For the past few years I've been just mounting a little point and shoot camera on the rear railing for sailing videos but the results are fairly ho-hum for the most part. so with some inspiration from a photo @Bill19233 posted in the photo contest thread:
I've also been working on a camera mount to extend off the stern a few feet for more inclusive photos.
I recently picked up a Drift Ghost XL action camera because it's waterproof, and can be controlled via a smartphone app, which makes it feasible to get the camera further away from the subject. I've also had a Hohem 3 axis gimble gathering dust for a few years, but it's battery life is only about 2 hours, compared to the Drift cameras 7-8 hours, plus the Drift camera shape really doesn't adapt to the Hohem gimble well anyway. So it boiled down to spending big dollars for a different gimble, finding a mechanical gimble that was suited to my needs, or just building my own. naturally I took door number three
.
It's still very much a work in progress, but I now have the main (single axis) gimble and camera mount built:
I designed in some friction washers under spring tension to dampen gimble motion, but just in case, I've also ordered a small (~4") shock absorber intended for 1:10 scale RC cars that should be easily adaptable if needed. As shown above, the camera is also manually adjustable in pan by about 110* total, to adjust for where the support arm is positioned. directly to the rear, or off to either side of the boat.
I've started off with the (3/4" emt) pole extending the camera out almost 5' beyond the rear rail, but I may have to shorten that some due to flex in the rear railing assembly, and the extension pole itself, causing some camera bounce. but I figured it would be easier to shorten it than lengthen. turns out that was good planning. I'd like to come up with a method to break the pole at least in two pieces for storage also, so that may happen at the same time it gets shortened. lots of winter time left to work out the details, but I'm happy with the progress so far.
I've also been working on a camera mount to extend off the stern a few feet for more inclusive photos.
I recently picked up a Drift Ghost XL action camera because it's waterproof, and can be controlled via a smartphone app, which makes it feasible to get the camera further away from the subject. I've also had a Hohem 3 axis gimble gathering dust for a few years, but it's battery life is only about 2 hours, compared to the Drift cameras 7-8 hours, plus the Drift camera shape really doesn't adapt to the Hohem gimble well anyway. So it boiled down to spending big dollars for a different gimble, finding a mechanical gimble that was suited to my needs, or just building my own. naturally I took door number three
.It's still very much a work in progress, but I now have the main (single axis) gimble and camera mount built:
I designed in some friction washers under spring tension to dampen gimble motion, but just in case, I've also ordered a small (~4") shock absorber intended for 1:10 scale RC cars that should be easily adaptable if needed. As shown above, the camera is also manually adjustable in pan by about 110* total, to adjust for where the support arm is positioned. directly to the rear, or off to either side of the boat.
I've started off with the (3/4" emt) pole extending the camera out almost 5' beyond the rear rail, but I may have to shorten that some due to flex in the rear railing assembly, and the extension pole itself, causing some camera bounce. but I figured it would be easier to shorten it than lengthen. turns out that was good planning
. I'd like to come up with a method to break the pole at least in two pieces for storage also, so that may happen at the same time it gets shortened. lots of winter time left to work out the details, but I'm happy with the progress so far.
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