Looking for multi-mount horizontal tripod arm recommendations

I

Imamacuser

Veteran
In the past, I cobbled together a 3-camera bracket out of 15mm rods, railblocks, and a baseplate for a wedding shoot. That rig allowed me to mount three parallel cameras on one tripod for a wide shot of the wedding party, a medium shot of the couple & officiant, and medium wide shot of the aisle. It worked very well, and got me wondering if there are purpose built products like that, and it turns out there are.

I was looking at the Oben TAB-4M and Vanguard VEO MT-12 to mount parallel cameras on one tripod. Does anyone have experience with those or have any other suggestions?

Vanguard sells spare multi-mounts, which is a plus, as I could add more cameras/accessories, as long as I don't exceed the weight limit.
 
I've never used any of the products you mention, but I'd be concerned about rigidity and twisting.
I prefer to use 15mm rods.
You put one of these under each camera (mounted sideways) and then us one more for the tripod QR plate. The length of the rods that you use determines how many cameras can be mounted. For under $100 (+ rods, if you don't already have them) you can mount up to three cameras in a row.

 
I think the multi-mount tube is over an inch in diameter, but I don't know how thick the wall is, or how prone it would be to flexing.

I had to stack 15mm rods to make my prototype 3-camera bracket long enough, but I was using fairly light mirrorless camera rigs and didn't have any flex issues.

I've thought about getting a 3' x 1" X 1" section of aluminum bar and mounting tripod heads to it, but that wouldn't allow for lateral distance adjustments.
 
To acheive this you need to understand your own requirements.

Initially I thought a 15mm rod system was the answer.

Two rods intrinsically counteract rotational movement.

The one large rod does not counteract rotional movement.

But then I remembered.. and this is important to your spec.. is that you may want to introduct pan or tilt to one of the cameras.

Ive done a couple of things with two cameras on one support and usually minor tilt or pan was needed.

Typically to control headroom.. a wide lens will need a tilt down vs a telephoto

Two cameras horizonally apart may need panning 'in' to sustain good framing.

On that basis the commercialproduct is quite good maybe.
 
Lateral adjustments are critical as say camera A is telephoto and camera B has a low mass wide camera A should be closer to the centre point.

Once again the single large OD tube seems a good solution,
 
One of my favorite items for smaller camera rigging is the manfrotto 438. this ball is compact and allows some re-adjustment 'finkcling' of the frame. I is far more compact than a pan tilt head..r a 100 or 75mm bowl. Obviously you cant operate mid shot.
 
morgan_moore said:
But then I remembered.. and this is important to your spec.. is that you may want to introduct pan or tilt to one of the cameras.
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Good point.
My usage is when I want to put two cameras side-by-side (like a 3D rig) for shooting comparison videos. But I could see how being able to independently angle them up or down would be useful in a true multi-cam shoot.
 
Indeed.. engineering is about 'contraints' .. if you dont need and adjustemnt in a certain axis.. the dont have it :)

S
 
I don't think its a good idea to mount two cameras together as you describe for different angles of view. One reason that comes to mind if you need to change the angle/pan of one camera it effects both, knock one camera, kick the tripod leg, etc it effects both cameras. Common issue in wedding, someone will block your shot you have no other camera to cut to.

When two cameras are too close together cutting between them will result in what many might view as jump cut or strange transitions. The only time this would make sense is if your doing a side by side comparison two cameras. For weddings better to have that 2nd camera on a tall tripod providing the wide master safte shot. For an additional angle hire a second shooter.
 
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Peter C. said:
The only time this would make sense is if your doing a side by side comparison two cameras.
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(y)
That's what I use it for. It is great to be able to pan, tilt, etc. in synchronization on real subjects -- not stationary charts. A lot of differences are revealed when there is movement.
 
Peter C. said:
I don't think its a good idea to mount two cameras together as you describe for different angles of view. One reason that comes to mind if you need to change the angle/pan of one camera it effects both, knock one camera, kick the tripod leg, etc it effects both cameras. Common issue in wedding, someone will block your shot you have no other camera to cut to.

When two cameras are too close together cutting between them will result in what many might view as jump cut or strange transitions. The only time this would make sense is if your doing a side by side comparison two cameras. For weddings better to have that 2nd camera on a tall tripod providing the wide master safte shot. For an additional angle hire a second shooter.
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Ideally I'd have additional camera operators, but I'd like to be able to make the most out of one-man-band shoots.
My 3-cam bracket allowed me to 3x the coverage, reduced the setup/tear down time, and amount of equipment to haul.
I don't think the absence of parallax is an issue, as long as the cameras are at significantly different focal lengths.
 
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