Anyone ever use a stickypod car mount, or any car mount with the FS100?

C

corycross

Well-known member
Title, says it all.

I am looking to buy a car mount for a music video shoot. I need someone to hold the camera steady. I was looking on BH and see a car mount from stickypod for around $90 and another for $500. Have any of yous used any of these with this camera? Any suggestions? Any sample videos or pics of it?

Thanks!
 
Buy one with a decent vaccuum suction cup mount. I had a crappy stickypod (probably the same $90 version) and it was unusable with even my GH2. If you have the money the best bet is a film tools vacuum suction cup, and a leveling head.

It all depends though, what do you want? Hood mount, side rack mount, etc?
 
I did a car mount for $25 by holing a piece of wood and using ratchet straps to fenders/hood/bumper. Very stout and secure
compared to suction cups. Link here http://vimeo.com/27696831
This is actually a clip I shot before making the wood mount. This one was pure caveman and involved a power drill thru the car
hood. Much more fun this way.
 
filmtools look great! Just what I was looking for, thanks everyone. The cinesquid looks awesome as well but I need something heavy duty.
 
Caleb, the car hood is evil genius, great test. W/the wood, did you sink a 1/4 3/8" into a 2x4 and then screw the cam onto that? Pics?
 
Stu Siegal said:
Caleb, the car hood is evil genius, great test. W/the wood, did you sink a 1/4 3/8" into a 2x4 and then screw the cam onto that? Pics?
Click to expand...

The simplest solution is usually the best one! Although I think Caleb should have Herzog'd it and just strapped himself to the hood and went hand held.
 
Stu,

Evil genius - love it! This is dead simple, just a 1/4 hole with makita, rounded out by muscling the drill around. opened hood and put the vinten screw cup (female socket) against interior of hood, then (only tricky part!) lowering hood with other hand put the head bolt through a roll of 1/2" masking tape which forms the "bowl" 100mm heads need to seat. Shut the hood and adjust pan and tilt - off to races. Had to drill two holes tho because on first try the socket cup (on the inside of hood) hit a radiator hose. had to adjust a couple inches. Older cars with heavier hoods make better shooters. Newer cars metal is too flimsy. Thats why I went to a board and straps- which is the old indie cinema way to do it. Tried and true.

Now I gotta think up another way to get called an evil genius. this could get addictive!
 
Rob,

"Herzog'd" !! Funny! I'm with you man. My default doc method for a car shot was always to look around for a sunroof and just crouch in passenger seat. Right? Yes it sucks when driver taps the breaks too hard - but you can get stunning shots like this at slow speeds.

Does not work at road speed. ONLY for off road slow shots with some air let out of tires for smooth.

Pop quiz. Where does a shot like this NOT work? ;)
 
I have the ProAim Car Mount and have used it before with my FS100. I also bought a seperate arm which has a suction cup on one end and then you screw the other end onto the top of the camera to hold it down, it's as solid as a rock after that, will not move.
 
I use the Filmtools stuff, both the large 10" cup as well as the 6" cups. Here's the thing: It is sometimes a good idea to have more than 1 mounting point, more than one cup, and use the 3/8" rods at an opposite angle, sometimes on top of the camcorder, such as to the cold shoe mount, to really stabilize any wiggle that might occur, especially if you have the camcorder higher off the mount, as you might need to do if you mounted a ball head to the suction cup so you could level it out. The 3/8" rods and clamps are pretty versatile in getting whatever angle you need.

There are a few car mount mount shots in the latest trailer to my documentary film 'Sharing Artists Sharing,' near the beginning, www.artistsharing.com. For a few shots I used very small camcorders, Panasonic tm700/900 or JVC hm100 mounted with a self-modified delkin fat gekko 2-suction cup mount to the inside of the windshield, the one of the woman from the hood looking through the windshield was a heavier camcorder, similar in weight to the FS100 (I didn't have the FS100 at the time of that shoot), and I used the Filmtools suction cup and it was rock solid.

I am a bit paranoid though about expensive gear at high speed, so I always try to put some safety bungies attached to the hood at at least 3 spots and to the camcorder in case the suction fails. Also the Filmtools have little red lines on the pump, so you need to have a spotter look at those red lines, because if you see them the suction is going away and they are about to fail. And of course a remote monitor is important so you can tell what is going on in the shot and that you can't see your crew in the shot.

Good luck!
 
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