Motorbikes, cameras and physics

Kev M

Kev M

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So, we've got a few people who have mounted cameras to cars using home made rigs and the proper jobs but has anyone mounted a camera to a motorbike? I've seen plenty of great bike mounted shots in PB but can't find out what they used to get it. I'm not talking about them sticky things for camcorders that sit on your tanks but mounting to forks, frame rails and fairings. All I can think of at the minute os superclamps for mounting and a ball head for framing the shot.

A Manfrotto MN486RC2 Compact Ball Head is rated to 6kg and my camera weighs approx 0.8kg. If we assume best acceleration is 0-60 in 3.5 secs I make the weight of my camera just shy of 6kg. This doesn't take into account the drag effect on the camera but if I ask the rider to accelerate gently I should be alright. Does anyone know of a better way of mounting the camera or pointer to people who do?

cheers,
Kev
 
I've been pondering this quandry too, so far I found small guage scafolding clams that I had for ages can't be suppased, I've yet to find them again, so I'm very interested in your replies..

Proabably a typo, but you don't want to attach them to the forks btw, intant crash that one.

Btw, we've calcuated slighly higher weight figures, based on a 1000cc bike 2 seconds to 60, 4 to 100, and 3 for 100 back to zero...being the largest G.
 
Interesting, but why would the rider need to accelerate at anything like those rates if there is a camera attached :S Surely a gentle ~20mph is plenty to get some motion blur and mean the rider isn't wobbling to balance the thing.

BTW, equally interested in the relpies to this thread :thumbs:
 
Why not try buying a copy of Bike magazine and email one of the staff photographers for a bit of guidance. They all have their email addresses in there.
 
bulb763 said:
Interesting, but why would the rider need to accelerate at anything like those rates if there is a camera attached :S Surely a gentle ~20mph is plenty to get some motion blur and mean the rider isn't wobbling to balance the thing.
Click to expand...

Inspiration came from the first shot on this page, you'd want to be doing more than 20mph at those lean angles:thumbs: As for the calcs, you're right the rider wou;dn't need to accellerate at max chat unless they need to get out of trouble but it's best to calculate maximum likely forces than the minimums.


Forbiddenbiker said:
I've been pondering this quandry too, so far I found small guage scafolding clams that I had for ages can't be suppased, I've yet to find them again, so I'm very interested in your replies..

Proabably a typo, but you don't want to attach them to the forks btw, intant crash that one.

Btw, we've calcuated slighly higher weight figures, based on a 1000cc bike 2 seconds to 60, 4 to 100, and 3 for 100 back to zero...being the largest G.
Click to expand...

Mount if high enough up the forks on USDs and lower on RWUs and it'll be alreet:naughty: My figures were just rough guesses on what I thought 600s did these days without spending too much time on research. What would you use to attach the camera to the scaffold clamps and angle it or have I missed something about scaffold clamps?

So glad I'm not the only one thinking about this.
Kev
 
I've emailed someone from PB and I'm waiting on a response but thought I'd ask in here in case anyone else has tried it.
 
Kev M said:
Inspiration came from the first shot on this page, you'd want to be doing more than 20mph at those lean angles:thumbs:
Click to expand...

Can't view that page, but you're quite right; 20mph + 45deg lean would get messy :thumbs:
 
I've got a couple of rigs that I set up for my "bullet" cams for video (one front, one rear) and I've grabbed some great video sequences during our trips to the alps.

My mate has a Sony digital camcorder and has used the same idea to take stills like this:

knee1.jpg


knee2.jpg


417_1.jpg

I have wondered about setting my "other" camera up (Olympus 5050z) onto my fairing rig to do something similar, but then I'll need to trigger the shutter, and I have't got around to working that one out yet....

(NB: These shots are from an old site of mine www.urbanbiker.co.uk - don't take the proverbial from it, I haven't touched it in almost 3 years.....)

Steve
 
Really like the 3rd one Steve. Being bikeless for the forseeable is going to make this difficult, I really need to start befreinding some neighbours with bikes.
 
Fast Bikes were the first to start doing this (Colin Schiller himself - back in the good old days around 1990). He had a jig made up that bolted onto the peg mountings and stuck out with a ball head on it - a triangulated frame work that didn't stick out too fa so you couldn't see the jig, but could see past riders leg.

He had one for the front end too - clapmed around the fork leg. I used a Manfrotto superclamp too, but then I was shooting an F5 and had a remote lead to the handlebar, just cabletied to route the remote lead out of the way.

You will need something pretty wide.

Technique is to simply do a speed enough to keep the bike upright. Roundabouts can be knee downed at around 30mph - go too fast and the bumps and vibrations ruin everything. Vibes from windage too don't forget.

