Cameragrip – Film, Video & Virtual reality

DJI Pocket 2 Accessories

July 22, 2022March 4, 2023 by davidhague178181403, posted in Action Cam Tutorials and Techniques, Features, Reviews: Action (Drones, "Action Cams", Accessories etc, Today

Last issue I mentioned why the Pocket 2 camera from DJI was a better for me in many of the things I do as against the GoPro Hero 10.

That probably needs some expanding (for those that are interested), so apart from the gimbal system – which is THE major feature, allied with Active Track – what other things appeal to me more?

Some of the accessories I have obtained over the years take the Pocket 2 from being what it is out of the box – which is still damned good as it is – to a regular little marvel. Something I would have expected perhaps to see on Star Trek or Dr Who in the 70s.

Do-It-All-Handle

First and foremost is the Do-It-All Handle that I mentioned in the comparison article.

This is like a Swiss Army Knife in a sense with, as the name suggests, it has a whole bunch of accessories in one small unit. The least obvious, but actually useful, is that it extends the length of the Pocket 2 giving to me at least, a better feel and flexibility in handling. Second, as it contains both Wi-fi and Bluetooth modules, you can use it with Bluetooth headphones and wireless microphones.

There is a built-in speaker so when you play back your footage, you can hear the audio. Additionally there is a 3.5mm audio port so you can plug standard headphones in too.

Finally, a ¼” thread lets you attach the Pocket 2 to a standard tripod mount.

If there is one drawback, it is that …

Charging Case

… to put the Pocket 2 into the charging case, you must remove the Do-It-All Handle. But the positives outweigh the negatives really, as with this, you can recharge your Pocket 2 while on the road. In fact it will give you an extra 4-hours of charge.

The Charging Case also allows storage of a pair of microSD cards, up to m4 ND filters and two smartphone adaptors (1for iPhone and 1 for Android say) all in a rugged case that protects the Pockets 2 from damage. It has a USB-C port so can be easily topped in the car or from a power bank.

Phone Clip

The Pocket 2 is unique in that with a smartphone adaptor, it can connect directly to your smartphone’s USB-C or Lightning port. That is, no cables needed. But this can be a little unwieldy.

If you have the Phone Clip, you rest your phone inside this which clamps it securely and gives you much more stability. The Phone Clip also gives you a ¼” tripod mount.

Mini Control Stick

If you are not using the phone adaptor, this instead slides into that port and gives you direct physical control over the camera’s gimbal camera rotation / direction / tilt / pan and zoom capability.

It also lets you switch between the various gimbal modes and is very responsive in operation.

Wireless Microphone Transmitter,

Now this little gizmo has not one but two party tricks. In conjunction with the Do-It-All-Handle, you can plug a standard microphone with a 3.5mm connection into it and transmit audio straight to the Pocket 2. But it is also a wireless mic in its own right too!

Additionally, it can act as a remote shutter release.

Wide Angle Lens

This is one item I don’t have but am seriously thinking about. The DJI Pocket 2 Wide Angle Lens increases the equivalent focal length to 15mm, upping the field of view for the Pocket 2 to 110°. It is simple to attach (it uses magnetism) and will even store in the Pocket 2 cover.

So is there anything else I’d add? Yes. And I have them on order now.

ND Filters

I learnt of the usefulness of ND filters some years back and now all of my cameras and drones have a set – except the Pocket 2!

So what does an ND filter do? For that, I’ll point you to a tutorial I wrote some back at https://filmvideoandvirtualreality.wordpress.com/mini-tutorial-nd-filters/ but in short, they are used to control light.

One of the most common images you will see when you can be pretty sure an ND filter has been used is a water shot – surf, waterfall, stream over rocks etc – where you get that beautiful blurry motion of the water. An ND filter allows you to keep the shutter open longer but not let so much light in your image is overexposed.

Tripod

A mini tripod is also a great thing to keep in the camera bag and many manufacturers make great ones for use with the Pocket 2. I use one from Manfrotto that came with my Sennheiser MKE400 Mobile Connector Vlogging kit and the Phone clip works brilliantly with it.

Conclusion

I find that in the camera / video business, accessories are like lures for fisherman. It’s easy to get caught out and buy stuff you’d like but probably never use. There are many more things I would like to have, but what I have suggested here covers just about all bets.

The only thing I haven’t covered is an underwater housing (there is one available but I doubt I’d use it) and a really secure car mount.

