[daveo]

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to mount a digital camera on the handlebar so I can take pictures as I'm going down the road? My digital camera has the standard tripod hole in the base of the camera. If you can post a picture, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

Daveo

 

[Bartman]

Use the RAM Mounting System.

Get one of these two bases:

RAM-B-309-1

or RAM-B-309-2

then choose your ARM length. I would probably get the 3" arm. They're available in 1.75" and 5" as well:

and then get a Camera Plate:

when you're finished, it'll look something like this with your camera mounted:

You can get everything you need at CycleGadgets.com

 

[Joe In Calif]

http://www.wingstuff.com/pgroup_list/gl1800/11373_Ram_Mounts/mfg/

 

[ldr_doug]

Use the RAM Mounting System.

Get one of these two bases:

RAM-B-309-1

or RAM-B-309-2

then choose your ARM length. I would probably get the 3" arm. They're available in 1.75" and 5" as well:

and then get a Camera Plate:

when you're finished, it'll look something like this with your camera mounted:

You can get everything you need at CycleGadgets.com

That's what I did. Four things to remember though:

1) The camera plate screw may be too long for your camera's tripod mount. I ended up glueing a 3/16 washer to the plate so the camera would be snug.
2) There will be vibration so it's important to have a camera that has image stabilzation. Otherwise you'll be throwing lots of pictures away.
3) You'll need to install the black spacers that come with the RAM mount. The bolts are too long otherwise. And it'd be a good idea to paint them black to match the rest of the bolts.
4) The longer the arm, the more the vibration and chance of the camera "slipping". I found the 5" too long but the 3" one about right. If you get slippage then try gently sanding the ball and interior surfaces of the arm. That usually fixes the problem.

Other than that, the system works very well. You need to either prezoom to get the windshield curvature or vent out of the picture [or crop later] and the camera will follow the handlebars.

 

[JMATANDEM]

I have used the same system as suggested above, except for the camera plate. My camera is pretty small and light weight, so I simply used a RAM ball with mounting screw for the camera. The full plate might reduce vibration, but i doubt it's significant.

 

[Hogdog]

:doorag:+1 on the ram mounts. mine work great.:agree:

 

[daveo]

Thanks bartman and Joe in CA. as well as everyone else that replied. That setup will match my ram mount on the left side for the garmin. I just didn't see a camera mount listed.

Perrrfect!

 

[wingmanbriar08]

Legal?

In some states(Tennessee for sure) it is illegal to have camera with a display in front of the drivers view. I know because a friend of mine was ticketed and had to go to court and lost over this. He was filming the "dragon" with a video camera laying in a mount on his dash. The cop told him he could not have a camera that had a display on it in the drivers line of sight. My buddy went to court and lost. Just for your info. Jim

 

[kmassey]

:agree:Thats what I use also.

Use the RAM Mounting System.

Get one of these two bases:

RAM-B-309-1

or RAM-B-309-2

then choose your ARM length. I would probably get the 3" arm. They're available in 1.75" and 5" as well:

and then get a Camera Plate:

when you're finished, it'll look something like this with your camera mounted:

You can get everything you need at CycleGadgets.com

 

[LD_RIDER]

I would think mounting a camera on the handlebars is probably easy to do, but also the worst possible place to put one if you are trying to get any decent videos. Every little wriggle of the bars will be shown in the video. Might get people seasick....

I would try to rig to some place more stable and not so far off the centerline of the bike. You could probably mount it on the dash and shoot right through the windshield without any problem. The results would be much better than hanging it off one of the handlebars. Or get an inexpensive helmet cam..

 

[laen]

Not always possible but keep the Ram arm as short as possible

 

[Waldo]

The camera will definitely vibrate on the bars. I took these movies at the link with a camera mounted behind the shield on the dash with "super Velcro." The shield is an F4 so there's NO distortion at all.

FWIW - the threads in your camera for the tripod are 1/4" x 20 standard 1/4 inch bolt at any hardware if you'd care to fashion your own. The pics below are how I film folks behind me. To date, I don't have any video to show for my efforts (computer crash before I could upload them), but it really works well. There are a coupla stills of me on my Valkyrie taken with it.

This video was taken with the camera mounted in the back as shown. It's very relaxing in a "zen" kinda way.

 

[daveo]

Beautiful work there. I hadn't considered a rear camera. How do you trigger it?

I was planning on a still camera for the front , not a video. I have a samsung with the jiggle guard feature to keep the movement from messing up the shot.

 

[Waldo]

Beautiful work there. I hadn't considered a rear camera. How do you trigger it?

I was planning on a still camera for the front , not a video. I have a samsung with the jiggle guard feature to keep the movement from messing up the shot.

Make sure to look at the last video I uploaded to see how relaxing a rear mounted camera can get.

Considering you will be outdoors and the shutter speed will be fairly fast in the daylight, you probably will be very pleased with the results of still photos.

I trigger it by reaching back there and clicking the button.... hoping it will work. Usually does. My camera has a big button and it's not too hard to reach. One could likely devise another way to do it, but I have not seen a "low end" digital that lets you remotely switch it. One could rig up something with a cable or solenoid which you strap on the camera to push it, but I have not investigated it. I'll search the net and if I come up with anything, I'll post it here.

Just a note on another post in this thread. If your state allows a GPS mounted in the view of the driver, then more than likely you can have a camera there too. If not, then likely not. But, I would check.

You may find this interesting.
Bike Mount

And this which is a bit cumbersome. Your samsung may have a remote capability, check the manual.

 

[pidjones]

In some states(Tennessee for sure) it is illegal to have camera with a display in front of the drivers view. I know because a friend of mine was ticketed and had to go to court and lost over this. He was filming the "dragon" with a video camera laying in a mount on his dash. The cop told him he could not have a camera that had a display on it in the drivers line of sight. My buddy went to court and lost. Just for your info. Jim

Hmmm... I didn't know that. Guess I'll have to make a cover to go over the display on my digital camera. Don't know why the rule, though. In bright daylight, I can't see the screen anyway.

BTW, I mount mine from the shelter and dash using a cheap spotter scope tripod held on with three squares of Velcro. Really cuts down the vibration.
http://gl1800riders.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2198754&postcount=6

 

[OrangeCrush]

I'll disagree a little bit on the vibration., Remember that you're riding a Wing (at least I assume you are).
I used a RAM mount on the left handlebar and used one plate for the GPS and another for the camera. Before the GPS, I did the Dragon and about 8 hours of other TN and NC roads during a trip to Pigeon Forge. I was using a (at that time) new digital camcorder, and used a long extension arm on the RAM, to get the camera high enough to be useful.
Everyone that viewed the video was on the verge of motion sickness (they're mostly not riders) from the dipping and diving ... but everyone commented on how smooth the picture was ... and the camcorder does NOT have image stabilization.

The camcorder works great ... tried a camera and wasn't impressed. Unless you set it for video, or set it to take x pictures a minute, or have some sort of remote ... you have to periodically focus on the camera and take the pic ... not a great idea on twisties. IMHO.

I plan to try out one of the helmet mounted cameras this summer and see how that works.

In the meantime ... I'm certainly a RAM advocate ... heck, they even have a plate to mount your .45 ACP :22yikes: