Car camera mounts

[Ari]

I thought rather than derail the car photos thread I'd start another one.

Feeling very inspired by a couple of the photos in there, namely



And



Just wondering what people's thoughts and advice were regarding camera mounts? Obviously sticking £2,000 worth of camera to the outside of a car requires a degree of faith in those suction mounts?

So what do people use?

And would either of these be suitable for an SLR with a decent lens attached?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Delkin-Devices-Double-Knuc...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Delkin-Gecko-Camera-Mount-...

[AndWhyNot]

Neeeooooooowwwwww

This used a Fat Gecko (linked above), as did the rest of the set.

I have 100% faith in the suction cups (it also spent several events attached to drift cars & running the 1/4 mile on a friend's Viper), but the arm tends to vibrate when a heavy camera setup is affixed so much of the picture ends up slightly blurred/ unsharp.

Have a look through my other pics and see if it would bother you.

[londonagent]

I used the fat gecko to do the shot of my car going over Chelsea Bridge, I stuck it onto the back of the car, the first time I did it I also tied the camera strap to the boot in case it came off. I think the two cups are better than one, it easily will take a 550D + a sigma 10-22m lens.

It quite a flexible mount and will attach to the windscreen too, example below:


Warp Factor by iainsr, on Flickr

[paul911]

This is the one I used for the above pics Hague. First pic stuck on the window and second on the boot lid. Very sturdy and didn’t get the feeling it was going to fall off.

[Ari]

They're brilliant photos! Definitely going to get myself one of these.

So we think the two suction cups version rather than one?

[Cledus Snow]

I bought one of these last week. Seems to work quite well. Had it stuck to the top of the windscreen with an old Fuji Bridge camera on. Had it up to about 70ish and seemed to work ok. Will be giving it a proper test on track on Sunday.

[Ari]

Triple suction mounts! Cool.

[TheBlondeFella]

The fact that they only show a compact / bridge camera on the photos should give you a rough indication on how confident they are with the suction power. I wouldn't put my DSLR anywhere near it.

[Ari]

So what would you use?

[AndWhyNot]

TheBlondeFella said:

The fact that they only show a compact / bridge camera on the photos should give you a rough indication on how confident they are with the suction power. I wouldn't put my DSLR anywhere near it.

Which?

[londonagent]

AndWhyNot said:

TheBlondeFella said:

The fact that they only show a compact / bridge camera on the photos should give you a rough indication on how confident they are with the suction power. I wouldn't put my DSLR anywhere near it.

Which?

The ebay one in Cledus's link - only shows a compact camera in the photos.

[Fordo]

worth noting - theres a difference between suction cups, and pump cups.

Suctions cups are like the sort you get for a gopro - they push on, lift a lever, and the cup remains in place due to suction.

Pump cups have a valve and a small pump attached, so you pump out all the air under the cup. - Much, much more secure.
I'd only use those if your using equipment of value.

you can see the little blue pump on the side of this one:




The other day, i was cleaning out my 3 series and came across the towing eye in the boot - I wondered if its possible to get a mount made up that would screw into the bumper, where the towing eye goes. Bit of a hare brained plan perhaps?, but I like to make things

[gazchap]

The link's already been posted, but I always use the pump-cup mounts and superclamps from B-Hague (I think cameragrip.co.uk is their e-commerce site.)

The superclamp I attach to my strut brace at the back (in the Celica) but the pump-cup mount will attach to practically any smooth surface, and is really hard to pull off so it'll definitely stay on in use.

Annoyingly though, suction mounts (and, as far as I've been told, pump-cup mounts) aren't allowed on the majority of track days.

[TheBlondeFella]

Ari said:

So what would you use?

I have a selection of woods suction cups that are rated to hold 70lbs each that or a super clamps

[Ari]

Just had a look on cameragrip for a suction mount, but they don't seem to have a suction mount suitable for an SLR, unless I'm being dense (again).

http://www.cameragrip.co.uk/acatalog/Camcorder_Suc...

The top ones look like they're just for a camcorder or similar, and the rest are massive great tripod things.

Anyone able to point me in the right direction..?