I haven’t had the need as yet to bolt my Pocket 2 to the exterior of my Monaro, but if I ever did, I’d use the Do-It-All-Handle with my suction mount from CamerGrip that I have had for many years (and these I am led to believe are used by the boys from Top Gear / The Grand Tour.

Finally, don’t forget to download and install the DJI MIMO app as this will greatly increase the flexibility of use of your Pocket 2.

Fitting out a boat for video shooting

Featured by davidhague178181403, posted in Action Cam Tutorials and Techniques, Case Studies, Drone Tutorials and Techniques, Features, News, News: Camera Hardware, Today, Tutorials, Tutorials and Training

Part 2 – what camera(s) and where and how to mount

Over the years, I have outfitted many vehicles for live shooting of video. I have done cars at the Indy Grand Prix week on the Gold Coast, rally cars and my own Monaro among others, but fitting out a boat brings utterly different challenges.

Water of course is the biggest issue to deal with (although dust can be equally as bad), but unlike race cars, weight is not too much of a problem – unless you are rigging up racing boats where the same things apply; that is added weight means loss of speed.

What is important though is flexibility, and by that, I mean the options you have to get shots that are varied and different.

Different Scenarios

For example, if you are shooting for a fishing video, anyone can hold a camera and point it at the actual person holding the rod that (maybe) has a fish on the end of the line. (That has been faked more times than I care to count over the years!)

But how about getting varying shots from different angles? A camera attached to the rod for example, or a camera under the water to get the last dramatic seconds before the fish is hoisted aboard. Perhaps a body mounted cam on the fisherman and / or the person hauling the fish aboard. Or a cap mounted one.

If you are lucky enough to have a fly bridge on the boat, then a camera mounted up high and pointing down to the back deck can get some very dramatic shots of the action. Many years back when shooting from a game boat (Signacharter and Captain Greg Guy) in Kiama on the NSW south coast, the camera I had mounted on the rail pointing out to starboard of the boat (the right side for you landlubbers) got a magnificent sequence of a marlin doing successive jumps in a dead calm sea for about 10 seconds (and yes it was catch and release).

And then there is the shot(s) of dolphins surfing in the bow wave, the mesmerising wake white water behind a boat at speed and of course we mustn’t forget the emotions of the protagonists – the skipper, crew, bystanders and the fisherperson themself.

And that is just fishing!

What about the thrill seekers who choose skiing, paragliding behind a boat, diving into the depths via a snorkel or full scuba? The options are almost limitless.

And all of these require a mount for the camera(s) of some type in other to get stable footage, and a means to control these cameras that is quick and easy.

GoPro Cameras and Mounts

Over the years I have reviewed many, many so-called “Action Cams”. The first was of course the venerable GoPro and this has evolved over the years to the latest model, the GoPro 10 Hero Black.

The GoPro (by the way, I refuse point blank to refer to brand names as if they were people the way say, Apple calls “the iPhone” simply “iPhone” has had many attempts to topple it from its perch over the years, from not just cheap and nasty knock off pretenders, but also reputable camera manufacturers including Sony, Nikon, Canon and even DJI (as we speak, DJI has just announced the Action 2 and more on that elsewhere).

But the strength of the GoPro has been based around the ecosphere it has generated, particularly in the area of the available mounting options.

The twin “finger” mounting point of the GoPro camera is now ubiquitous, and you can find mounts from GoPro and 3^rd party manufacturers to account for just about any situation.

As mentioned, I have mounted GoPro’s in race cars, on boats and motor cycles, on helmets, chests and even BudweiserTheDog (RIP) Our colleague Stephen Turner has even mounted them externally on real aircraft wings!

Add to this the enclosures available for earlier models making them waterproof (newer models need no external enclosure) for protection against splashing water and even snorkelling, plus full-on enclosures for SCUBA down to 30 metres.

Due to wireless / Bluetooth technology, GoPros can be started and stopped and otherwise controlled via the Quik app on smartphones and tablets and some models even voice activated.

So you can see, my choice of which camera to use to kit out my boat became a no-brainer.

Some years back now when Australian Videocamera was still a paper-based publication I interviewed Paul Worstelling of IFISH fame on Channel 10, on just how that program was put together. Things for them have evolved too, but the basis of having a main cameraman with something like a shoulder mount Sony camera is still very much the go for the on-the-fly stuff, and if you can afford someone to act as this (or a willing volunteer) all well and good.

What I want though was a system whereby I can drive the boat and still have access to everything I want in one spot to control the camera(s) while others simply enjoyed themselves and are only available on call as and when needed.

