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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Car Mount

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Gian Joon

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I was wondering if Filmtools Medium Weight Camera Suction Cup Mount Starter Kit for Cars would be any good for REDONE. It comes with following:
10" x 7-1/2" cheese plate, six full-sized Matthews Grip heads, and 6" Suction Cups with 3/8-16 spuds

I do not know how good suction cups will be. Filmtools website says this mount is good for 50 pounds.

http://www.filmtools.com/filmedweigca1.html

Thanks in advance.
 
I own a similar kit from Filmtools and use it with my Red One. It's great. The ball leveling head is nice to frame shots quickly, however I've found that the camera wobbles a tiny bit and if you have the time, it's better if you mount the camera directly to the cheese plate instead of the ball leveling head, so that the entire bottom of the camera is flush against a surface so there is nowhere in the front or back for it to wobble. I've used the same car kit with various video cameras, and they did not wobble on the ball leveling head, the Red's a bit heavier so it wobbles.
 
German stronger version....

German stronger version....

Here the european way.
The vendor rate it up to 80Kg (176 lb), may be is too much but for sure enough for a REDone with MB, motors & battery.
Great tool.
 
The Filmtools mount actually states it is rated at 210 pounds but to be safe, they derate it to 50 pounds when used on a vertical surface. I prefer the suction pads of the filmtools having the red line to tell you visually when things are getting ready to become exciting.
 
Abel has the Panther Multi-mount for sale & rent. It is a 3-suction cup system and works great for this. Very adjustable and strong.

Mitch
 
Hey Joon, we purchased the base kit from Filmtools and have been very pleased with it so far. And believe me, we used it extensively, including mounting it on the hood of a car for interior shots coming down a steep and curving mountain road and also when chasing another car, one that was drifting (but not on the drifting car itself).

The kit is really simple and allows you to build on it in the future. Each suction cup is supposed to be weighted for 70 lbs but as mentioned above, should be halved when mounted vertically. These are industrial strength suction cups.

Some things to keep in mind though:

Clean the surface of the car you are mounting it to and keep the suction cups clean as well.

Always check and lock down all arms, cups, etc between every take. Bring allen key wrenches to tighten everything. Secure the mount and camera with straps/bungie cords.

Give yourself some time for setup. The mount is not the fastest to setup and secure, especially if you use the cheeseplate as the base. A small camera angle change can take several minutes. Shooting Taxi Driver type shots of the car for example can take a while as you unmount, remount, unsecure, secure etc.

Before a car mount shoot, might want to check that your insurance policy is still effective and solid.

And test! Before mounting your camera we mounted close to 25 lbs of bottled water in a bag, which we strapped to the car mount. We then drove around town and tried our best to test the limits of the mount, braking hard, making bad turns, etc. We had a good time and received quite a bit of strange looks from passerby - "What in the world is that?"

Anyway, we were satisfied with the mount and have enjoyed using it without problem so far. I will see if we can post our drifting footage soon.
 
Osler Go said:
Hey Joon, we purchased the base kit from Filmtools and have been very pleased with it so far. And believe me, we used it extensively, including mounting it on the hood of a car for interior shots coming down a steep and curving mountain road and also when chasing another car, one that was drifting (but not on the drifting car itself).

The kit is really simple and allows you to build on it in the future. Each suction cup is supposed to be weighted for 70 lbs but as mentioned above, should be halved when mounted vertically. These are industrial strength suction cups.

Some things to keep in mind though:

Clean the surface of the car you are mounting it to and keep the suction cups clean as well.

Always check and lock down all arms, cups, etc between every take. Bring allen key wrenches to tighten everything. Secure the mount and camera with straps/bungie cords.

Give yourself some time for setup. The mount is not the fastest to setup and secure, especially if you use the cheeseplate as the base. A small camera angle change can take several minutes. Shooting Taxi Driver type shots of the car for example can take a while as you unmount, remount, unsecure, secure etc.

Before a car mount shoot, might want to check that your insurance policy is still effective and solid.

And test! Before mounting your camera we mounted close to 25 lbs of bottled water in a bag, which we strapped to the car mount. We then drove around town and tried our best to test the limits of the mount, braking hard, making bad turns, etc. We had a good time and received quite a bit of strange looks from passerby - "What in the world is that?"

Anyway, we were satisfied with the mount and have enjoyed using it without problem so far. I will see if we can post our drifting footage soon.
Click to expand...

Hey Osler, did you ever have any problems with the mount, or did it ever become unsecured during your test or during your actual shoot? Have you had any problems with the suction cups? My kit is working just fine, but sometimes the red line appears and there seems to be nothing I can do to make it stay hidden inside the suction cup. Even though the red line appears ,the suction cup is strong as hell and I can't get it to come loose no matter what. I'm wondering if my one suction cup's part that shows the red line is broken, showing that it is not a good seal even though it is actually a great seal...
 
