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Shooting some surf video- Need some ideas on camera mounting

PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:10 pm
by McFlyfi
Okay, first post. I've been lurking here for a few weeks. Just got back into surfing after a 6 or 7 year break (bum shoulders). Re entered as a longboarder (9' Cobalt).

I surf all around So Cal, mostly northern LA County/Ventura COunty (Leo Carrillo, County Line, C Street, Overheads, etc) with the occasional jaunt to San Diego.

I enjoy video taping my adventures, which mostly consists of mtn biking, flyfishing, and backpacking, with a little skiing/snowboarding thrown in.
I have a helmet cam setup that is waterproof, and, am looking to shoot a bunch of surf footage.

The helmet cam setup consists of (you guessed it!) a helmet cam lens attached to a camcorder. I have a waterproof box to hold the camcorder for water adventures. For most of the shots, I will be wearing a backpack/lumbar pack with the camcorder in it, and various other mounts on my body to capture "first person" shots.

Now, here is where I need a little input. I want to capture a few shots of me (or my buddies) where the camera is mounted on the nose of the board, looking back at me. The helmet cam must also be attached to the box, I can't wear the camcorder in the backpack, there is not enough cabling. I'm not worried about the helmet cam attachment to the box, but the box/surfboard interface.

I was thinking of attaching it to the deck of my board by a type of "velcro" that is very stout- "tested to 200 mph" the manufactureres claim. I want to somehow reinforce that "velcro" with...something. We all know how powerfull the waves can be, even though I will be shooting in 4ft or less. The last thing I want to do is have the box/camera ripped from the deck, never to be seen again. Obviously, any kind of hole in the board is NOT going to happen, straps don't seem like they would do anything except add too much drag.

Anybody?

PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:47 pm
by RJD
Elephant tape (or duct tape at a push).

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 4:12 pm
by PapaW
Yeah ducktape it man!

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 4:32 pm
by Dr Rev
I got this mount for my motorbike, works quite well

Image

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:46 pm
by BrownDogWilson
I have done a lot of motocross helmet cam stuff,,,,I think if you put the camera on the board it is going to be to bumpy to see clearly,,the head tends to stay nice and still for a better view,,,just my 2 cents..

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:25 pm
by tomcat360
They did a shot like that in Sprout, looked good. You can get a great shot, but you can't get a ton of footage like that because it's pretty much the same thing, considering you can't really see the wave unless you have a wide angle. But it's good to shoot a nice little trip to the nose and some cross stepping.

Thinking about it now a wide angle might be pretty sweet.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 4:17 am
by McFlyfi
Thanks for the input. I think the duct tape will work.

The helmet cam lens is indeed a fairly wide angle lens, and I will be mounting it on an 18" flexible mount, so I believe I should be able to get board/surfer/wave all in the shot.

BDW- because the board/camera/surfer are all "one", the shot should come out pretty smooth. Think of those car commercials where the camera truck and the car are attached- everything else is blurry/bumpy, but not anything the camera is attached to. At least that is what I'm banking on.

I'm going to give it a go next weekend, you'll be the first to see it!

PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:06 pm
by tomcat360
The one in Sprout was really smooth, I also don't really know how they did the setup. I think somewhere they said how they did it, I don't remember.

It's worth watching, also the movie is great, so worth a watch fo' sho'