DIY - Home made in-car camera mount

[Mark0]

Maybe this can come handy for someone...
The story: 1 day before a trip in the Dolomiti mountains, I tought it would be a nice thing to make one of those time lapse - accelerated video, with a digicam shooting a photo every second or so.
But I didn't have any suitable camera mount for the car, so this is what I come up with:

DIY - Home made in-car camera mount

DIY - Home made in-car camera mount

DIY - Home made in-car camera mount

Basically it's just two plastic tubes, hold together with two screws, that get closed around the headrest support.
Two neoprene strips make for a better fit and suppress some vibrations.
On the tubes then any suitable support can be attached: I just used a flexible Gorillapod that I bought some time ago.
Considering the quick & KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) approach, I have to say it worked quite well: at least, the camera didn't fall to the floor!
As for the digicam, I used a simple Canon A570is, with the CHDK firmware and an intervalometer Lua script.

Here's the resulting video:
YouTube - 3 mountain passes in 3 minutes
(next time I'll remember to double the shoots x sec.; too much sharp turns on the mountains roads!)

And a log of the trip (with stats, altimetric profiles, some geo tagged photos) courtesy of EveryTrail (a great web service, IMHO):
EveryTrail - Raduno Montano Hybrid Synergy Forum    - Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy

And a photo (of another friend) that sum it up:

DIY - Home made in-car camera mount

And the 1 month old camera car:

DIY - Home made in-car camera mount

Bye!

[tomos]

Oh Mark0, great idea, quality images, but I feel a bit car sick...
yes, maybe double the photos next time!

[Mark0]

Definitely. I had planned to do 1 shot every seconds, but I left the refocus on every time, so it ended up doing one every about 3 seconds. The LCD display also staid on insted of going off, but luckily the batteries lasted just enough!

[Cloq]

Very creative!

Aside from a bit of motion sickness.. I quite enjoyed the virtual ride! 

[4wd]

Excellent idea!  I'll give it a go next time I go 4wding, usually I just drive along with one hand, holding the video camera in the other

That's one thing I love about the Canon cameras, (I have a A720is), the ability to expand their functions using the CHDK firmware.

I have a complete journey from the top of Hong Kong's Victoria Peak to the Star ferry terminal by double-decker bus, (32min), that I really should get around to doing something with one day.

[40hz]

I wonder if you could use it in a more settled area without problems?

I snapped pictures of some interesting looking old houses in my home town last summer. I figured I'd use the photos as inspiration for background descriptions in a short story I was writing. The story took place on a street with houses very similar to those I was photographing.

About twenty minutes after I took the first picture, I got stopped by the police while I was taking a long shot of a neighboring church steeple. Seems somebody had called me in.

The police wanted to know who I was and what I was doing.

Maybe next time I'll try your camera mount idea.

--------

Note: I took every shot from the opposite side of the street the houses were on. At no time did I leave my car or park on anyone's property. I just pulled over (on public streets), took two or three quick shots, and then went on my 'merry' to do the same at the next one that caught my fancy. I did this maybe four or five times in all, spending approx 1.5 minutes max at each 'stop.'

The situation eventually got resolved to no one's complete satisfaction.  

[Mark0]

I wonder if you could use it in a more settled area without problems?

-40hz (October 05, 2009, 12:28 PM)

I read about photographers caught in similar unpleasant situations often in the U.S.A.
Luckily here it isn't a problem at all (we have many others to worry about, of course).

BTW, I live near Venice; if people taking photos around were to be seen as "suspect", there would not be enough policemen in the whole nation!

[cranioscopical]

The situation eventually got resolved to no one's complete satisfaction

-40hz (October 05, 2009, 12:28 PM)

Send us the address where you're languishing behind bars and we'll try to arrange a file manager for you.

[tomos]

[...]
Note: I took every shot from the opposite side of the street the houses were on. At no time did I leave my car or park on anyone's property. I just pulled over (on public streets), took two or three quick shots [...]

-40hz (October 05, 2009, 12:28 PM)

40hz cases the joint ...

[40hz]

[...]
Note: I took every shot from the opposite side of the street the houses were on. At no time did I leave my car or park on anyone's property. I just pulled over (on public streets), took two or three quick shots [...]

-40hz (October 05, 2009, 12:28 PM)

40hz cases the joint ...

-tomos (October 05, 2009, 03:00 PM)

Yup. That's exactly what the 'guys with the badges' thought too. 


(Makes me sometimes wonder what the person who complained was afraid I might have caught on SSD too. )

[MilesAhead]

The situation eventually got resolved to no one's complete satisfaction.

I'm glad I didn't invest a lot in cameras and lenses.  I tried taking a few pics just walking around my neighborhood, like an interesting looking tree or flower or sunset or whatever.  As soon as somebody sees something more than a point and shoot camera they think insurance investigator or something.  Probably the only thing that would stir up more paranoia would be one of those shoulder cams like the TV News types use.  It's not worth the stress. 

[40hz]

Maybe next time I'll just bring a sketch pad...

But then I'd probably get accused of loitering...

Ah forget it!  

Going forward maybe I'll just use Vue5 Easel, Blender, PSP, and some "web swipes."

So long SLR. Hello CGI!!!

[MilesAhead]

I suppose what you could do is wear a hat that says Guiness Book or World Records.  Then people would invite you in and demand to show you how many quarters they could swallow in one gulp.  They'd let you photograph anything then. If anyone asks you just say you don't work for them but was hoping to get a free book if you wore the hat.

[40hz]

I suppose what you could do is wear a hat that says Guiness Book or World Records.  Then people would invite you in and demand to show you how many quarters they could swallow in one gulp.  They'd let you photograph anything then. If anyone asks you just say you don't work for them but was hoping to get a free book if you wore the hat.

-MilesAhead (October 05, 2009, 05:59 PM)

I think it was Terry Pratchette who said that even though it's frightening what people will do for money, even more frightening is what they'll do for free.

[MilesAhead]

That's a good line.  I noticed a similar thing about devices/programs/products/services .. if you give the thing to the person for nothing, they'll never stop griping.  If you charge them a month's salary, then wow!! It must be valuable!! After all, look how much they paid for it!! 

Somebody told me the way to make a customer happy is double the price, then give them 10% off.   

[40hz]

Somebody told me the way to make a customer happy is double the price, then give them 10% off. 

-MilesAhead (October 05, 2009, 08:59 PM)

Like it! Maybe I'll give it a try next time I'm working up a price quote for a difficult client.

Thx Miles!

[MilesAhead]

Don't forget my 5% consulting fee.

[40hz]

Don't forget my 5% consulting fee.

-MilesAhead (October 06, 2009, 02:41 PM)

At least. I usually pay 15% on the first project.

[MilesAhead]

Don't forget my 5% consulting fee.

-MilesAhead (October 06, 2009, 02:41 PM)

At least. I usually pay 15% on the first project.

-40hz (October 06, 2009, 07:12 PM)

In that case I'll take my own advice, charge you 30%, then give 10% of that as a rebate.