This means I need to have mounts permanently in place on the boat to very quickly snap a GoPro in place as and when the need arises.

The plan is to have, at a minimum, 4 cameras on tap all controlled via Wi-fi using GoPro Quik on a Samsung Galaxy tablet that is mounted on the boat’s console, so while driving I have full access and can “switch” between cameras as needed for monitoring purposes.

The contents of this case mostly came from www.neewer.com. The units in white I designed and printed myself on my Adventurer 3 3D printer from Jaycar ($899).

I’ll of course also have access to a handheld camera for those candid shots and my choice here is a trusty little Panasonic HC-V180 I have had for many years, and this is backed up with a DJI Pocket 2.

Of course, if I am on a “real” shoot, then I can also call on my Panasonic HC-PV100 which I still consider one of the most versatile camcorders ever made despite it being HD and not 4K.

Scoping Out The Boat

So, the next step in the exercise is to actually scope out the boat and see exactly what types of mounts are needed and where they are to go. Looking at the boat (as per the picture) I can immediately identify probably 10 places for a mount to be permanently added.

These are on the rail on the front pointing forward, one each side on the rail to the side of the boat near where the windscreen curves around, one inside on the “dashboard” on the left pointing backwards at 45° and one on top of the console to capture the driver’s emotions, probably two below decks, one rear mounted centre on the transom pointing backwards and one each side on the rear quarter pointing into the rear of the boat. One up high on the rail holding the canopy above the windscreen may also be a good option.

I am also toying with using my Hague jib mount with a GoPro mount added so that we can get some backward facing shots rising and falling – perhaps pulling a fish out of the water.

Finally, let us also not forget the new kid on the block for this sort of shoot.

The drone.

I will be choosing between my DJI Air2S or DJI Mini 2 for these adventures – I haven’t yet decided. I admit to still being slightly leery even after 4 years since my – ah – misadventure of losing a GoPro Karma drone to the bottom of Hervey Bay. To recap, with only seconds to go before landing safely on the deck of the boat of John Haenke, (a good mate who these days runs brilliant fishing charters off Bowen Nth QLD) – the battery suddenly failed – a now known fault – and Karma drone, GoPro 5 and SD card with some brilliant whale footage went to Davy Jones’ locker never to be seen again.

Over the next week, we are going to physically start mapping these points out by placing cameras in different locations and actually seeing what the imagery looks like.

And we haven’t even THOUGHT about audio yet ….

Stay tuned!

(For details on the Gopro cameras, go to https://gopro.com/en/au/shop/cameras/hero10-black/CHDHX-101-master.html

Review: Cameragrip K7 Camerapole Jib

February 4, 2021June 7, 2022 by davidhague178181403, posted in Action Cam Tutorials and Techniques, Features, News, Today

Long time readers and subscribers will remember I have a namesake company in the UK that makes camera / camcorder mounts, jibs, cranes and so on. This company, Hague Camera Supports (and is definitely no relation I promise) trades under the website www.cameragrip.com, and recently released a new unit called the K7 Campole. The company was kind enough to send me a unit to review.

Designed for action cams, small camcorders, compact cameras and smartphones, is brilliant at achieving high and low action shots and also has a tilt control giving you superb positional control.

It is ready to be used straight out of the box and is simple to operate by holding the pole with one hand to control and counterbalance the jib and use your other hand to control the tilt facility.

The jib’s tilt control lets you smoothly tilt the camera allowing you to have the camera pointing directly up, down, or even through 360 degrees and in this way, shots can be created that would otherwise be difficult to attain. You can use the cameras screen to monitor your shot or better, have the camera paired to a smartphone or tablet letting it act as a monitor.

To create tracking type shots, moving with the Campole can give the camera a floating effect by panning the jib arm from side to side or from a low shot to a high shot. This also which makes it easy to see over people in say a crowd scene, or to reveal a scene over a fence, through windows, under or over tables and over water.

With a bit of practice and imagination it is quite amazing the variety of shots that can be achieved with such a simple device.

I used a GoPro 9 on the Campole with it paired to my Samsung A71 smartphone. Due to bright sunlight, which is always an issue, monitoring wasn’t as successful as I’d like, but I did get some nice shots around the house as you can see.

