Overhead Camera Mount

[Todd Terry]

Should be easy enough to mount a beam of some kind (maybe just a 2×4 stud) at the right height across the area… either supported by large stands, or even homemade supports since it is semi-permanent in a home studio (i.e., pipes set in concrete buckets, etc.). Depending on the size of the room and the permanence needed it could even be attached to the walls or dropped down from the ceiling.

In this beam drill an appropriate hole (either 1/4″ or 3/8″ depending on your head) and use a bolt to mount your head horizontally.

There are scads of ways to do this, but this is one easy “Home Depot way”… shouldn’t be too hard, especially with such lightweight cameras.

Let us know what you come up with.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

I should add that if this camera isn’t dedicated solely to this shot and it is needed for other shots too (and you don’t want to do a lot of mounting and re-mounting), you can always go the old cooking-school route of suspending an angled mirror above the shooting area instead, and shooting into that.

A front-surface mirror is ideal, but you can probably get away with a regular one. And obviously you will have to flip the image in post to correctly re-orient it, but it frees up the camera.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Daniel Schultz]

Many Thanks, Todd!!!!

Any thoughts on ways to mount the mirror (do love that idea, so simple)?
Types of clamps, etc. Would you use c-stands? Any way I can get away with lightweight aluminum light stands (I own already, and don’t have any c-stands). Maybe I need to bite the bullet and get a c-stand or two.

[Daniel Schultz]

Oh…and I thought of one more question: Any other info leads about the mirror? Metal? Glass? Any particular type that would be easy for mounting? Thanks again!!!!

[Todd Terry]

Google “front surface mirror” and you’ll find a lot of resources and vendors.

Honestly, I wouldn’t use stands… I’d just hang it from the ceiling or grid or whatever you have. That will be a lot more stable and keep valuable floor space clear. Buy or build a wooden frame for the mirror, one trip to Lowes or Home Depot to get some various hardware (hooks, wire, etc.), and you should be in business. A hooks-and-eyes arrangement can give you a sturdy semi-permanent setup that should be stable, yet easy enough to put up and take down on occasion.

If you want to go the stand route, I don’t think this is a job for lightweight aluminum stands… C-stands (and sandbags) I think would be the bare minimum. Once you buy some real C-stands, you will curse your aluminum tripod-style stands. Don’t get cheap or knock-off ones though, get “real” ones, such as those from Matthews.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Daniel Schultz]

Okay, Todd, one more question if I want to go the camera mounting route.
(And really appreciate your help!)

I just watched a behind-the-scenes CBS video about how they do the Tasty videos at Buzzed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wBxq-BiYHA&t=2s

And I took a few screens of their studio. It looks like they use 2 c-stands, then a crossbar to mount the DSLR and Monitor.
I like the simplicity of the setup.

10886_screenshot20161218at6.57.35pm.png.zip

So, two questions: Do you what kind of overhead bar is that?
And what kind of clamp do the use to attach the overhead bar to the two c-stands?

Thanks again!!!

-Dan S

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[Daniel Schultz]

Oh, and as a follow up, what do you think of this setup?

[Todd Terry]

Hi Dan…

That setup looks fine, very workable. I would have suggested something similar for just using a DSLR, but I didn’t for a couple of reasons. One, you said you might use a C100, and while that is a small/light camera, it IS a fair bit bigger and heavier than a DSLR (and especially a bit top heavy)… AND you said you wanted to mount your fluid head on it. I thought the weight and “side heaviness” of that combo wouldn’t work quite as well with that kind of setup.

But… but just a DSLR body and a reasonably small/light lens (which that is), a setup like that is pretty good. The “pipe” that is the horizontal bar is what they call “Speedrail,” which is essentially just, well, pipe. It’s used in all sorts of rigging. The hardware that is holding the camera (as well as the little monitor) is known as a “Mafer clamp.” As for the hardware that is holding the speedrail to the stands, I’m not sure what that exact hardware is… probably some kind of grip gear (that no doubt has a specific name and nickname that I don’t know) which is used to attach a horizontal to a baby pin.

You might want to just browse through the entire catalog of stuff from Matthews… you’ll learn about all kinds of different hardware and grip pieces, seeing what’s out there might give you some different ideas that you haven’t thought about yet, and might come up with an even better way. It’s at https://www.msegrip.com/ and go to “products” and then “catalog downlowd.”

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Daniel Schultz]

Really appreciate all the help and info—thanks Todd!

So, yes, I originally thought of trying to mount the whole shebang with fluid head, etc.
But then when I saw that setup (and know how freaking successful those videos are), I started leaning towards the leaner, more elegant rig. I only have prime lenses for my DSLR (Nikon D810), but I should be able to just raise or lower the c-stands to get the right framing.

I did some looking around at Matthews, and saw some speed rail options, and I think I might have found the clamp that they used at Tasty. Does this look like it?
https://products.msegrip.com/collections/showcase/products/backdrop-ears
It’s called a backdrop ear.

And would you recommend a thickness for the speedrail? Looks like they come in 1″, 1.25″ and 1.5″.

Thanks again!!

[Todd Terry]

Yep, Dan, that’s the part they were using exactly.

As for Speedrail… honestly I wouldn’t buy it, because it’s so darn expensive. I’d just head to Home Depot and buy large-diameter electrical conduit of the appropriate size. It’s so darn cheap, I use it all the time for different things. In fact, the lighting grid in our studio isn’t a true “pipe grid” because it isn’t made of actual pipe… it’s made conduit. Unless you plan on hanging an anvil or an engine block off it, conduit is just fine.

If you want to go even cheaper at Home Depot, skip the backdrop ears and the Mafer clamps all together. Head back to lumber and get a 2×2 (if you can find one that straight and doesn’t bend or corkscrew… lumber is such a crapshoot these days). In each end drill a 5/8″ hole from top to bottom (a drill press would be helpful, but if not just get them as perfectly vertical as you can). With those holes your wood strut will snugly drop right over the baby pins on the top of your C-stands. At the midway mark (or wherever you want the camera) drill a horizontal hole) probably quarter-inch) so you can use a bolt to attach your camera. With a setup like that I usually use an extra-long bolt so I can use a washer and a wing nut to make tightening it up to the camera easy.

But then again, I sometimes go through “cheap phases” where I’m all about making inexpensive DIY mounts and such. Other times, I’m not in the mood to build anything and would just rather buy the gear to do it the “right” way.

But either way, I wouldn’t buy real Speedrail… I’d buy conduit.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com