any advice from those who've used car mounts?

C

c.g._eads

Veteran
I will be shooting a lot of stuff in a moving car and having a "camera car" running in front of it is too expensive. Therefore I'll be using camera mounts on the car. Has anybody had any experience with these? Any tips? Any pitfalls to watch out for?

I don't know what it is but I see a wiiiiiide variety in the quality of camera mounted shots on cars and I can't quite tell why some are better than others.

The car will probably be either an open top jeep or a convertible.

c.g.
 
Re: any advice from those who've used car mounts?

Don't skimp on car mounts. Get somebody who knows how to rig it, otherwise you might be collecting the chunks of mangles plastic, glass and metal that used to be your camera off the road. Double and triple check your rig. Use tape and bungie cords to help secure it.

I was shooting a feature on 16mm many years ago and we used a suction cup car mount. We were shooting a shot of a driver with me in the passenger seat. I fired up my camera (Bealieau R16) and away we went. About the end of the shot, I saw one of the three suction cups pop off the hood. My heart lept into my throat and I told the actor to slow down and brake carefully. All I could see in my mind was the other two suction cups let go and my camera fly off the hood. It didn't and I could breath again.

Scott
 
Re: any advice from those who've used car mounts?


i have the 3 point car mount from www.filmtools.com

no matter how good the mount is always have a safety strap of some sort physically attaching the camera to the car.

do NOT use a jeep, i have a jeep as my winter car and i ued that for a few tests and it is too bouncy.

if possible borrow a luxury type car and/or a care with a long wheelbase and decent shocks.

matthew
 
Re: any advice from those who've used car mounts?

i got the erector set because i do a lot of inside the car shooting and the cinesaddle didn't really fit there.

i love the idea of the cinesaddle and it is on my list someday for a secondary car mount.

the filmtools thingie is neat because you can use it in other applications besides a car.

matthew
 
Re: any advice from those who've used car mounts?

I recently did some shooting for a short film using the GTMount. The director bought the mount for the film, but I was extremely skeptical because of the low price. I have to say that it worked extremely well and I'd recommend it as a pretty solid budget mount. I did have to add some thick rubber sheeting to the camera plate because the original material fell off and it could really use a cheese plate, but those are minor gripes.

http://www.gtmount.com/index.html
 
Re: any advice from those who've used car mounts?

Barry, the promo trailer for that mount is hilarious. They have all these amazing angles but the orange straps are in practically every single shot. Just wondering if that was a problem for you. Also, did you use the DVX? Was the mount able to support that weight easily?

c.g.
 
Re: any advice from those who've used car mounts?

The promo trailer is poorly done--that's for sure.  The mount is fairly configurable, so the straps don't have to be in a shot.  For most classic car mount angles--there isn't any issue with the straps.  You can set up a low forward shot, a roof shot (front or back), or an in the window shot without the straps being an issue.  If you're going to add a bunch of extensions and mount the cam at a rear angle pointing forward with a wide lens, then yes you're going to see the rig.  But there is no other camera rig that wouldn't have the same problem putting the camera in the same position.  Most don't have that problem because they can't even get a camera into a similar position.

I used my DVX and it was very secure on the mount--even at 55-60 mph.  Of course I always used some safety straps, but he rig is made of fairly beefy aluminum and is quite solid.  I have a very nice shot I may be able to show you if it's ok with the director.
 
Re: any advice from those who've used car mounts?

Barry,
I'd definitely like to see it.

DVXFilmmaker
I liked the trailer. All the car shots looked really good.

c.g.
 
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