--- On Wed, 10/6/10, skulldrinker <[email protected]> wrote:
> Right away it felt I need something sticking out in front
> maybe a foot
> or so with a grip just to steady the rocking motion created
> by sitting
> on my shoulder. On a camera where do you attach
> anything?? Not like
> it's got bolt holes pre drilled.
Usually the tripod mounting hole. If your shoulder sitting camera doesn't have
one, then see if the shoulder pad on the bottom is held with screws. Replace
the pad with the support bracket. It won't need padding because the back brace
will be supporting it.
If that doesn't come off, then you'd have to get creative with some type of
clamp built to go around enough of the camera to grip it securely (pad with
thin foam strips) while not obstructing any buttons etc.
That thin but dense craft foam should work for the clamp padding. Spray
adhesive like Sticky Stuff (yes, that's its actual name) or 3M 77 Spray
Adhesive should hold the foam to the clamp.
Similar tactics should work for attaching a pistol grip or a side handle for
your off hand to provide additional support to a shoulder sitting camera. IIRC
some of the big cameras have removable handles on top. Get an extra handle and
drill some holes in it for a mounting bracket. With that you could easily go
from handle to no handle and back.
One source for handle gear are old handheld film cameras. I've passed up boxes
of accessories for those at auctions. Some rather nice handles designed to fit
a hand plus knurled knobs with threads to fit standard tripod mounts and
various sorts of bracketry.
An external microphone or light mount might be a place to attach a handle,
especially if it'll just be to keep the camera from rocking side to side on
your shoulder. A bad mic or light could provide a base fitting to mount the
handle, or if you're good with a hacksaw and a file, a fitting could be made
from a hunk of metal the right thickness to slide into the mount.
I'd pick up an old full size VHS camcorder for a test mule to work out various
ideas. Doesn't matter if it's already dead or your Frankenstein experiments
kill it, it's just an old VHS one. ;)
If your camera is out of warranty... and you or someone you know is good at
taking things apart then putting them back together in working order... that
opens up the possibilities to include *gasp* putting holes in the casing to
install various mount points. Those can be as simple as a small bolt poked
through from the inside with a nut to hold it, using Loc-Tite or even super
glue on the threads to ensure it stays.
That would provide a mounting stud to attach things with a wing nut. Of course
there has to be room on the inside for the bolt head.
Yet another possibility for the out of warranty camera. Figuring out what sort
of plastic the housing is, then using pieces of the same or close enough
plastic and solvent welding pieces to the outside. That requires removing paint
(if there is any) from where ever you'd be gluing things on.
'Course for newer cameras the plastic may not be anything so simple as
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Fancier plastics for which there's no
solvent glue require different methods such as epoxy and abrading the surface
to provide 'tooth' for the glue to grip.
Now that I'm thinking of glue... a cool melt glue gun might provide a method of
securely yet non-damagingly sticking things to a camera. One of my various
hobbies is making RTV silicone molds, I've used cool melt glue to secure
plastic items for mold making, without any damage to the plastic as long as the
gun nozzle doesn't touch the plastic. HOT melt glue is much hotter, hot enough
to give human skin a nasty 2nd degree burn and damage many plastics. BTW, one
way to get cool melt glue off stuff, especially glass, is to stick it in a
freezer. The glue can them be popped loose easily while it's chilled. Cool melt
glue sticks are smaller diameter than the hot melt sticks. Some are dual temp
so make sure any small diameter glue gun you use is a cool melt instead of a
hot melt. Hot melt provides a longer working time before the glue, which is
really a flexible thermoplastic, not glue, solidifies.
Yeah, extreeeeeme camera hacking. :)
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