Self levelling camera mount

flaming

flaming

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As I've now bought a new little camera that I can operate from my phone I'm planning on mounting it out of normal reach, and so I figured that having it self levelling would be a nice thing to have.

I recall this being mentioned a while back, with only really DIY or horrendously expensive options being available.

Does anyone know of any reasonably priced (i.e less than £50) options available? The only ones I can see are either about £300 or are powered gyroscopes, which don't look very marine friendly.

Or any good plans for a DIY option?
 
They do tend to be very expensive but it all depends on what you want. Having a camera fitted to your boat on a self leveling mount will make the camera steady with regards to the horizon but often that is not what you want. If you want activity on the boat to be in picture then this will make the boat move all over the place. Often it is best simply fixed as then the camera will be steady relative to the boat. The horizon will move instead. It depends what you want to film. There does not seem to be a good alternative to the expensive jobs or pretty expensive diy jobs. You could mount some kind of dampened gimble but this would not be anywhere as steady as the gyro stuff and would require some experimentation to avoid getting it to a resonance with the movement of the boat.

You can maybe steal the tech off a second hand drone. Many of them have the gyro stabalisers. Often this bit is intact in a broken drone with only the motor mounts damaged. Alternatively mount the camera on a helmet and take advantage of your own natural gyro!
 
Thanks.

The task really is as a "protest cam". The last 2 protests I've been in came down to if I had turned towards the other boat or not. A camera on the back of our boat recording helm movements would have saved hours of time in the room! To that end a fixed is good enough, and we have occasionally run that sort of camera, but I was thinking that if it was now relatively easy to self level then it might make the footage a little more interesting, especially if we go and have a whoopsie!
 
flaming said:
Thanks.

The task really is as a "protest cam". The last 2 protests I've been in came down to if I had turned towards the other boat or not. A camera on the back of our boat recording helm movements would have saved hours of time in the room! To that end a fixed is good enough, and we have occasionally run that sort of camera, but I was thinking that if it was now relatively easy to self level then it might make the footage a little more interesting, especially if we go and have a whoopsie!
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I think since you are looking for information relative to your boat then the camera should be fixed. Otherwise it will be very hard to determine what your boat is doing as when you heel the camera will level and make the boat look like it is turning one way and then the next. A self leveling camera would be good for seeing what the other boats are up to but should then be mounted so as to have minimal amounts of your boat in shot otherwise you will get seasick looking at the footage. Self leveling is great when you want to take shots of stuff off your boat such as wildlife although a lot can be done in post production now. If your boat makes up most of the shot you can imagine what it would look like if you hold a camera and turn it 45 degrees one way and then the other.

Stick a gopro on your head if you want that kind of action type shot with a 'feel' for what is happening but very little use for information.
 
Rather than a GoPro mounted on the head can I suggest a shoulder mount which would not be susceptible to movement of the wearer's head and provide a more stabilised view.
 
you might have a word with Lakesailor. He had lots of nice meccano-esque experiments and the final device was pretty good.

What about mounting it about 3 metres up the backstay, pointing down, with a weight for damping and a friction clamp ?


And a great big notice on the side of the boat saying "Everything you do will be taken down on video and turned into evidence against you". Win a couple of protests with it and no-one will want to tangle with you, anyway :). Though really you need a 360 degree camera as used on the RTW boats, on a pole on the stern.

http://www.dudeiwantthat.com/gear/cameras/bublcam-360-degree-camera.asp
 
Google `Picavet camera mount`...and rediscover 19th century technology........then make one yourself
 
I bought a " Ram Mount " for Harley Davidson handlebars.
HD bars are 1 inch diameter, same as the rails on most boats.
It consists of a ball that screws into the camera's mounting hole, another that clips to the rail-or handlebars in the case of the HD-and a double clamp that fits to both balls and allow a wide range of articulation.
It is really good.
 
King Penguin said:
I used a gimballed cup holder with a tin of beans in to give it more weight and a GoPro moubt stuck on the bottom, the detachable fitting was fixed to my boat hook and hey presto.....a gimballed mount on a 2m arm.

Works a treat too, now in 2nd year of operation :)

https://www.mailspeedmarine.com/gimballed-mug-holder.html?499=13672&gclid=CM_bupmF880CFdW4Gwode7cJOw
Click to expand...

Ah, now that's an idea! Does it bounce around much? Have you got an example of the footage you'd be willing to share?
 
flaming said:
Ah, now that's an idea! Does it bounce around much? Have you got an example of the footage you'd be willing to share?
Click to expand...

Sadly, it is my son's GoPro and I've nothing on-line to show you.

I can say it is good for keeping horizons level as the boat heels over in gusts, which is nice. The fixing bracket that comes with it that I screwed onto the end of the boathook works from a wide range of angles so if it is windy and blowing the unit about a bit you can turn the boathook and use it as a brace yet still maintain level horizons.

Also, having it at the end of the boathook enables high level sail and deck shots to wave skimming low level shots with a level horizon.......as you can see I'm a little obsessed with getting horizons level!

I'm back on my boat next week and I'll take a picture of the other bracket I've made (the cup comes with two attachment fittings) enabling the unit to be hosted up the mast on a spare halyard, thus enabling almost aerial footage to be obtained with yes, wait for it.....level horizons :)

Finally, we always have a safety line attached to the GoPro in case of mishap or unit failure and when on deck messing around with it out at sea on passage we are generally harnessed on.......happy sailing.....
 
From a film-making point of view video from a gimballed camera is odd and tends to create a remote third party feeling rather than a first-hand onboard crew perspective.
 
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