(One day smartphone makers will realise this is a major problem for all sorts of reasons including drone flying. If anyone knows of a smartphone / tablet that can be seen in sunlight, please enlighten me!),

There is no doubt that the K7 Campole is going to get a lot of use alongside my SM1 car suction mount that I used to film driving through Europe back in 2011, and the CHM headset mount I have had in the Monaro for almost 12 years nowhttps://www.cameragrip.com/hague-chm-camera-headrest-mount-for-cars/

Specifications

Length: 115cm
Width: 14cm at camera plate and handle
Material: Aluminium
Colour: Black

Cost

At £30.00 (approx AUD$55) plus freight (the K7 Campole weighs 500g and with packaging this comes to say 750g so freight is around AUD$15 according to the UK Royal Mail web site.

Available From: www.cameragrip.com

Vehicle Mounting System (and others).

July 22, 2020March 4, 2023 by davidhague178181403, posted in Features, News, Today

We have covered this a fair bit over the years, being the fans of the “original” Top Gear and then The Grand Tour that we are.

Today I got an email from US based Digital Juice advertising a “lightweight but secure vehicle” designed and “creative video shots on any production shoot“.

The asking price is USD$399 including shipping but a closer inspectioon shows this does not apply to overseas. You can get all the details here. So roughly with exchange rates and freight etc, I doubt much change from AUD$1200.

There is also a promo video:

However, the unit we have been using is from UK company CameraGrip who make a bunch of different mounts, dollies, cranes, jibs and so on.

Here is our main unit:

… which sticks like the the proverbial to a blanket on windows, bonnets, roofs and even side panels. See the story we did here that also includes the headrest mount below. I drove all around Europe with one of these on a Mercedes SUV (I hate that term) wagon thingy with a largish Canon XHA1 bolted to it and it did’;t miss a bit in 14 days of autobahns, autostradas, mountain roads and English country back roads.

These retail for £84 and £54 respectively and while shipping does still apply, from experience, it’s a damn sight cheaper and faster than from the US.

For their full range of car mounts, have a gander at:

https://www.cameragrip.com/camera-car-mounts-suction-pads/

… and from there you can browse to the rest of the range – there are dozens and dozens of all types and varieties for many different jobs.

Our Pick: What’s in the perfect shooter’s kit?

January 14, 2020March 4, 2023 by davidhague178181403, posted in Editorial, News, Today

Over the Christmas and New Year break we are normally still flat out catching up on website updates, getting paperwork in order and planning the stories and campaigns for the coming year. But we do usually get a bit of time to ruminate the year past and have a think about the multitude of products – and sometimes services – we have been lucky enough to play with.

(And make no bones about it. We consider it a privilege that vendors allow us to play with their stuff, sometimes before release and even in pre-production or beta mode).

Out of that rumination, it is fun to but together a sort of “Best Of” list and share it.

The problem with that is in this biz, there is no real “Best Of”, as everyone’s needs, and workflow are different.

One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor as Paul Simon said.

Having said that, what I do like to do is be a bit selfish and suggest out of all the products we have played with for the year, which ones especially struck me, and would go into making the perfect shooting kit given funds were no barrier.

This means that some stuff was not actually released last year of course as we don’t always get product within a reasonable time frame sadly. But all products ARE current on vendor’s price lists at time of writing.

So here goes:

Best Medium Camcorder

The number of models we have seen this year has been abysmally small sadly, so the field to choose from is not that extensive. Out of the ones we have played with though, the Panasonic HC-PV100 stands out. Both myself and Steve Turner have used the PV-100 this year and what we think is best summed up by Steve’s comment:

“Value for money does not come much better than this! At around $1800 the PV100 is stupidly cheap and I’d suggest you get one before Panasonic realise they’ve made a big mistake!”

Excellent in low light, has dual XLR ports, light enough as a run and gun and as long as you don’t need 4K – and many still don’t – the Panasonic HC-PV100 is very, very hard to beat in value for money.

Second choice goes to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K for its technical brilliance and world-leading qualities. And it’s Aussie so there’s a REALLY good excuse to boot!

Best Action Camera

Tough one this. Whilst the field is dominated by GoPro and DJI there are some sleepers as well including Sony. The new Insta360 we talked of yesterday we have discounted at this stage due to a) we haven’t yet seen it in the flesh and b) it doesn’t qualify as a 2019 (or before) release.

I like the DJI OSMO Action Cam very much and said so in the review. But the GoPro Hero 8 was such a step forward over previous models, incorporating features that in a way should have been there from the start (especially the built-in mounting points) it gets the nod – but only just.

A special commendation does go to the DJI Pocket Gimbal camera which is an ingenious little device that should have more fans (and sales) than retailers tell me it does.

dSLR / Mirrorless

I confess we haven’t seen too many of these this year for review. The major players are Panasonic, Sony, Olympus, FUJI, Canon and Nikon and out of these, we have only REALLY seen Panasonic and Canon models.