When Dave Campbell worked for MCN he got told off by John for going too fast round the corners! he replied, oh, when I work with Everett he just gets it...no, they had to go round roundabouts in formation knee down....they dropped a load of bikes though. At Streetfighters we just get on with and catch the action as it happens - OK we know where it is going to happen, so it is set up, but the World Wheelie comp I got the winner as he recorded a new world record wheelie of 216.64mph as he passed the timing lights.......the Flying Dutchman on his turbo ZXR. He also set a new landspeed record for a street legal bike at 267mph :clap: I got that too.:thumbs:

We haven't done onboard shots since I went digi - because I have never looked at remote triggers to fire the thing. We have talked about it several times though. The cables from my radio triggers are different to the old film 10 pin contacts.....need to do an update.

Be interested in what you come up with - I like the idea of the scaffold clamp - add a bit of welding and we're away!
 
ooops. Forgot the bit about shutter speeds. If you are going for very long shutter speeds - in the order of 1/4sec, then you need to keep the speed down or the movement of the bike over the road imperfections will cause too much bouncing, even with the suspension backed right off and the windage will shake the camera on its mountings - 20mph is plenty and the background will just become a haze of multicoloured cotton wool at that speed.

To do the knee down stuff, you need to find a smooth corner and just go to it to get the shot. Don't think of doing it "on the way to somewhere"....you will wipe out the camera - flies on the lens too if you are shooting towards the front wheel. Stones flying off the wheel are another hazard - use a filter! The camera WILL become shot blasted by the way - so tape some bubble wrap over it to keep the road dirt out. It is also worth setting the focus on manual and taping the lens up. It helps to protect it, and you won't lose focus. I used to use A (aperture priority) and just bracket it by altering the aperture - n the F5 you could do it with the command wheel. On the F4s I had to undo the tape on the lens and the bubble wrap and turn the aperture ring - a right ball ache each time.
 
You're the man Lensflare (at least I assuming you're the man ;)). Colin Schiller, is he the guy that built that cafe race bike with a triumph engine with ohlins rear shocks and a whacko front end? Actuall scrub that the name Compton is coming to me now. I remember Schiller now, I think I've got some FB vids in the loft with him in, and Shakey and that mad b****r with the crazy hair, Jimarillo I think.

I've got an old Konica Minolta 5D that is perfect for the job of dying for the sake of its art and a 24mm lens that should do just nicely and a cable release that I can stick to the bars.

Now I just need to find a bike and rider to be my guinea pig.
 
Lensflare ... super advice, top stuff.

Is there a point do you think where the speed of the shutter could capture crisply at higher riding speeds ... and yet still get the blurred background?



Kev M said:
Mount if high enough up the forks on USDs and lower on RWUs and it'll be alreet:naughty: My figures were just rough guesses on what I thought 600s did these days without spending too much time on research. What would you use to attach the camera to the scaffold clamps and angle it or have I missed something about scaffold clamps?

So glad I'm not the only one thinking about this.
Kev
Click to expand...

Ah I get you, I was wrongly imagining your set up, yeah I'd go fot it too on the forks then ... :nuts:


On the weight front, we did a test set up of our rig on a big muscle bike, I used a data logger (I’m a kinda bike mechanic) which as accelerometers and although our wannabe stunt man was just mucking about in a small car park he often hit 4 G especially on the hard braking ...our jig wouldn’t sit still throughout.
Construction was; Three 1.5 inch steel poles and old tripod head all bolted up heavy with the clamps... in a pyramid shape sticking out high and to the front on one side of the bike ...two from low front and back and the uppermost pole clamped to a adjustable four way clam sucker thing on the petrol tank…
Edit: We intend to use hidden wire ratchets next time to pull the lot together as the tank moves around unless you hold it down.

I’ve just found a link to the type of clamps I'm referring to ... this might be the right type of stuff for us too..stage equipment.
 
Slightly OT but it's not Colin Schiller I was thinking of that built the bike, I think the name was something like Ian Cramp and the bike was called a Crampton or something. It was a while back and my memory is useless. Don't suppose you know what happend to him and the bike do you? He disappeared shortly after the takeover at Fast Bikes, I saw the bike at ally pally in about 2001 and it was the nicest bike I'd seen in years, better than the triumph thruxtons and a few years ahead of the Ducati Sport Classics.
 
I can't remember the guys name either - he lived near Royston somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Suzuki gull arm and USD forks with a tuned trumpet twin and polished tank - oh and wire Akront rims just to make it look old ! We did it in Streetfighters - his dad had something similar too. I had forgotten about that one - and no, I don't know what happened to him.

There was a firm in London that did a glorious Katana with wire wheels too - that was another one from the early days of Streetfighters.

Looking forward to seeing your efforts chaps.
 
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