here are a couple that i snapped the other day

 

 

Jim, I love those shots, and that's precisely the mount I want! I've got the ChaseCam headrest mount coming soon, hopefully (late Christmas present), but I've been looking for something flexible enough to use inside and outside the car.

 

Too many Daves...

 

Jim, those last two are OUTSTANDING! Now you've got me itching for another Uvas canyon road run.

Thanks everyone for posting your motion shots!
Please include rigging information if you've mounted the camera to the car to help all of us learn more.

Dave B, I personally would really like to know how you shot this amazing photo:

 

Looks like a rig shot

 

yeah, it's a rig shot. Aside from painting out the rig, the rest of the photo was captured on one exposure. I have kidded in the past about having a camera strapped to the side of a trained greyhound, and sometimes it's seemed like that might have been an easier method, but it is a rig shot.

I have two "rigs" one that does close in work and detail shots like the shot of OctaneGuy's MINI and the other that does full car. The "detail" rig is basically filmtools odds and ends, but the full car one is about the fourth or fifth generation of a rigging that I made myself (my mechanical engineering degree finally got put to some good use outside of work. )

 

Trained greyhound...
(visualizing my 7 lbs Italian greyhound with an SLR taped on her back! un-hunh, Right )

So your "detail" rig is similar to what Tsukiji posted here?

Do you have any examples of your full car rig? Maybe a pre-edit version of that photo? I'm tempted to get some 2x4s and create a crude mount shown in a photo mag, but I'd like to hear from someone with experience first so I don't learn as much the hard-way.

 

What I have is kind of like this. I'll stress the kind of part, because that is a "kit" and what I have is something that I hand selected on location at filmtools.

Apply the First rule of Fight Club here. Too much time wrapped up in it to go posting the set-up.

Get your first attempt down. Regardless of how you do it, it will teach you a lot about the issues involved: stability, weight, assembly/attachment, flexibility (both in terms of stiffness and in terms of camera placement options).

Once you get that first experience down, drop me a PM with your specific questions and I'll do what I can to help guide you.

 

Photographers are notoriously tight lipped when it comes to sharing information about their rigs, especially the hard won DIY variety. I've been working (on and off) on mine for a year. I've designed and built a few MINI specific parts (past life as a machinist pays off!) I hope to have a full working rig by spring. In the meantime I've been having fun with the FilmTools gear, which is technically a mount.

There used to be a great DIY discussion thread on the (now defunct) automotivephoto.com site, but it's long gone and not likely to return. A lot of the same people post on automotivephoto.net, and there's a rig thread there, but with a lot less info.

Also, there's a thumbnail sketch & brief description of a small DIY rig in How to Photograph Cars by James Mann.

 

Ok well I've still got a few unmentioned sources in the planning of a rig. And I intend to keep it that way until I can come up with something I know works.

Don't understand why the hush hush about them, I'm getting plenty of info looking at the pro equiment and reverse engineering; hearing opinions and "would do differently..."s would be nice but such is life I guess I'll just have to make sure I think out everything in my planning stages that much more thourghly (I tend to over engineer things anyways so I'm not too too woried about it)

 

Jim, are you able to position the camera in landscape orientation with the suction cup on the door? Or are you forced to mount it vertically? The picture on the website looks like I should be able to do it horizontally (especially with my smaller Rebel XT), but I'm just looking for clarification.

 

Yes. It's a 3-axis tripod head. Very adjustable. They also have the same set-up using a ball-head. (I think "Speednut" Dave has that one).
Jim

 

Spend a year or two working on it, developing multiple iterations, coming up with improvements to your design, starting over from scratch, and building again and again, spending more money AND time with each new iteration.

Then, feel free to tell anyone you want everything you've learned about it.

Don't be surprised though if after that experience you don't exactly feel like 'giving it all up' to someone simply because they asked you to show it to them.

However, if someone shows some real commitment to building rigs, I am willing to help answer questions by PM.

 

I'd be willing to wager that in the corner of your garage there's a dusty box of crappy suction cups, ratcheting tie-downs, various and sundry clamps, and a painter's pole leaned up against it.

 

You left out the magnets, the 2x4s, the bucket of bolts, and the greyhound. In any case, you'd have to get past all the boxes and my second set of wheels/tires and the camping gear before you'd see any of it.

 

I use a Manfrotto/Bogen 3025 3-D Head — inexpensive, but solid as a rock. The downside is that it's heavy, but a really good lighter ball head is just too spendy for my budget.

 

I have the same box, but without the greyhound—I opted for the Helper Monkey

 

My suction cup rig uses the 3025 3-D Head.
I use an Arca-Swiss ballhead on my tripods, but I'll be DANG'D if I'm going to hang one off my car!
Jim

 

I'm using the ball head off of a slik mini tripod. The main advantages besides being a ballhead is that 1) it's cheap and 2) it's lightweight, and anything you can do to save weight cheaply is good.

 

Thanks, Jim. I saw the head, but I wasn't sure there would be enough space between the mounting surface and the camera to achieve full rotation on all axes. Ok, not *full* rotation, since you (probably) don't care about having the front of the camera facing the mounting surface, but you get the idea. :-)

It occurred to me (yes, I'm a little slow) that you could also hang the suction cup mount from the sunroof on the interior. Ok, I've really gotta order one of these!

Given the proximity of the body to the mounting surface, do you have any difficulty framing the shots?

I like the idea of using the greyhound. I've got a couple of lab/shepherd mixes I could probably put into use, but I'd need one of these, too, to find the dogs and equipment afterwards!

 

I gotta get one of these...
perfect for a slow roll shot (not so good on the highway)...a lot lighter than the 3025/SuperClamp combo hanging from the end of my surf-casting fishing rod.

 

I really like the form and flow of this shot. I'd crop it tighter, but that's just subjective.

 

I got one of these for Christmas. It's very sturdy and compact and came with a ball head.

 

Just a little exciting.:impatient