Upside down?

[AlexJones]

Hey so I have a weapon helium and I’m filming insects this week. Problem with filming bugs on the floor with red is the lens rests so high off the ground. In fact, it’s about as high as 2 a7sii’s stacked on top of eachother. I’ve been using the a7sii specifically because I can put the lens on the floor and film the bugs eye level. I was thinking of flipping the weapon upside down and putting the plate on the top of the weapon. Is there anyone with some ideas or maybe if it’s safe to do this? The camera would basically be testing on the fans which obviously is no goood but If I add a cheese plate on the fan area, that would protect it and give enough room to breath but still is it a bad idea to have the fans suck in dust or sand? Just trying to find a way to get my camera as low as the floor.

 

[Phil Holland]

I've done it plenty and rigged it a couple of ways.

First rule, don't lay the camera flat upside down on a surface as you will block the fans. That's no good.

Bolting a plate to the top of the camera and flipping it works well enough.

One additional concept is to use a cage that features "ribs" that you can mount offset to the side. This is helpful sometimes when shooting low and operating the camera.

 

[Jarek Zabczynski]

I've sometimes used a mirror or periscope type rig to get some really tight shots.

 

[Patrick Kendall]

Rent a borescope lense

 

[Bill Totolo]

Low angle prism worked for me:

https://flic.kr/p/26oSy2uhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/billtotolo/