Camera Mount

I got one of those waterproof sport video camera's and need some ideas for mounting. I may need to get a helmet and mount it on top. should get some good footage that way. any other ideas?

Fix-mount the cam somewhere on your boat - if you make it a helmet-cam (or similar) I think you will find that the footage is not as good. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I went to a windsurfing shop and asked for an old boom (got one free of charge!), then sawed the actual boom of so what was left was the clamp and 10cm of tubing.
The clamp fits around the spi-pole perfectly, if you dont have a spi-pole you could probably fit it to the boom as well.
Here's a video that I took last year (Youtube ), even though the conditions where quite rough the image is clear and stable.
The only problem was the narrow camera angle but this something I should work out sometime.

Clamp:

BTW, the camera was a GoPro Digital Hero 3

As JW mentioned, the video usually looks better if you fix mount the cam to the boom, mast, spin pole, etc.

I have a GoPro Hero3 and I mostly had it attached to the wings in this one: FXone sailing

Good timin' for the thread as this video virgin is preparing to maybe take some video of the Philippines Hobie Challenge. I could use some good tips.

First, and please don't take this personally, but Tony's video was pretty boring. It didn't show anything -- one angle. Karl's was better cuz there was a person in the shot you could focus your attention on. But even Karl's wasn't all that exciting.

Now I realize I have an even taller task -- trying to get exciting video footage from a Hobie 16! But here are some of my questions...

A helmet cam shot seems ideal -- theoretically. But it sounds like there are stabilization issues. 1) Any way to get around that? 2) Where would you mount a cam on a Hobie 16? 3) What angles would create the most exciting viewing? (And please, try to refrain from driving a 747 through that open-ended question!! Keep the last answer sailing-related. Thank you!)

Thanks for your input and ideas. Hopefully we'll come back with some good footage.

Peter I was wondering if you had the D.V.D from the 16 wolds in South Africa.They had a camera on the bow of Shawn Ferry's boat.It looked like a good shot.Also on some other scenes they had it at the top of the mast.
I would think a head cam while racing would be pretty tough.I am sure most of the time while racing you got your head on a swivle,checking trim, water, copetition.Just my 2 cents.

Well, it looks to me like the really good ones are a bunch of clips that have been edited and strung together with a desktop video editor. Add titling and/or music and your a video producer!
Also looks to me like the waterproof cameras like the GoPro 3 and the ATC2k are the least expensive of the lot, but work great.
Position and attach at least 2 cameras on your boat aiming for the best overall coverage of the tramp, trapped out and looking forward and/or behind the boat. Bring all the clips into the computer video editor and have fun making a movie.
That's about all there is to it. ;-)

That is really sweet!...

I have done some video production and I am sure that a head cam would not produce much useable footage. There would be way to much movement, shake and panning all over the place. It would look very chaotic. Plus do you really want to be wearing a helmet with a cam on it while tacking under a boom? lol.. I wouldn’t expect a camera to last more than a few tacks before you hear... THUNK– followed by a CUR-SPLASH !!!

You will have to create some type of mount. I have seen other youtube's and some show a mounting system off the front beam pointing back. As you can see from the other videos.. outside pointing in towards the skipper is much more interesting than just at the water.

Make sure you have a GOOD lanyard as a backup incase a big wave crashes over the camera and takes it. I was sailing yesterday and my crew had a vid/still camera. He had a light lanyard (wrist strap) that he attached to his spray jacket. He went to grab the camera and it was GONE!!! Luckily it was still on the trampoline but we were in 20+ winds and it surly would have gone swimming during our next tack or hull fly.

All that being said… take your camera out… try different set ups… see what works best and be sure to post a link when you have some killer footage!

I've done a lot of head cam video and it's true that you need to cut away stuff, but you can get some amazing shots now and then. I managed to capture a nice pitch pole with a Hobie 16 a couple of years ago. The camera is ok to mount with a head strap and I had the dv cam inside the dry suit. I added a gps overlay box later on which put speed and course on the video in real time.

/hakan

What about my crew just hand-holding the cam from the wire? Will that work? On the distance legs, we will be on one tack for half an hour or more. So assuming mild seas (2-3'), would hand-holding work?