Hey Zak, actually I did notice that on ours too, or at least for one of the suction cups. The red indicator line will appear but the mount is solidly fixed. I am not sure if it is a problem since we have had no issues whatsoever and the mount has never come off despite some rough driving and weight.

For peace of mind though, sometimes we lift the suction cup, wipe the surface again, then reattach. But so far even with the red indicator showing, we have had no problems.*

Say, I read that you have the ball leveling head. Would you recommend it or go for something more high-end? It would be great to change the angle/shot easier without having to redo the entire mount.

* For those reading, what Zak is referring to is how the suction cups are attached to the car/surface. Once placed flat on the surface, there is a push button pump which removes air from the cup. You stop pumping once a red marker line disappears. This red indicator line tells you the suction cup is secure. Sometimes the line reappears after some time, presumably when the suction is losing its grip, although it does not feel like it is loose.
 
Osler Go said:
Hey Zak, actually I did notice that on ours too, or at least for one of the suction cups. The red indicator line will appear but the mount is solidly fixed. I am not sure if it is a problem since we have had no issues whatsoever and the mount has never come off despite some rough driving and weight.

For peace of mind though, sometimes we lift the suction cup, wipe the surface again, then reattach. But so far even with the red indicator showing, we have had no problems.*

Say, I read that you have the ball leveling head. Would you recommend it or go for something more high-end? It would be great to change the angle/shot easier without having to redo the entire mount.

* For those reading, what Zak is referring to is how the suction cups are attached to the car/surface. Once placed flat on the surface, there is a push button pump which removes air from the cup. You stop pumping once a red marker line disappears. This red indicator line tells you the suction cup is secure. Sometimes the line reappears after some time, presumably when the suction is losing its grip, although it does not feel like it is loose.
Click to expand...

I've had good results with the ball leveling head when used with a video cam like the XL1. When I use the Red on the ball leveling head, it wobbles a bit, due to the camera not being entirely flush against the mount, and the battery/drive hanging off the back and the lens in the front, those things can provide ways for the camera weight to be pulled back and forth. I have since ditched the ball leveling head, and mounted the camera onto the actual cheeseplate with two 3/8 bolts. The entire camera is flush against the cheeseplate, and I put the battery in between the two top rails in the center of the camera. This way there is nothing behind or in front of the cheeseplate that is attached to the camera to cause any kind of pull to make it wobble fore or aft. When the Red is mounted like this on the cheeseplate, it's really like the camera is then ONE with the car, however the car moves, the camera moves, with no extra wobble. It's fantastic. The ball leveling head issues kind of remind me of coming to an end of a pan or tilt when using the Red shoulder dovetail, which also wobbles the tiniest bit. When the red shoulder dovetail is removed and i screw the camera body directly to the head, it works perfectly, one with the head.

It takes more time to frame shots if you dont have that ball levelling head. I wish there was one that was the length of the camera.
 
chas said:
Is there anything you don't have for sale?
Click to expand...

Actually, we pride ourselves on having solutions available to our clients. We represent dozens of manufacturers, some exclusively. Rather than buying bits & pieces from various sources, we can provide complete services including consulting and workflow. We're not some big box store like B&H; we're a boutique operation. We are Sales, Rentals, and Services.

Mitch Gross
Technical Director of Rental
Abel Cine Tech
 
Osler Go said:
And test! Before mounting your camera we mounted close to 25 lbs of bottled water in a bag, which we strapped to the car mount...
Click to expand...

I did that once on a roller coaster mount. Production thought we were wasting time, but everybody ended up being very, very happy that we did it! :-)

We never did find that 5 Gallon jug!
 
The Vacuum cups sold at Filmtools are modular and end-user serviceable. Replacement pads and plungers are available and at what the readers would call "Red One Prices". Here's a link:
 
There is group buy available for this car mount at Film Tools for Redusers. They need 5 orders and will give 10% discount.

If any body interested let me know.
 
Car Mount

We have 6 Avenger Pump Cups with 20" robs and 12 Avenger Grip heads and 6 screw on pins. They attached to a mitchell cheese plate and the entire 2060 with camera goes on top. With this config you can mount to just about any vehicle as other a hood mount, hostess tray, etc. We always still safety everything with ratchet straps but it works great.

~Marque
 
I own and use the suction cup setups with the Modern ball leveling head as sold by filmtools.com and have great results. I always add pin on the top of the camera and triangulate a couple c-stand arms to the car to reduce movement even further.

Some sample setups with high-rez pics may be found on my site here:
http://austinfilmtools.com/pages/gear_car_mounts.htm

Michael
 
Most Grips have all the Kit you need and the skill.

It's not something I would do myself on a setup as heavy as the red.

But I guess there are some brave souls about.

I own the DOUBLE SUCTION MOUNT for smaller cameras and it works well:

http://www.b-hague.co.uk/camera_suction_pads_vacuum_mounts.htm

Of course you need to strap it to the wheel wells too.
 
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