Camera Board

Just curious if anyone has tried to mount a camera onto a board. I saw 1 post in the archives, but it wasn’t really what I am looking for. I am thinking of making a board with a semi-permanent mount for my underwater video camera. I was thinking of just installing finboxes on the deck near the nose so that it would be removeable. The housing has the standard camera threading on the bottom and I would prefer the option to use it pointing forwards towards the water or backwards toward the board and rider. Any ideas what the easiest way to do this would be?

This project is still a long ways away from being started, but I’m just bored and brainstorming. Any thoughts??

It would be cool to put the camera on the underside near the nose ponted back at the fins. you could even put a nose cone shaped housing to reduce drag. ex:

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the fifteen inch box from fu make great camera mounts lots of room to move the camera into postion.

Quote:

It would be cool to put the camera on the underside near the nose ponted back at the fins. you could even put a nose cone shaped housing to reduce drag. ex:

That would be a very interesting view. Might work if the camera was really tiny…like a James Bond spy camera.

Maybe this would work…

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=91309

you could even glass the monitor into the deck of your board at the nose. lol… watch your fins and the underside while you surf… also handy when looking out for sharks… like an underwater reirview mirror.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far,

However, if you have a bit of money, here’s what you could get :

tiny waterproof board mounted camera with wireless transmission

to your VCR

http://www.sports-cameras.com/surfboard-cam.htm

…Is that a Nikon L35AW ? gee, I used to have one of those …

Pierre , was that a cable release for the shutter type setup ?

And , how did you secure the camera mount to the board , please ?

…do you have any shots you could post , of all that being constructed ?

[also…any water shots you took , please ? I’d LOVE to see them …cheers !]

ben

…HOW did you get those photos to show , by the way ? [I’m still without the "upload attachment " facility at the moment !]

Quote:

…Is that a Nikon L35AW ? gee, I used to have one of those …

Pierre , was that a cable release for the shutter type setup ?

And , how did you secure the camera mount to the board , please ?

…do you have any shots you could post , of all that being constructed ?

[also , any water shots you tok please ? I’d LOVE to see them …cheers !]

ben

…HOW did you get those photos to show , by the way ? [I’m still without the "upload attachment " facility at the moment !]

Ooops, I hadn’t seen your post … I was editing mine !!!

Yep, that’s a Nikon L35AW. I’ve tried this set up only once and it still needs some fine tuning.

I use a large suction cup (the blue thing on the picture) meant to carry pieces of glass, stick it

on the board then hold the camera with a large rubber cut from a bycicle’s inner tube. A small

security string is then attached to the leash loop in case the suction cup failed (but it never did).

Unfortunately you cannot fit a cable release on the L35AW … So I use the 10 sec delay, hit

the button and then paddle to catch the wave.

First attempt didn’t come out very well : the camera was angled down too much and the angle is

not wide enough (ideally, you need a fisheye). But a few shots are funny, and with the 10 sec

delay you never know when the shot gets taken …

great stuff …thanks for sharing that !

ben

our waves in perth only last about three seconds …so that option would be out for me , unfortunately !

For some reason I can’t post the picture, but in the early 90’s I use to shoot alot of surfing video of my friends and others surfing. for board shots I used a sony Hi-8 with underwater housing. Changed angles on the board with foam wedges. I had 4 leash plugs on the front to strap the housing down. It also had a microphone attachment which gave you some of the sounds of catching a wave also.

The link below is a picture that Leroy Grannis took of me in the early 90’s at Haleiwa beach park. I didn’t know even who Leroy Grannis was and I didn’t know he even was shooting that day.

About a week later, a person who owns a surf shop on the n.s. that I supply boards to calls me up and says he has a huge suprise for me and to get over to his shop. I get over there and he is all excited and introduces me to Leroy Grannis. I still don’t know who the guy is. He is an older gentleman who asks a few questions about my camera set up and presents me with this wonderful 8"x11" photo of me with my board and camera rig. I thank him and leave. His name is stamped on the back of the photo. I research who he is and he is one of the original photograpers for surfer or surfing mag since its begining. He is an icon in the surf photography industry but I am clueless about his importance. But what most impressed me about him was how nice, gentle and caring this guy was. I am a nobody in the n.s surfing scene and he found out my identity by showing my picture to surf some shop owners to find out who I was and to give me the picture.

My camera rig weighed 18 pounds. You can have the came setup today with superior quality video at under 2.5 lbs.

Helmet (lipstick camera’s) cams are the rage today with a small back or butt pack you carry. The price is very reasonable also. You should look into these rigs, because they are light, safe and easy to use.

Me as caught by leroy grannis at http://www.surfgear.cc/new_page_13.htm

Thats very cool! Its not often you bump into people who go the extra distance with nothing to gain for themselves.