Shooting motorcycles from the back of a pickup?

[Bob Gruen]

The problem with shooting from a bed is that the rear is sprung and damped to cope with a maximum rated load. If you have a 250 lbs camera / tripod / shooter in the bed you are not going to get very much deflection from the rear suspension. If you have some choices go with the wimpiest truck available. If you have access to some kind of ballast then loading the truck to it's capacity will really smooth out the bumps. You might also try shoulder mount from a seated position without a backrest. Your body may actually act as an additional vibration damper if you do not sit ramrod straight.

Do NOT take air pressure out of the tires. If the bead lets go control will be compromised and you cold cause an accident.

Whatever you decide to do, safety first...

Bob

 

[Joel Arvidsson]

Also you have the 4k 30fps option.

 

[Kemalettin Sert]

https://vimeo.com/41444519 check this video

 

[Jon Jones]

I just recently shot a piece for the motorcycle club at our church for the tougher than hell bike rally featuring the Charlie Daniels band from the back of a pickup truck with a temperpedic bean bag pillow on my lap and my SCARLET on top of it. I was sitting in the bed almost all the way at the end tied of with a rope and it came out really good. I would post the video but it's not being release until this Sunday. I think next time I will use the temperpedic foam pillow that I have instead or maybe even 2 of them. I shot it at 4k 24fps.

 

[Andrew Allsbury]

Thanks for all of the advice/input guys, it's why I love this forum!

Bob,

I have a 1000lbs wake sac Might not be a bad option...

 

[ericyoung]

Jon Jones makes a good point about the crew being tied off in the bed too - for safety.

 

[Marq Lee]

We were going to suggest the Ken Gyros. Good call. Vincent Laforet uses that quit a bit.

Marq Lee

Testing testing testing!!! We are doing a similar shoot, except shooting out the front window, ie, driver's POV on some rough roads. We built a bungee rig with straps through the windows and the camera hanging for the bungees, we tried a steadycam arm on a combo shorty stand, and other goofy looking gadgets. So far the best was going handheld with elbows propped on a padded 2x4. Fortunatly for us, the client wanted smoother and we will be renting one of these-

http://www.aerialexposures.com/ATM-R44.jpg
http://www.aerialexposures.com/EricR3.jpg

from-

http://www.aerialexposures.com/gyroplatform.htm

$1200 a week i think we were quoted. Maybe we can shoot some other fun stuff the rest of the week!

I guess I would err on the side of fast shutters than slow, the stabilize will look better with less motion blur. In our tests, it messed up on the sharp bumps where there was a lot of movement between frames, the motion blur made it a little goofy looking.

Good luck!

Matt