Mounting a small camera onto a motorbike

[kickstart]

I'm heading out to the alps again this Summer with a few other chums and I'd like to try and take some reasonable pictures as we are riding along. Most of the pictures we take are of us standing around the bikes when we stop.

You get some great views whilst you are riding and it would be nice to have a better record.

I would only be able to operate a camera with my left hand so I was thinking of trying to get some sort of RAM/Ball mount with a tripod style screw to attach to a camera. I can then use a handlebar or mirror mount to hold the Ram ball.

I would either use my wife's old Olympus Mui, or I've got a G9 (which would be a bit heavier)

Does anyone have any ideas of the best way to do this?

I've enclosed a couple of pictures someone took from a pillion seat last year when their bike blew up!

 

[neil_g]

something like you have shown above, or http://www.b-hague.co.uk/hague_camera_clamps_brackets_mounts.htm these guys have loads of options for clamping

 

[Tobers]

I use a Ram mount on my bike for all sorts of stuff including GPS, camera, phone etc. Very solid when tightened up.

 

[sixfootandstocky]

You could continue to use your Ram and stick a GoPro: somewhere else.

 

[kickstart]

The Ram mount works pretty well. It's good for stills with the G9 but the video quality is terrible as there is too much vibration.

I've also tried a FLIP video camera which is still affected by vibrations but is better than the G9.

I'll see what the results are like when I get back.

 

[Willid1]

I bought a video camera from 7DayShop that is about the size of your thumb and weighs virtually nothing.

It's only VGA but in good light the quality is OK.

You could stick it on your helmet with a bit of velcro tape. Only downside is it's so small it does not have a screen to see where it's pointing, so aiming would have to be by trial and error.

Will take an 8GB micro SD card so records for quite a while.

HTH

David

 

[desantnik]

I would check very carefully the laws in the countries that you are proposing to this in... some of them are quite harsh when it comes to driver/rider interaction with non-OEM-vehicle based electronics... you could find yourself handing over large amounts of currency at the road side...

 

[zak5ive]

What about this one OREGON SCIENTIFIC ATC3K Waterproof Action Camera

 

[Byker28i]

Superclamps work well onto the grab bars of the bike. I've mounted a 50D onto the back this way for shooting charity bike rides. The wireless remote trigger was just taped onto the handlebars where I could trigger it with my thumb.

So something like this.
http://www.b-hague.co.uk/superclamp_with_double_ball_tilt_head_sc2.htm

 

[kickstart]

Just an update in case anyone is interested.

I used the G9 on a RAM mount attached to the handlebars. There was a fair amount of vibration when I was accelerating so I tried to only take pictures on a neutral throttle. The results were OK, many pictures were too blurred, but by setting the shutter speed as high as I could and allowing the ASA to Auto set I got some reasonable results. These are unedited uploads....

It's pretty hard to concentrate on riding the bike AND taking photos at the same time. Generally if I was taking photos then the other guys would be off into the distance very quickly and you ended up with pictures of empty roads which were a bit boring. It was also difficult to get any impression of speed with getting too much vibration. Anyway it was good to get a set of pictures which showed some of the roads we were on rather than just stops for fuel and coffee!

 

[Jelster]

I haven't set up a still camera, but have run a small "Lipstick" type video camera from a number of bikes over the years. The best way I found of mounting it was to the fairing with rubber washers between the bodywork and the actual mount, as that seemed to damp out a lot of the vibration.

A mate of mine mounted his Sony "Handicam" in a similar way and that took some nice stills; he had the remote unit taped to the bars of his Hayabusa so he could operate it with his thumb. Another one of the riders had a pair of camera one front, one rear on his Speed Triple...

Not sure what bike you have, but using rubber definitely helps to reduce the vibration.

Steve

 

[geebus]

I had tried a camera permanently attached to the bike, but for my 690 enduro (654cc single) the vibrations were far too much.

What I ended with is an LX3 in a flexible waterproof case on a quick release tripod bracket.
I used two keyring self retracting chain things - these meant that if need be you could just place the camera by the handlebar and it would stick there (for instance when you've had to pull the clutch in because you've had to stop in traffic etc.)

What I wanted was to make my own mount (to avoid fiddling with the QR) which the self retracting lead would pull through, didn't have time. Also wanted to make a left handed trigger system - but it turned out I could operate it fine with the normal shutter button.

Fairly quickly got used to flicking it off and firing off a few pics.
You can see some of the camera here:

The problem I found was that on the best roads (the St Bernard Pass) I was 100% focused on the riding and had no intention of moving my hands from the bars because I was having so much fun .

Couple more:

 

[kickstart]

Yes, those roads can get pretty intense!