If you have a wide angle lens GoPro type camera, you might like to try this sort of mount. I enjoy making videos, but I don't have the natural kitesurfing talent to make them look interesting without a lot of camera angles!
I made it out of fibreglass, but plywood would be just as good. The counterweight (a few large sinkers) was an afterthought, but puts the c of g in the middle of the back which is more comfortable. You don't notice it much, but it's a little more intrusive than a kite camera or board mounted camera. The straps are luggage tie downs from bunnings.
Here's a video using the mount, plus a couple of frames from the video...
just a quick tip to anyone looking at getting a gopro camera. if you go to their website, and fill in an order, then leave their website without actually ordering. They will send you an email offering you 10% off the price if you go back and complete the order.
you can get the basic gopro camera delivered to your door for just over $170.
excellent work . love it i have made a few vids with my wide go pro as well they work great , its just about finding new places to mount the camera, you have cracked it with your one . just out of interest what do you edit with ? i use mac Hd and sometimes the really slow motion gets a bit jerky ( maybe i just see it cause i stair at the footage for hours on end) do you use mac or pc . i have just made a kite rig that sits about 1.5m up the lines . i made about 5 rigs before i got it right but it was worth it the footage and stills have worked out well . once again great work keep it up
great vid mate.. Birubi in a WNW.. thought Baz and I were the only ones keen enough for those kinda gusts..
Hardly gusty at all - rarely over 35knts in the gusts, amost never less than 5 knts in the lulls and only a bit off shore! But surf in a westerly? I'm happy with any wind.
I appreciated your previous pointers on getting my video sorted out too. It all worked like a charm, but the content is complete crap compared to your latest vid! Nice one.
Ian, you are THE MAN! That looks soo good! I've got a new hero. I couldn't count the number of times I studied the switch at 1.30. You're artwork on that board is awsome too. Keep us entertained, PLEASE! COL
nice 1 nerky really clear footage is that the new model hd go pro?
No, it's the original gopro - 512 x 384 pixels, stretched up to 640 x 480 for the video. It needs a sunny day with the sun in the right direction to look ok - just lucky that day.
graceful said... has any one tryed a go pro mounted on a tt?
and owieb said... yeah would like to know whether the lens is wide enough for use on something like a 135 board.
I've tried the surf hero gopro on a twintip (around the 135 size) using the stick-on mount that comes with the camera, and it works ok. When the camera's behind you it tends to just see the groove the board makes through the water.
The view with the camera at the front is like the surfboard view.
On my board it tends to get knocked flat fairly regularly if the nose of the board goes through chop.
On my board it tends to get knocked flat fairly regularly if the nose of the board goes through chop.
Yeah, same problem -- wish they'd put some grooves in the lock-down mechanism to keep that from happening. No matter how tight you make it, it still gets knocked over nearly every time to smack a wave. I kept making it tighter and tighter til I finally broke the mount and had to buy another one... Grrrrrrr... Otherwise, it works great.
Nice work Nerk! great vid. for the fella who wants to use the go pro with a twin tip you should try to fix em up on your lines instead. I've been goofing around with mine on my trimstrap and so far its been great for still shots but video is tricky though it is a great perspective. Got to figure out a way to stablize the thing so video works better. I know there is a fella who has been making mounts for lines around some where on the forum. not sure where though- problem is you need to use a kite with your lines splitting at the trimstrap. At the moment the camera is doing some crazy spins which adds some neat effects.
Nice work Nerk! great vid. for the fella who wants to use the go pro with a twin tip you should try to fix em up on your lines instead. I've been goofing around with mine on my trimstrap and so far its been great for still shots but video is tricky though it is a great perspective. Got to figure out a way to stablize the thing so video works better. I know there is a fella who has been making mounts for lines around some where on the forum. not sure where though- problem is you need to use a kite with your lines splitting at the trimstrap. At the moment the camera is doing some crazy spins which adds some neat effects.
richierich said... Got to figure out a way to stablize the thing so video works better.
Nice photos! I've been keen to setup something like that. The high speed swings are hard to stablise though as the images get distorted - the top of the image is recorded at one angle, and the bottom at another. I was looking at the new slingshot bar, thinking it might have a good place to mount a gopro sized camera - you would think it would be a lot more stable than swinging on the lines. I might get a chance to try it soon.
and Surfer62 said... Nerk, can you post a pic of the way you mounted the camera on your kite. cheers
I've glued strips of velcro from BigW to the centre strut abount a third of the way back from the leading edge with Selleys Kwikgrip contact glue, and used a side zip camera case with a hole cutout for the lens. The glue only just sticks to the kite material and comes off with a bit of rubbing if you need to remove it. I use a bit of kite string as a safety line back to the valve area just in case. The advantage of this method is that the weight (not that it's much) is behind the centre of lift, and the camera is nearly aimed correctly (I put a bit of foam in the lining of the camera case for fine tuning of the aim)
If you don't want to vandalize your kite, you can put the camera near the leading edge where (on most brands now) the strut doesn't connect to the canopy, and do a loop around the strut with the same type of velcro, but you need to make an aiming wedge to get it to point right.
Or just buy a Camrig setup - see the Camrig advertisement (er... I mean "article") in the articles section - they seem ok.
You'd think at least some of the kite manufacturers would add a couple of little loops at the right points on the middle strut(or next to middle on the 4 strutter's). It would cost them around 10c and would be a mild selling feature to some people.
(newer)
i have made a few vids with my wide go pro as well they work great , its just about finding new places to mount the camera, you have cracked it with your one . just out of interest what do you edit with ? i use mac Hd and sometimes the really slow motion gets a bit jerky ( maybe i just see it cause i stair at the footage for hours on end) do you use mac or pc . i have just made a kite rig that sits about 1.5m up the lines . i made about 5 rigs before i got it right but it was worth it the footage and stills have worked out well . once again great work keep it up 
I couldn't count the number of times I studied the switch at 1.30. You're artwork on that board is awsome too. Keep us entertained, PLEASE!
