With the latest project that I’m shooting for Gold Coast Tourism, a shot that I want to get is driving through the streets of Surfers Paradise doing various angles, some of which to incorporate the car that’s driving into the shots. I did some research and you could spend from $500 to $10,000 for a decent car mount system, but I didn’t think it to be necessary for a camera as light as the 7D.
Initially I was going to go for a rig that cost around $1,000, but I ended up settling for the Wood’s Power Grip RSW30 6″ suction cap and fitting my Manfrotto 329 head to it with the view to upgrading it on a needs basis. Granted there is a small amount of vibration, but nothing that could be removed with image stabilization software such as After Effects, plus I don’t think a steadier rig would have made much of a difference as there was vibration that the whole car was noticing. Here’s a clip that I shot today showing the quality of the 7D mounted directly onto the 6″ suction cap with a 11-15mm lens.
Canon 7D using a car mount system from Philip Johns on Vimeo.
One upgrade that I will be making is the purchase of the gripper tie-down kit for two reasons.
- It would take out much of the harmonic vibrations that are noticeable in the output and
- It would add a level of safety where if the 6″ cup were to fail the other two would prevent the rig from coming off totally.
I wasn’t comfortable leaving the camera unsecured and so I was standing out the sunroof as my partner was driving to hold onto the camera! This is where the tie-down kit makes sense.
So yeah, quite happy with the result – and having only parted with about $140 including postage it hasn’t hurt my pocket!
Happy shooting!
Phil
