mounting a camera on the back of a boat

They were really stuff I had in my office. The bar was a strut from a light box, the tripod head was from a Slik tripod, the bit holding the bar was a photo brolly clamp and the small ball and socket head was from a small tripod.
The weight was from the garage. It was a pin from a massive shackle.

I found some motorised gimbal mounts on t'internet, but they seemed to be over £100 to build. Madness.
 
I went for simplicity; old gimballed compass with camera mounted;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJvHA4wdxXw&list=UUkN9SM8nxAvB7-Qs0AalawA&index=5

result (not very wavy but you can see horizon staying still whilst boat moves);

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XumerBK_v9Q&list=UUkN9SM8nxAvB7-Qs0AalawA&index=2

i stuck a lump of plasticene on the bottom of the camera. movement of the camera was jerky fore and aft, I initially used springs to deaden mov't in the mounting bolts. felt washers were a lot better.

bolted to a bit of wood, that I cable tie to pulpit

think lakey's may be better tho, still need to try mine eg around mull of Kintyre.
 
That was not bad except the horizon was never horizontal. That's down to the initial set-up, which you could do at home, perhaps the camera tripod screw is not in the balance point. The big problem is getting the ballistic/damping ratio right.
Too little damping and it sways around the steady point. Too much and it takes a while to catch up with boat movement. Motorised gyroscopes may be the answer, but that is too complex for me for a bit of boaty fun and there may be some issues with interference of the camera electronics or even humming or hig frequency vibrations. Never tried it.
 
Lakesailor said:
That was not bad except the horizon was never horizontal. That's down to the initial set-up, which you could do at home, perhaps the camera tripod screw is not in the balance point. The big problem is getting the ballistic/damping ratio right.
Too little damping and it sways around the steady point. Too much and it takes a while to catch up with boat movement. Motorised gyroscopes may be the answer, but that is too complex for me for a bit of boaty fun and there may be some issues with interference of the camera electronics or even humming or hig frequency vibrations. Never tried it.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Horizon - move plasticene

Damping, that's the bit that needs trial and error (amount of plasticene...)
 
dslittle said:
Whilst I do not think a radar arch would look good on every boat, I do think that a broom handle would look bad on any boat...
Click to expand...
Filming activity and design elegance do not go hand in hand.

camera-rigs-3-1.jpg
 
With regards to damping a gimballed camera. I have a pelorus on the yacht and it is fitted with a water container below the gimbal. The container is filled with about 1/4 of a litre of water (to the brim) and the top put on. The water container is about 10 cm below the gimbal. The damping effect is remarkable but the weight above it is very small being only a plastic compass card hence more water would be required for a heavier camera. Food for thought.
 
I went down a similar route. However the extra mass to counterbalance a camera results in a pendulum effect so that whilst the platform is slow to react it carries on damping reaction, so if, for instance, the boat rolls again straight away it seems to magnify the displacement of the horizon. The effect on film is a bit sick-making.
I'm sure it's possible to tune it (or use gyroscopes) but it's all a bit too much effort for a bit of fun.

This was the effect. It seems OK on the port tack but when I go about and get in the wind shadow of an island it all goes a bit urgh. (1 minute 15 seconds)

 
Last edited:
Lakesailor said:
.... extra mass to counterbalance a camera results in a pendulum effect .....This was the effect. ....
Click to expand...

It looks worse when there is just a slight pendulum effect and is indeed quite queesy to watch whereas the big pendulum movement is just silly. In steady conditions it actually works well. I wonder if it could be damped with rubber bushings squeezing the pivots? Anyway, nice try.
 
If you watched right to the end you will see a classic mistake from a day-sailor.
At 4 minutes 20 seconds the breeze picks up and when I go to ease the mainsheet I realise I haven't slacked off the coils of the sheet. That's why I'm fiddling out of the camera shot and chuckling....
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
It looks worse when there is just a slight pendulum effect and is indeed quite queesy to watch whereas the big pendulum movement is just silly. In steady conditions it actually works well. I wonder if it could be damped with rubber bushings squeezing the pivots? Anyway, nice try.
Click to expand...

that's what I use the felt washers for

not that I've got any good steady vid yet :-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top