Camtree Car Camera Mount

vicharris

I tried to see if anything existed about this already and I hope this is the right gear section. Anyways I saw that people requested it on a deal but that's about it for non cheap ones. Well I took a chance on it and just got it in tonight. I just want to say this thing is built like a damn tank!! Every piece looks like it's built pretty darn good for the price and nothing feels like it will shear off in my hand. The mounting options are amazing and so far it's sucked so damn hard to my glass door that I'm afraid it will shatter the darn thing before it breaks free. I'm just really amazed by the quality.

Now, on further inspection, it seems to be a re-branded Pro Aim product which I'm not entirely thrilled about if that's the case. The suction cups are different from the ProAim one but the carrying case is the same cheap one they send all their larger products in. I've received both very good products from India and just complete shit. The one thing I will say as at least this didn't come covered in whatever that damn lubricant they slosh all over all their items, so that's a start. Here's a quick pic of it and I'll post better ones soon. Sorry, I need to get ready for an event tonight.

I also plan to use this on a Drinking and Driving PSA that were shooting in a couple weeks and I'll post the results then. Here's the link so you can at least get an idea of what it looks like if you are not familiar.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005I0J0FI/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

vicharris

@rockroadpix Truck ya! :) That was what I had in mind for the final test film I do. Might try and throw in some other scenes with fellow actors for the hell of it. I have a full shooting kit here now, might as well!!!!

vicharris

@HillTop1 No problem man. I haven't really seen anyone put together something like this and test it out on here. Thought it would be a great option if I could keep it under $400.

rockroadpix

@vicharris - From Drive? Correct?

vicharris

@rockroadpix Also, yeah, that first music is fucking awesome! :)

vicharris

@rockroadpix Yeah, the first one I actually cared a little about. This one was just to see if I could get it rock solid before the return window closed. I'll go around and shoot exteriors and more cut away footage sometime and make the first one more fun, just to see what I can get. This one was boring and I was in a bit of a mood :)

HillTop1

Rock on! Time for me to put together my on rig. Thanks for all you testing.

rockroadpix

Pretty solid, dude. I did prefer the music in the first clip as it had the Michael Mann vibe... :D

vicharris

Here's the final version. I had to rig it up in my truck which wasn't ideal since it rides like shit but it's already leaps and bounds beyond the first test in regards to the micro vibration problem. It will most likely be better in a nice riding vehicle. Anyways, here ya go. There's a bout 2 min of post work done just to even up the shots and a tad bit of lifting some levels. Zero Neat Video stuff. Actually don't mind the grain in the night stuff.

vicharris

Will do. Transcoding footage last night so I'll work on it today after I get back from a few meetings.

HillTop1

Post up a video, will like to see the difference.

vicharris

@HillTop1 I bought it off of amazon. Here's the link. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0011ELM92/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00 I dropped a double end stud down in it and attached the magic arm to that. Perfect for the hotshoe mount. Add a case for the whole thing and now I'm up to $420. Filmtools has one for $440 without a case that looks pretty good but not sure how much sturdier it would be. I didn't some tests driving around with a Nikon 50mm AIS lens and it still looks damn good. I figured that would shake around like crazy but it didn't. I'll upload some footage from the new configuration so ya'll can see. If anyone gives a shit! :)

HillTop1

That looks solid man! Where did you buy the monfrotto cup from?

vicharris

So it looks like the addition of the Monfrotto cup did it! I think I went a bit over board and could have purchased a smaller one but better safe than sorry. The footage looks pretty damn good from me driving around in my truck and it's a really rough ride compared to the Jetta I used before.

vicharris

One last attempt to steady the whole rig. Just got this in tonight. I'll test it out tomorrow. This brings the total to $350 or so. I'll attach this arm to the hotshoe mount.

matt_gh2

Lol. In Maryland here. Got pulled over once testing a "homemade" car mount made of wood, metal and ratchet straps. It was steady as hell - super smooth. Problem was, without thinking I used bright orange ratchet straps, and obviously drew some attention from a cop. Funny thing was, after pulling me over, and inspecting the setup, he took the time to explain how I could make it legal (in MD you can't have anything sticking out farther than the side view/door mirror). Moral of the story - keep it all black. Good luck on upcoming project.

vicharris

Thanks. I'll check it out. I'd love to test a few but it isn't the easy tests to do! Still haven't got around to doing exteriors but I have some time off now. Hope to get that done next week, maybe down Hollywood Blvd if I don't get pulled over! :)

matt_gh2

Here's link. Think he called it beta as its 1st version of Cinema Smooth. http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/2960/an-valkyrie-golgop3-13-gop3zilla-natural-super-reliable-all-round-gop3-settings-#Item_876

matt_gh2

@vicharris Actually loved the look you have here with Sedna! I prefer Boom over Intravenus but it's all about testing with your lenses and in-camera setting. BKMCWD just came out with his Cinema Smooth, so maybe check his thread to find setting and try that too. Rock on!

vicharris

@matt_gh2 I don't think I ever really went of 35 or 40 in those scenes, but I had a LED over the instrument cluster so not sure. Next time I'll have someone with me on a monitor making sure focus stays and watching speed. I knew roads in LA sucked but damn! I need to go out on a scout for some newly paved roads with lots of lights and business' along it. Thanks for the input. Maybe I'll try 20 or 25 and see what that looks like. You always feel like it's so slow but it's never like that on camera of course. Also, I'll think I'll bump it up to 1250 ISO and see how that cleans up with the Rokinons. I'd like to stop em down a bit since they might be a touch soft wide open but not too bad for the first test. I have something I need to shoot at the end of the month so I need to hurry my ass up! I'm also wondering how Intravenus would fair in this situation but I've been kind of sweet on Senda.

matt_gh2

@vicharris Nice look with the Sedna and Rokinon together. Really looks professional/filmic - like a lot of films in theater these days. I thought I noticed a bit of shakiness, but I'm sure you'll sort that in testing. (I always drive super slow when doing shots from a moving car, as things look faster than they are. I bet if you do that, the images will look nicer as other cars wont look like they're flying by...and added benefit is the camera will shake less too.) Thanks for posting.

vicharris

Another thing I learned, sync up the damn car nav and audio screen with the camera!!! Didn't even see the rolling lines when I was getting focus. Kind of hard to see from across the car while locking focus in.

HillTop1

Exterior, a local camera shop had a custom mount for rent and they said I could mount it and go as fast I want. They guarantee the mount not the camera lol. But I didn't rented it because it was to big and impractical and it could have been really hard to get any interior stuff.

vicharris

Interior or exterior? I'm going to give mine a test run on the 405!

HillTop1

@vicharris, cool nice. Yah that should help a lot with the shaking. I wish I leave close to film tools. I know the recommend 30-40mph with car kits, I wanted to ask them if I can use any of their kits and do 70-80mph

vicharris

@HillTop1 Already ahead of ya there! Ordered a monfrotto suction cup and stem last night just for that reason. I went out with my 14-140 during the day with a setup similar to that and it worked really well but of course useless at night. Also, I've never been a huge fan of the image from it. I'll throw that up later as well. The Mega IOS solves most of the problems but $1600 is a bit steep for the new lens to get a fast enough piece of glass. I might go by film tools next week as well and take a look at that triangulation kit. With the new suction cup and brackets I bought, I'm looking at $375 ish for a total. Thats not too far off the film tools one so not sure if I'm spinning my wheels. One last thing, the footage I used was the nest I could fine out of 20 min or so. That's alot of shooting to get a few usable pieces. Hey, it's like shooting film!! :)

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