We are trying to get models for review from FUJI (and are very hopeful here) and have doubled efforts with Nikon and Sony. Olympus don’t even bother to get back to us by the way …

So, the decision is probably not quite a fair one, but as these are all we have to go on, I am picking the Panasonic G9. Well priced and versatile, it is equally at home in the hands of the enthusiast and makes an excellent secondary camera (perhaps for the Panasonic SH1) for the professional. Me, I’d use it as an adjunct to the PV100 without hesitation.

360° Camera

Still an evolving market we feel, with the later emphasis being less on the obvious VR usage of the footage to more “extraction of selected shots from the whole” as these cameras grab everything in the vicinity due to the technology. Additionally, software has now caught up letting 360° footage be converted back to standard aspect ratios without loss.

The number of models available has grown remarkably as has the number of vendors involved. GoPro, Kandao, Ricoh, HumanEyes, 360Fly, Garmin, Kodak, Yi, Samsung and Insta360 all make 360° / 180° (panoramic) camera / camcorders.

Some come with dedicated software, with some of that really good and some not so good. ALL of the ones we tested come with a major fault in it being very hard to detect what mode they are in – still image or video – due to impossibly small or hard to see in sunlight indicators. Even if using a smartphone app, this too can be hard to detect in sunlight, so we strongly suggest ALL manufacturers take that on board.

My pick is the QooCam from Kandao due to its versatility and software. It’s not conventional with its “twist” design to turn it into a panoramic shooter, but it works, is pocketable and the imagery is very good.

Best Audio Product

We have only reviewed mics this year (if you discount software that is) so a bit tricky this one. I decided on going for value for money and technical all-round cleverness, and therefore chose the Sennheiser XS Wireless Digital Lav. I am using one to make a vide- based tutorial series and found the sound quality to be brilliant (using it connected to a Pany HC-PV100), easy to use and with excellent battery life.

A special commendation goes to the RØDE Wireless Go that a number of acquaintances swear by.

What Else Would We Add To Our Kit?

We haven’t tested any tripods at all this year.

Miller? Velbon? Manfrotto? Hellooooo…!!

I can only base what tripod I would pick then on what I know, and my trusty Manfrotto MV351B2 and 503HDV head continues to soldier on without missing a beat.

For a field monitor, there is a lot of noise about ATOMOS models about the place, but despite regular requests to the company over literally YEARS, again, we have NEVER had the courtesy of even a reply, let alone a “sod off”. Perhaps they are one and the same in their eyes …

Of course, Blackmagic has to be there with its Video Assist 12G HDR and at the price that is where we’d go. An honourable mention to OSEE with the G7 7” Field Monitor which is only let down by the lack of supplied battery and Australian power supply. The unit itself is excellent.

Camera cases / bags are another we haven’t looked at this year, and again, not for lack of trying. I am still using a combo of aluminium cases from JayCar and an old Turtle 039 MID, so barring a ripper of a waterproof decent size backpack, I’ll stay there for the moment.

For on-camera lighting we like the Apuiture range and I use an inexpensive $80 AL-M9 for the majority of the stuff I do.

Finally for external mounts, dollies, small cranes etc, we still have not been able to go past CameraGrip for all our needs. They are relatively inexpensive, have a HUGE range and built to last with quality components. The fact they are UK based is a bit o an issue, but they do deliver without the exorbitant costs that are associated with sourcing from the US thankfully.

Next, I’ll look at what goes into our editing suite, including computer hardware, software and ancillary stuff.

While we have you, on our “Donate” page we have four options: $5, $10, $20 and $50 donation buttons via PayPal (which also allows payment via VISA and Mastercard etc. These are in US$ by the way).

If you decide we are worth a small ONE-OFF donation via this method, we would greatly appreciate it and will allow us to continue at the same professional level we have strived for for almost 14 years now!

More information as to WHY we have added this option is on the Donate page.

Just Like Top Gear or The Grand Tour

April 2, 2019March 4, 2023 by davidhague178181403, posted in Case Studies, Features, News, News: Camera Hardware, Tutorials

As many know, I have an affinity for the popular TV show “Top Gear” – well to be honest, what I call the “original” with presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, not the current version.

Fans of the show will know the history; in the 17th season (I think it was) Clarkson apparently gave one of the crew a smack around the chops, admitted to it, was laid off and Hammond and May followed suit, stating they were a “team” and therefore couldn’t be broken up.

