Roll Bar Video Camera Mounts. CHEAP IDEAS ANYONE?

[lfot]

I'm hoping people can post pics of cheap-o roll bar camera mount setups or directions on how they fabricated something together.

GO!

[rattlsnak]

i made one many years ago from a simple right angle bracket i got from home depot for cabinets and used two u bolt muffler clamps to hold it in place. Worked great for a number of years. Cost - $8.00

[TimT]

get this

http://www.ioportracing.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CM&Category_Code=IOPP

You can mount it many locations on the roll bar for different camera angles..

And in the grand scheme of racing or DE, $110 is cheap...

[cameron.arnott]

+1 on I/O Port

[jonbot]

Cheap you say?

[barney911rs]

You don't want a cheap mount for the camera. If you are on the track and hit something, that mount is the only thing keeping the camera from becoming an in car projectile.

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by TimT

get this

http://www.ioportracing.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CM&Category_Code=IOPP

You can mount it many locations on the roll bar for different camera angles..

And in the grand scheme of racing or DE, $110 is cheap...

That is a Bogen 3025 3-d pan-tilt tripod head bolted onto a tube adapter mount. DIY is about $40 for the head and an internet search for an equivalent bolt-on rail-mount.



A real challenge is a sturdy video camera mount in a vehicle without a roll bar/cage.

Sherwood

[Won]

Agree with rattlsnak. 2 U-bolts and a plate/angle, some 1/4"-20 bolt through the plate to mount your camera, and you're done. It's gonna be sturdier than any setup with easy-to-adjust neck joints and if you want more strength you can always get stronger 1/4" bolt

[PatrickB]

+1 on the I/O Port. 2 years in and no probs. The gel part aids in stabilizing the camera too.

[HarryD]

I clamped a chunk of aluminium channel to my roll bar with a U-bolt.

I went to Goodwill and picked up a tripod for $5 and took the pan/tilt head off and bolted it to the the channel as well.

Voila! A camera mount for less than $10.00.

[euro911sc]

These are all great cheap ideas, but the trick is vibration dampening... what did you all do for that?

-Michael

[rattlsnak]

i had a piece of foam/rubber between the camera and the bracket

[PatrickB]

Originally Posted by euro911sc

These are all great cheap ideas, but the trick is vibration dampening... what did you all do for that?

-Michael

Michael~

I/O Port has a gel mount. Works great!

If you're looking for a roll bar camera mount, check this out!
http://www.ioportracing.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CM&Category_Code=IOPP


Derek~
This should be a serious consideration. I can understand not wanting to spend bucks on this.... However,
with no dampening, you are going to beat up your camera! I know you're doing AX, but you still have a bumpy ride there...
I'm convinced the only way I've gotten this much life out of my old camera is because of this mount!
If you have an older, throw away digital camera, don't even worry about it. If you were going to use a really nice camera,
step up and get the better mount!!!

[lfot]

Originally Posted by PatrickB

Derek~
This should be a serious consideration. I can understand not wanting to spend bucks on this.... However,
with no dampening, you are going to beat up your camera! I know you're doing AX, but you still have a bumpy ride there...
I'm convinced the only way I've gotten this much life out of my old camera is because of this mount!
If you have an older, throw away digital camera, don't even worry about it. If you were going to use a really nice camera,
step up and get the better mount!!!

Good point, Patrick. I was just figuring I'd try everything else before doing it the right way.

[midnight911]

hacked beaten up tripod, strapped on to harness bar with muffler clamps. i've posted picks in the past but don't want to that any more. It's really cheap ghetto thing and the look is pathetic...but it works.

[F4 PLT]

Try a google for Rans mounts that is where I got mine

[Peter Zimmermann]

This is an example of footage done with a Sony HandyCam and a purchased mount - hopefully today's cameras are much better!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6db4MjkMbGg

[Mahler9th]

First there was a camera mount that used the Bogen tripod head back in the 80's. I bought one for $80-100. Still have it. Later, Ken started making/selling them at I/O Port, which has become a kind of industry standard.

I made one out of the same Bogen head back in 1993 or so (it was $19 then)... I think it came with the pad/gel material-- cannot remember. I used a piece of steel plate and some muffler clamps. I had two different cars and wanted two mounts. When I went back to one car, I sold the fabbed up mount at an Automotion swap meet for $40. Old timers will remember those... along with corresponding about Porsches on the internet back in 1993 or 4 on the Car and Driver bulletin boards...

Anyway, I still think that is the least expensive way to get a nice adjustable mount, provided that one can figure out what type of dampening material to use. Perhaps one of those gel-type shoe insoles. That'd likely work quite well. Of course, compared to sourcing all of this stuff and fabbing it up may not represent a huge savings, depending on time vs. money equation.

Putting a camcorder on a mount was always dicey after a few years with tape-based machines. There are a lot of threads on newer machines with flash and so on. I recently bought an Aiptek...

I still think the most cost-effective approach is to use a lipstick or security camera driving video into a camcorder (tape or flash) that lives in a box, away from the elements.

[euro911sc]

Wow Pete! That video sucked. Just shows the huge importance of dampening. I have a mini DVD cam and I am not sure how well it fair on track. I'll have to actually mount it and find out on the street

-Michael

[lfot]

Thanks for the input everybody.