Hakan's headcam videos are awesome!

http://tinyurl.com/2zbyor

Peter,
I just loaded some videos of H16's onto our Division4 Site. Look at the newly created Youth Tab. Some of these have multiple mounted angle shots. It could serve to stimulate the crainium... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Blah, tired of lurking and finally registered.

Couple o' thoughts:

- The Oregon Scientific cams seem to have problems with vibration or quick movement and pixel-out badly.

- I got a Digital Hero 3 after Karl got one and am looking forward to trying it out this year, though I don't know where I'll mount it yet.

- I'd have to agree that varying placement intercut makes the best video. Besides the viceral headcam position, Karl's wing-mount, the F18's a few years ago had cams mounted facing back from the spin pole which was a neat view. Also, mast-top-down is neat too, though that's more practical for casual sailing since you'd need to dump the boat over to set, start, stop, and retrieve (not to mention that half the time you are looking down the leeward side which is pretty dull). Some of the best footage, unfortunately, is probably from another boat (jetski, etc).

I agree with the mixing-it-up theory - any one point of view gets dull pretty quick.

-Tim
Vancouver, WA

The tough thing as madge pointed out is that you are constantly looking all over the place with a helmet cam. Probably less so with a distance event, and maybe less so if you try not to do it too much.

My video was the first time I used that camera, and almost all of the footage shown was shot in one day. It took an hour of footage to create a 6min video.

Advice on the Hero3: Bring lots of AA batteries. When the 2gb memory card is full the batteries have about had it. I think the 2gb card holds a half hour of footage. These aren't complaints its just they way it is. Better batteries, i.e. lithium ion might help a bit. I love the camera and GoPro has phenomenal customer service. I think I payed $120 for the camera and am completely happy with the quality of footage. The YouTube version isn't as good as it is saved on my HD but it still isn't bad. The quality isn't as good as what you would get out of spending $2k on a good HiDef camera, but I wouldn't take that on a beach cat anyway.

I think a helmet cam could work. When you have the camera on, you just restrict your head movement and/or edit out the parts where you need to look around. But on a distance race a helmet cam could work. I could see it getting in the way on a buoy race, plus you are looking around a lot more. We'll keep the thing tucked away after the start, when we are likely to be looking around where to go. But once we've "made our bed", so to speak, and with long tacks, some opportunities might arise.

Also, the crew can hold it (provided the seas aren't too nasty).

I can imagine, though, no one is going to want to look at video unless it is blowing at least 15k...unless it involves bikinis (and, no, I ain't wearin' no bikini!!!).

Good point about the batteries. We are already bringing a ton for the toys (compass, GPS, VHF, etc.).

Heres some videos to check out:

This one is all Hero3, which I would recommend over the Oregon Scientific. I had it strapped to my wrist, and was specifically holding it still while filming (instead of sailing the boat, and I know that is slow JC).
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid823619038/bclid24526455/bctid663334121

This video has some good bow shots:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid823619038/bclid24526455/bctid376898780

This Tybee video has a bunch of different angles including the mast cam:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid823619038/bclid24526455/bctid14270514

Brian

i have the hero3 too. only took hand held videos so far. after
editing the row video you can get some nice shots.

i got the wrist camera, which i not very user friendly because you need two hands, one hand for the wrist strap and one to hold it up. i would recommend the helmet or motorsports from Hero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jojZDL2y_HU


bernd

Brian ,you kick a**.

WOW!!!! THOSE Vids ROCK!

You can mount the Oregon or similar on the spin pole or a winsurfer mast out the front to cover half the boat then just work out which side most of the action is, so you wont bother to tape your downwind run in a triangle but will tape the screaming reach standing on the stern.
regards

Brian's videos are really well done. If any of the rest of you are sitting out the winter, he does sell them. I got a couple a few years ago. I still enjoy watching them! Great customer service too!

Here's some mast top footage:

http://www.formula16.org/videos/zandvoort1.mov

or

http://www.formula16.org/videos/zandvoort1.wmv

(same video, different format)

Mount it on the front of the mast with a wide angle lens and you get a pretty good view on both tacks.

Here's some spin pole footage:

http://www.formula16.org/videos/mumbles.mov

Again, wide angle lens so you can see the crew on trapeze.

These are both done with a helmet cam wired to a hard drive video recorder (the second is done with a particularly cheap and nasty recorder which got replaced). I keep the recorder in the tramp pocket, which allows you to turn it on and off easily.

Paul