The trio then went on to create “The Grand Tour” after being lured (allegedly) by Amazon Prime, and this is now in Series 3, with a 4th in the pipeline.

For those that have no idea about the shows and these three, I suggest you check it out as despite its car-based themes, it is a very funny and politically incorrect show that happens to be superbly scripted and brilliantly shot.

And this is where this article really starts.

Quite a few years back, I watched an episode of the original Top Gear, and in this, Clarkson, Hammond and May found what they called the “Best Driving Road in the World” – a section of tarmac from Davos in Switzerland to Stelio in Italy. Right there and then and being a car nut myself – I vowed to one day drive that road.

2 years or so later I did. Now, I wanted to film this from the car, just as they did, and so performed some investigation of what Top Gear used to achieve the results they did, and was lead to a UK based company, that oddly and coincidentally was called Hague Camera Supports.

I stressed then, and I reiterate now, they are absolutely no relation to me despite my heritage also being of the UK.

If you look at their website, and its companion site Cameragrip, you can see the company makes a shedload of different types of mounts, dollies, cranes and so forth. Upon enquiry, I was advised that Top Gear used specific suction and headrest mounts, both of which I purchased, and used on the European trip.

From that point onwards, my interest in getting new and interesting shots from a car has been piqued. Since then I have taken footage from drives across the country from Queensland to Western Australia, Perth to Sydney and back again, through Victoria, up to Exmouth WA and many more. At times, I have also bolted a 360° camera to the roof of Jacqui’s Suzuki Grand Vitara 4WD. Doing this, we shot what we believe is the first ever 360° degree footage of the Nullarbor.

Today, I have a selection of mounts permanently in the Monaro, along with audio recording and remote controls. The original Hague suction mount is nailed on when necessary, as is a set of Kayell suction points used to mount a Joby Gorilla Pod. Audio is captured by a Sennheiser Memory Mic.

The whole lot is controlled remotely from a Samsung Galaxy 4 Note phone, and recently, I have been playing with a Chinese knock off Android tablet (with less than stellar results it has to be said)

[momentopress url=https://momento360.com/e/u/94856523e90d4a1c9ac31b5bedbc405b?utm_campaign=embed&utm_source=other&utm_medium=other&heading=0&pitch=0&field-of-view=75]

360 view of inside the car – use your mouse to scroll around

Cameras I use and shown in the attached photo include a baby Panasonic camcorder. (on the headrest mount) a GoPro Hero 4 on the passenger windscreen facing inwards, a GoPro Hero 6 on the centre windscreen point forwards (there is also a standard no-name dash cam which is always running), and a Sony DSC RX0 on the driver’s side windscreen facing inwards.

When I use the Hague suction mount, there is a Panasonic HC-PV100 attached. For 360° degree shots, we have used a 360Fly (so-so shots) and a Ricoh Theta V (which is superb).

I also have a G clamp mount that can be attached to the rear spoiler and this has had a bunch of different cameras over time include GoPros Sony Action Cams and the Ricoh Theta V.

As well as the fun factor of creating and editing the subseqquent footage, there has been a practical aspect to this exercise, albeit by accident..

A few years back on the Gold Coast, the side of the Monaro was driven into while on a roundabout near Robina, and the woman driving claimed it was all my fault. I subsequently received a very large repair bill for what was in effect a minor scratch to her 4WD.

However, at the time of the prang, I had three cameras running as a test, and they caught the whole thing! This of course proved it was not my fault at all, and the whole thing was dropped. (I also used ProDAD’s Heroglyph and Mercalli software to make a reconstruction of the crash to add to my case by the way).

One thing I have learned from this exercise; if you intend to take shots from a moving vehicle, don’t skimp on the mount quality. It just isn’t worth it when you have a precious camera as its cargo. The cheapies just don’t cut it, and will cause vibration at best and break apart at speed at worst!

As such, I can vouch for those from Hague Camera Supports / Cameragrip with confidence.

And if you are interested, the image of the inside of the Monaro was taken with a VUZE 360°/180 camera / camcorder, rendered using their software and then placed into Vegas VR Studio 365 to get the full 360° degree effect you see here!

As an aside, I now have all footage taken over the years neatly catalogued in Kyno’s media management software, so at any time I can simply search for “Car footage, Alps, Panasonic, Nullarbor 360° or Exmouth” for example.

In-car footage from the Sony RX0 mounted on the driver side windscreen (click to play). Other images show various Panasonic cameras – on Hague / Cameragrip mounts.