Any photographers in here?

[ghetto waggon]

here is one of the sites they wouldn't want you to find

http://filmtools.com/succupmoun.html

 

[FunkyBuddha]

Ya I've read those sites as well LOL. Even look up Hollywood Dolly on google. The one from Dolly is a better setup I think. But a custom one should be the way to go.

 

[FunkyBuddha]

I had read up on this 2-3 years ago. dieselstation is a good place for it, although the automotive photographers tend to be hoarding pricks, unlike the nature crowd that I am familar with.

I have some interesting shots of shooters who have revealed their rigs on my laptop. That user matt watkinson openly showed his and was almost shunned from the site! He was very correct that it doesn't matter if 10 people are using an identical rig, the pictures will all still turn out very different.

Ed, i'm sorry we've never made it out to shoot. I got roped into a full time job and gave up all freelance and most personal shooting early in the year BUT, if you'd be interested, i'll go half in with you on a suction cup setup.

I have 3-4 more sets on my laptop, one even with a sticky pod and single suction cup I believe.

Nice.. Is that thing attached by a magnet? Wow..that's huge LOL. "that's what she said...." ahem..anyways....

 

[ghetto waggon]

yes, attached by magnets.

i had an .avi file of one of their rigs falling off in the middle of a shoot!

i also saw a picture on flickr of where it ripped off the paint / rust protective coating from the underside

 

[ghetto waggon]

I've met some of the top automotive shooters in the states. They typically rely on shooting with a gyro. They travel well, and you can still get away with handholding a camera. All for about $3 grand.

I think one website does rent them though.

 

[FunkyBuddha]

yes, attached by magnets.

i had an .avi file of one of their rigs falling off in the middle of a shoot!

i also saw a picture on flickr of where it ripped off the paint / rust protective coating from the underside

Yup...it's nasty. I'll stick with suction cups. that one from automotive rigs is like 800 bux. I think one can be made for way less. But ..I'm in the process of making mine. I'll have to post some pics when I'm finished.

 

[ghetto waggon]

don't even really need one

someone did a write up on how to shoot and post process clean looking motion shots. once you get it down, I think they look better than the sterile rig shots.

 

[FunkyBuddha]

In this case..I want the rig so I can shoot at more different angles and get closer to the car, etc etc.

This pic has camera shake. You can check out my motion shots in this thread too. I think they start around page 79?

 

[FunkyBuddha]

Oh..here's another site I found. This one's regarding DOF

http://www.dofmaster.com/

 

[NVP5White]

So, I tried to go farther up the food chain, so to speak, to the makers of the pump suction cups. Bogen buys them from someone, right? Anver manufactures suction cups for a veriety of (all) industries. They have large pupm action cups seen on sites like filmtools.com. The $278 cup with ball mount seen here: http://filmtools.com/gr49010sucup.html

Looks like it uses this pump suction cup from Anver which can be found here: http://www.anver.com/document/vacuum handcups/hndcup-pump.htm

The smallest suction cup of this style has a capacity of 123lbs (!) with a 4:1 saftey factor (!). I think that would be sufficient to keep a camera attached to a car...at any speed.

Anyway, the Anver suction cup is just $39. Ball head is as little as $15 (or as much as you want it to be), and the remaining HW is probably negligable. I think I am going to order one...

 

[FunkyBuddha]

Sweet!

 

[NVP5White]

I got to thinking about making a camera mount to hang the camera outside my car. Only, I wanted to do it tonight, which meant using just what I had on hand. When I got out to my car to work it out I realized immediately I had all the pieces I needed.

Some time ago I made a scrim to soften light from my flash while taking macro shots. The scrim was mounted to one end of a 1"x3"x18" board using a 1/4-20 screw post. My flash was mounted towards the other end of the board on another post. This then attached to a second tripod which was now a light stand.

For the camera mount I simply mounted the camera where the scrim would go and anchored the tripod to the rear door. A camera mount was born...

The set-up:

The angle of the camera is adjustable. I thought this setting was more visually interesting then level.

The results:

The results were mixed. I had difficult time keeping the camera steady. I also longed for more interesting lights to use as a background. Plus, the location of the camera leaves a lot to be desired. Oh, and I don't have a sweet 12mm fish-eye lens. Or an Audi TT.

Anyway, I am still pretty confident that I could rig something using that Anver 10" pump mount that has a max capacity near 500lbs. I think that could really prove versatile, especially if I can make it part of a larger system.

 

[FunkyBuddha]

I don't think the suction cups are what to worry about now. It's the weight that the suction cup's ball joint/mount can carry. Sure the suction cup takes 500lbs of force but what about where the actual rig attaches to?

 

[gr?]

you could use a longer piece of wood and make an extension with a suction cup at the end to make the wood steadier.

 

[NVP5White]

I don't think the suction cups are what to worry about now. It's the weight that the suction cup's ball joint/mount can carry. Sure the suction cup takes 500lbs of force but what about where the actual rig attaches to?

Yeah, I agree to a point. If the ball joint "fails" by allowing the ball to rotate after the car take a big bump, it will still transmit load to the suction cup. There is a very small likelyhood that the ball will fail in a way that makes the ball fall out, therefore all load will always be transfered to the suction cup. I want to know that even if I exceed the ball's ability to holde camera steady, that I am not going to EVER exceed the suction cups ability to stick to the car.

Of course, that's also why I'd have a small tether attached to the camera.

you could use a longer piece of wood and make an extension with a suction cup at the end to make the wood steadier.

This is an excellent suggestion and one I did not think of. My other complaints with the mount position stand but at least I will be able to still use the set-up to take steady shots until I get another mounting solution.

 

[tonkabui]

after having dinner tonight, i caught this guy having his own dinner.

 

[FunkyBuddha]

for macro like this..are you using macro tubes?

 

[BLAM]

So, I tried to go farther up the food chain, so to speak, to the makers of the pump suction cups. Bogen buys them from someone, right? Anver manufactures suction cups for a veriety of (all) industries. They have large pupm action cups seen on sites like filmtools.com. The $278 cup with ball mount seen here: http://filmtools.com/gr49010sucup.html

Looks like it uses this pump suction cup from Anver which can be found here: http://www.anver.com/document/vacuum handcups/hndcup-pump.htm

The smallest suction cup of this style has a capacity of 123lbs (!) with a 4:1 saftey factor (!). I think that would be sufficient to keep a camera attached to a car...at any speed.

Anyway, the Anver suction cup is just $39. Ball head is as little as $15 (or as much as you want it to be), and the remaining HW is probably negligable. I think I am going to order one...

that capacity is UP TO 123lbs...and usually not side loading...

I've been looking for a cheap way to build a rig as well, but there is no cheap way around it. especially if you want the entire car in the photo.

 

[rednecks_r_us]

after having dinner tonight, i caught this guy having his own dinner.

Lookin' good Truc (cool)

 

[FunkyBuddha]

One of my pano attempts. Not HDR. But I need to know how to blend that middle part better. It's too dark I think.