Another GoPro Camera Mount

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andy
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Another GoPro Camera Mount

Post by andy »

Here's a link to a photo album of another GoPro HERO4 camera mount that I like better than the others I've tried. No fabrication needed unless you prefer to shorten the 3/8" threaded knob post rather than use spacer washers. The heart of the mount is a Manfrotto 492 tripod ball head, which is a little pricey but solidly constructed, easy to adjust and holds the camera very securely.

https://goo.gl/photos/bkyyefU7sP5VZ9ct5

I wasn't sure how solid the clamp around the tie down ring would be with just hand-tightening the knob but it's really secure. I think the tie down ring would come off before the mount moved.

I like mounting the camera farther out on the right wing since it's easy to position the camera to exclude all parts of the airplane from the picture. If you want to get the nose of the airplane in the picture, that's easy too.

The plastic tripod adapter that comes with the GoPro wasn't strong enough for my taste so I bought a Smatree aluminum version and put some thread locking compound on the threaded post to keep it from turning.

If you want a list of parts, prices and sources, let me know. The Manfrotto ball head is around $60. The Smatree GoPro tripod adapter is $10 and everything else is around $6. Total price came to $76. That's a lot less than buying a wing strut mount and this mount is much sturdier and easier to adjust.

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Post by Rezrider »

That's good to see Andy, thanks for posting. I might try something like that if I can't get rid of the jello effect from the strut mount that I'm trying.
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Post by andy »

Rezrider, most of the jello effect comes from propeller turbulence, which is worse at high power settings. The tactics that I've found most effective to reduce it are to move the camera as far from the propeller as possible, shorten the distance between the airplane mounting point and the camera base as much as possible, use the stiffest possible mounting components, and set the GoPro frame rate to 60 fps.
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Post by Mog »

Ear plugs work best to get rid of jello. I fly go pros on drones and fixed wing RC and the cheapest easiest solution is ear plugs. Two small plywood plates one fixed to the airplane and one fixed to the camera. Then get those cheap foam ear plugs and cut the rounded tip off. Then super glue both ends to either wood plate. Then use a small piece of cord or wire to make a safety harness for the camera. The camera should now "wiggle" very freely. Once you have just a little aerodynamic load on the camera it will sit pretty solid and you will no longer have jello almost regardless of where you mount the camera. There are some commercially available isolator a as well if you want to go that route. The key is to make sure the camera is not rigidly mounted to the aircraft.

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Post by Rezrider »

Hey Andy, did that black screw in knob going though the tie down ring come with the tripod ball? It doesn't show up on their website, just the ball mount part.
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Post by andy »

Rezrider, I bought the black knob with the 3/8-16 bolt from Lowes for $3.56. I cut off about 3/4" of it since it's a bit too long otherwise. If you don't want to do that, you can add some 3/8" flat washers instead.
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Post by andy »

Rezrider, I don't know if you have Lowes stores where you are, but here's a link to the knob with the 3/8-16 post:
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?par ... &cId=PDIO1
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Post by Rezrider »

Thanks Andy, no lowes here but I can find it after seeing that link.
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Camera Mount

Post by Henry L. Heaberlin »

Andy: The source and costs of the parts would be appreciated. That is a nice mount set up and looks sturdy and adjustable... Thanks... Henry

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Post by MrHRC »

<img jsname="uLHQEd" class="SzDcob" width="532" height="299" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1IAgC ... 32-h299-no" label="Photo - Landscape - Jan 21, 2016">
Needs a shorter screw. Works for me.
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Post by andy »

Henry, here's a link to a PDF file that has the parts, prices and links to one source http://www.maulepilot.com/gopromount.pdf.

MrHRC, I have a similar triple-jointed adapter to the one in your picture, but it won't let the GoPro twist on the vertical axis, so that's why I needed the Manfrotto ball head. Most of the time I twist the GoPro away from the airplane's nose slightly to get the nose and prop out of the picture. For some shots I want them in the picture or I want the camera to point at an angle that's not parallel or perpendicular to the airplane's roll axis. The ball head mount makes that easy.
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Post by captnkirk »

https://www.cloudbaseengineering.com/
Just saw this on barnstormers looks like a another mount choice and has a Maule specific option. The price is the same as the one I adapted to fit on the strut.
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Post by TomD »

I have been using one of these mounts on my M5-235C. I have monkey'ed with the location and looks like the jello effect in the video is minimized.

