Posts: 207 City: Richland

just tie it to the tower. It usually sucks though unless the water is glass because it vibrates like hell in any sort of waves. even small ones. we just use a tripod in the bottom in the boat. just make sure its sucure so it dosent fall down you u turn around for the pick up

bigwake · Newbie Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 3

I have a brand new Air Trakker for sale if you are interested.

crazyjd525 · Newbie Joined: 25 May 2004 Posts: 36 City: belton

does it suck? HOw much?

Jeff206 · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 27 May 2004 Posts: 1002

salmon_tacos, that's a pretty cool design, I reckon I'd build one of those if I had a boat with a tower or a video camera... Laughing

excellent post though, thanks for sharing

edit:
crap, sorry, didn't realize this was old...

Josh R · Posted: Apr 13, 2005 4:15 am Post subject:

Wow... Old post...

J_DOGG · Posted: Apr 13, 2005 8:25 am Post subject:

I was sayn the same thing...

Buergday · Guest

I built one. It looks like crap but it works. Built it out of an old lazy susan, some bolts, spray paint and rubber tubing. Like I said, it's hella ghetto looking, but I only put it on the tower when I'm using it. This picture was taken before I re-did the swivel arm (it was getting in the way of the camera lens). The new arm looks alot like the one posted above. Total investment: less than $20 (and it looks like it cost about that) Laughing

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

Here is one that I made a few years ago. Originally there was a "U" shaped bracket that bolted to the tower. I took it off and mounted a small rectangular plate (covered with gator grip) in it's place. The rectangle plate then bolted onto the top of the swivel knob of my tower (the one that you would attach your rope to). There was already a threaded hole on the swivel knob.

The top portion of the mount is from a standard camera tripod. It mounts to the rectangle plate and the the camera mounts to it. Originally the tripod had a handle type rod coming out of it. I removed the handle rod and replaced it with a steel rod that I heated and bent, so it can be used as a guide for the rope.

This set up works great. It tracks very smooth. Total investment was under $30. You can find a tri-pod at most any store such as Wal-Mart for $19.99. Get a few spare parts form Home Depot and you are set.

Scott M · Criminal Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Posts: 75 City: Acton, ME

do they work well enough to get one...it seems easier to just have someone tape you

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

For training purposes, I think they work great. I just set the lens at a wide enough angle to catch everything. That way I can see what I need to work on. If you are wanting to shoot some footage to make your own videos, then I think having someone hand film you would probably work best.