Action cam mount

[Capt. John]

Used GoPro mounts adapted to a tripod mount for my Sony action cam. Models came off Thingverse.

Have a GoPro black, but battery life is about 1/2 of what I get from the Sony action action.

Hardtop_cam.jpg (54.4 KiB) Viewed 19121 times

Printed in florescent green so I don't forget it's up there after I'm done shooting fishing videos.
Made it out of PLA. All it holds is a 4 ounce camera and there's no stress issues.

[ednisley]

a tripod mount

Something I discovered the hard way: when the camera falls, that lovely Zeiss lens will take the hit.

If you put it upside-down in the mount, turn on FLIP mode, and gimmick a bumper that protrudes beyond the lens, it may emerge unscathed.

Dunno how that would work with the mount you're using, but it's definitely worth the effort; I really wanted a ten-second Mulligan after my bike blew over. [wince]

[Capt. John]

I can flip my GoPro upside down, never seen that option for the Sony HDR-AS10.

Can put the Sony in the waterproof case/housing. Use standard 1/4-20 threads to the tripod mount.
Have semi-water proof special lens cover that let's sound in.

Audio is the hardest part for me to get right without getting bogged down
in voice/over narration.

[ednisley]

never seen that option for the Sony HDR-AS10

Sony recenty added the FLIP option for the AS30, so it probably doesn't exist in the AS10. Bummer...

Perhaps you could flip the images while doing video editing, but that seems like an awful lot of hassle. On the other paw, smashing the lens against the floor is a lot of hassle.

[jsc]

Ed, I don't understand why flipping the camera in the mount would help.

What about extending the mount to just past where the lens extrudes, would this "shroud" be visible in frame?

[ednisley]

why flipping the camera in the mount would help

The upper front edge of the camera always hits the ground first, so the idea is to get the lens away from that point. Here's how it's set up on my helmet:



The lens sits inside the line connecting the visor and top of the camera, so (in principle) it can't hit the ground. I've been handling the camera like it's, mmmm, made of glass and haven't made that mistake again ...

extending the mount to just past where the lens extrudes

The full view is 170° horizontally, but a little shelf sticking out over the top of the lens would work; if it cut off a slice of sky, nobody would complain. I'd be tempted to bracket the lens with rugged shelves, top and bottom.

[Capt. John]

GoPros are the big deal, found Sony to be equal and surpass in several areas compared to the black version
GoPro. Don't have the new GoPro and won't be buying one either. To get results like on the TV show, Gold Rush,
GoPros are highly modified lens with extra power wired in. Battery life on the black is terrible and way
overpriced for what you get. GoPros weakest point is capturing audio sound tracks unless you're close
to the onboard mics on each side. Tried costly auxiliary mics for GPs and that didn't help much.

Had 3 GoPros for shooting boat/catching/underwater video and speak
from experience. Down to 2 GPs now, 1 fell in the water, but use the several A-10 Sony cams
with great success and the menu is a helluva lot more intuitive and ez to use.

[ednisley]

capturing audio sound tracks

Aye! After some tinkering, I came up with a fake fur baffle over the mic pinholes that works surprisingly well for biking only if you can endure the snickering:
http://softsolder.com/2014/11/28/sony-h ... e-fur-ftw/



The battery survives for barely an hour; I always pack a spare or two.

The thing that really disappointed me about the Sony: terrible video compression artifacts. There's no real point to the fancy lens and full-HD resolution with compression smearing the images. Maybe that keeps the bandwidth down to whatever the SD card can handle, although reducing the image size and frame rate didn't help.

More light definitely does help, so your sport fishing videos should look great!

[Capt. John]

Video compression thru my editor is fine, compression coming out of You Tube leaves
a lot to be desired. My Sonys are stationary and the scene moves. Having the cam move on a bike
and capture video at the same time could be too pixels for the onboard processor to digest.

My A10s shoot clear out to the corners of the frames, with only a very slight distortion.
A10 color comes out richer the my GP black 3, or white 3.

What little I have watched on my flat screen in the living room at full HD is as good, or better
than any outdoor programing. I do not use Quicktime in, or out of my video editor and get the raw files
into AVS format which I think edits better before rendering a full movie.

Videos I've made are for You Tube and seen some in the highest resolution they offer at 720p and
it amazes me they (you tube) can stream video that clear.

[HugoNelson]

For an action camera. I go for goPro aswell. It works great for me. It takes such high resolution videos that the "zoom" will let you get up close without the moving parts.