I am going to give 30 fps a try again now it is moved up closer to the wing on the strut to see if the jello is apparent at 30 fps.

The guys at cloudbase sent me a optional mount to give a try to see if it works well and has no jello in the image.

The guys at cloud base are really helpful and I am feeling a little guilty that I have not been able to try out the new mount they sent.

More when I have tried it.

I am pretty bummed by the GoPro Hero 4+ that I have since the battery life sucks. If you turn on the WiFi option so the camera does not record all the time, the battery dies even faster. Also the memory card gets full really quickly at 60 fps.

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Post by andy »

TomD, yes, the GoPro HERO4 battery life is its weakest feature. The HERO4 Silver provides about 30 minutes more battery life than the Black, which is why I got the Silver. I use the Battery BacPac to add about 1.5 hours for a total of around 3.0 hours battery life with the HERO4 Silver. I have a 32GB memory card which has no trouble holding 3 hours of 1080p video at 60 fps. The data transfer rate at 30 fps is about 35MB/minute for H.264 format video and 70MB/minute at 60 fps. A 3 hour 1080p video at 30 fps requires about 6.3GB of storage and a 60 fps 3 hour video requires about 12.6GB of storage.

I've noticed that the jello effect is much less noticeable at low engine power settings. Climbing out after takeoff is the worst. I used to think it was vibration coupled through the airframe to the camera mount, but I mounted the camera inside the cabin on one of the V struts above the glare shield and all traces of jello disappeared. That made me think that the jello is mostly caused by air turbulence hitting the camera and making it vibrate at a rate that causes a "beat note" between the frame rate and the air vibration. That made sense since a propeller RPM of 2300 equates to 38 revolutions per second - not far from the 30 fps frame rate.

So I moved the camera farther away from the propeller and the jello decreased even during climb. That's why I mount the camera on the tie down ring rather than using a wing strut mount like the Cloud Engineering one. A little jitter is still noticeable but nothing like before. Switching from 30 fps to 60 fps reduced the vibration in the video more, but not as dramatically as moving the camera. I think that's because 60 fps decreases the "rolling shutter" effect that's inherent to the design of most camera image sensors.

It would be nice if GoPro would incorporate optical image stabilization but you can use YouTube's digital image stabilization to do that after the fact. It works fairly well in most videos, although not as good as optical stabilization.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents on reducing the jitter and jello in GoPro videos.

I wanted to add a tip on the Manfrotto ball head mount that I posted previously. A thin layer of clear silicone RTV between the base of the Manfrotto ball head and the steel fender washer will dramatically increase friction between these two surfaces and prevent even a slight amount of movement once the knob is tightened.
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Post by Rezrider »

I have a cloudbase mount and am getting jello effect. I've only had the chance of one flight and I'll try some different things next time.
I mounted the camera high up on the front left side strut which should be out of the prop wash.
Part of the problem with the coudbase mount is being able to get it tight enough so as not to rotate on the strut. The part of the velcro strap that contacts the strut is slippery so I applied a thin coating of RTV silicon to add some friction to the strap. I'll try 60fps next time too.
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TomD wrote:
I have been using one of these mounts on my M5-235C. I have monkey'ed with the location and looks like the jello effect in the video is minimized.

I am going to give 30 fps a try again now it is moved up closer to the wing on the strut to see if the jello is apparent at 30 fps.

The guys at cloudbase sent me a optional mount to give a try to see if it works well and has no jello in the image.

The guys at cloud base are really helpful and I am feeling a little guilty that I have not been able to try out the new mount they sent.

More when I have tried it.

I am pretty bummed by the GoPro Hero 4+ that I have since the battery life sucks. If you turn on the WiFi option so the camera does not record all the time, the battery dies even faster. Also the memory card gets full really quickly at 60 fps.
1980 M5-235
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