Boat Camera Mounting & Some Interesting Comments on Photography by artie...

[Randy Stout]

Good day all:

Several weeks ago, I posted here about options for shooting from a boat. I got a lot of nice replies, and good ideas.
Because I would be out by myself, and would have to drive the boat as well as take pictures, I needed a stable setup that I could let go of without fear of it going into the water. This is my first pass solution.

It uses a spare adjustable seat pedestal, with a mounting plate where the seat normally goes, to attach the Wimberley. I can adjust the column up and down a few inches, but the limitations are getting down low enough to see the viewfinder, and also see over the gunwales. I will be trying a right angle viewfinder, and am looking forward to trying a body with a flip out LCD screen, so I can get it lower yet.

When I need to move the boat, I just lock it down, throw a towel over it, and off I go.

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the pic. It is worth 1,000 words. I had thought that it was something mounted on the gunwale(s).

[Dave Barnes]

Can I get one for my car. I will take out the passenger seat.:eek::D

[Arthur Morris]

Here is an e-mail conversation that I had with Randy:

AM: Hi Randy, re:


RS: I posted a picture of my camera pedestal setup in the general photography forum. Should give you an idea of what I was using

AM: Thanks.

RS: I am working on a gunwale mount which can slide along the gunwales and allow a couple of inches lower angle. Would be good if there was a second photographer who didn't have to mind the boat, just shoot.

AM: Ah, thus my confusion...

RS: There are 3 other seat mount positions that can be used for the pedestal, including one in the bow. I used the one shown because I was mostly hidden by the boat and thought that would be less stressful to the loons. The last day was magic, no wind, high clouds with very soft light until late in the morning. Just floated around with the birds for about 6 hours.

AM: You gotta love it.

RS: You know that you are pretty serious about your photography, when you wait until a cloud passes in front of the sun to take the pedestal picture so that the lighting will be better.

AM: True. I waited for ten minutes in Panama for the sun to go in so I could get a great image of all of our gear and about 13 tripods. It never went back in....

I never want to miss a chance to bust you. You could have chosen a better angle so as to avoid the merge of the orange stick with the lens and moved the boat for a clean BKGR. When you find yourself doing that, you will know that you are not only a pretty serious photographer but a pretty good one as well.

It is as important to give as much thought, planning, and attention to making an image of a boat pedestal as it is when you encounter a killer bird or wildlife situation. To do otherwise (I just wanted to get a record of that species/take a grab shot," is to be disrespectful to the art of photography.

Please let me know if I can post this e-mail conversation to your thread and possibly to run it in a Bulletin.

thanks and later and love, artie

[edgar-junior]

Thanks for the photo!!!! to the truth that this invention is super good and safe for the camera and lens

[Mike Tracy]

Can you provide any closeups of the mounting plate ? Looks like a idea worth pursuing for my own boat.

[Randy Stout]

Mike:

Here is a quick shot. 6mm aluminum plate, 3/8" stainless stud, stainless button head screws with wing nuts so I can move plate quickly to another pedestal that is set up in a different fashion.

This is a different pedestal than the one shown earlier. This one has a gas cylinder, for power height adjustments. Overall, I prefer the manual one however.

This again is my Mk. 1 version, when I do the final one I will have the plate full size to match the seat base.

Since I caught some grief over my last picture, I made sure the background was OK here. :)

Randy

[Bryan Hix]

What a great idea! So, how exactly did you make that plate? I take it you made this yourself in a shop? Thanks.

[Randy Stout]

Bryan:

The plate was made from a piece of scrap I keep around the shop. The Mk.II version will be a bit fancier.
I cut it to size and then drilled the 5 holes on the drill press. The outer four match the slots in the seat base.
The middle one is dead center and was drilled and tapped for the 3/8" bolt. The latter operation is really the only slightly tricky part. You need to get the hole square to the plate, easy on drill press, and also tap it straight.
On material this thin, it is fairly easy to not tap the hole perfectly perpendicular to the plate, so your mounting stud is off. This then makes the Wimberley head not mate flush to the plate all the way around.

I have made two of these plates. The first one was right on and the head snugged down perfectly. The second had the stud tilted about 1 degree, so that the Wimberley didn't fit perfectly flush with the base. So, off with the head, after marking the area that didn't touch the plate properly, slip 2 nuts on the stud, small brass hammer, and tap tap, straight stud.

MK.II version will be slightly thicker plate, although the current one is plenty strong. The thicker the material, the easier it is to get the stud straight.

If you are doing it on just one pedestal, I wouldn't use wing nuts on the plate, use self locking nuts. I just wanted to be able to switch it around easily as I was trying out different set ups.

Hope that helps.

Randy

[Bryan Hix]

Great, thank you for your explanation.