Camera stabilization

[SexyAmerican]

Hey,

 

I have no idea where else to post, so figured maybe you guys could help me.

I'm the media director at a church. We have a mounted Canon XA20 camcorder that we use to send a video feed to our lobby, overflow room and a few other locations. My issue that I'm having is that if anyone bumps our sound booth, or sits against the booth it shakes the camera. I want to find a way to stabilize the camera and somehow add in a shock absorber/stabilizer if possible, but I'm struggling to find one that is made to be stationary. Any suggestions or tips?

Thanks!

[AkiraDaarkst]

2 minutes ago, SexyAmerican said:

Hey,

 

I have no idea where else to post, so figured maybe you guys could help me.

I'm the media director at a church. We have a mounted Canon XA20 camcorder that we use to send a video feed to our lobby, overflow room and a few other locations. My issue that I'm having is that if anyone bumps our sound booth, or sits against the booth it shakes the camera. I want to find a way to stabilize the camera and somehow add in a shock absorber/stabilizer if possible, but I'm struggling to find one that is made to be stationary. Any suggestions or tips?

Thanks!

Get a solid tripod.

[Aereldor]

Why not just put it on a tripod as close to its original position as possible? If it's right next to the booth and you put something around it to prevent people from walking into it, then it should be alright.

You can also purchase a wall-mount that puts it out of reach of anything, so nobody can bump into it. The only inconvenience is that you'll have to have someone climb up to work on it.

[Aereldor]

2 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Get a solid tripod.

Well, there's still the risk of someone bumping into it unless OP manages to isolate it from clumsy churchgoers.

 

Also, you don't need to quote the first post in a thread to reply to it. A reply without a quote is, by default, in response to the original post.

[AkiraDaarkst]

1 minute ago, Aereldor said:

 

A heavy solid tripod will do the trick, and if people still bump into it then they should be more careful and watch where they're going or stop drinking.

 

Also I quoted just so the OP gets notified someone has replied.

[Aereldor]

5 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

A heavy solid tripod will do the trick, and if people still bump into it then they should be more careful and watch where they're going or stop drinking.

 

Also I quoted just so the OP gets notified someone has replied.

If an area gets too crowded, it's harder to help. I had a couple of cameras set up to film one of my gigs, and the venue was packed so tight that people managed to bump into two of them multiple times. They would have bumped into the third too, if it wasn't mounted to the roof. Looking into a wall-mount might be a better solution for OP.

 

OP would be notified anyway. If you start a thread, you're notified of all replies. Quoting and tagging are only useful to get the attention of another user who has commented on a thread. For example, if I didn't quote you right now, OP would get a notification, but you would not. You would only get a notification without my quoting or tagging you if you have followed the thread, which... You have.

[AkiraDaarkst]

15 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

You would only get a notification without my quoting or tagging you if you have followed the thread, which... You have.

Well I have set it to automatically follow every topic I comment... I don't receive any notifications at all.

 

@OP

If the camera is going to be fixed in that same spot all the time, then get some type of permanent mount instead of a tripod (wall, ceiling, whatever) and the camera should come with the following:

• AC power cable so that the batteries do not need to be changed
• SDI or HDMI out so that the video doesn't have to be recorded onto a memory card
• An IR remote (or LANC port) or some type of remote triggering/control system to start/stop recording

Put the camera permanently placed somewhere (where people can't touch it without a ladder or some other access) and remotely do things.

 

Today I was asked to sub for a photographer friend who came down with the flu, covering an event that lasted 10 hours.  There was also a camera crew there filming and live streaming and they told me sometimes I got in the way of their cameras.  I told them if the central camera used for streaming was going to remain at that spot all the time and would never pan left and right more than a few degrees to cover the people sitting on the stage in front, they should've ceiling mounted the camera and used a motorized setup (because I do have such a setup for when I have to do the same type of coverage).   This way the camera angle covering the people on stage would never get me inside the frame.  The camera would be looking at the people from slightly above and I or any other photographer would be free to move around below.

 

If it were outdoors, I'd use a crane or jib setup to cover such events if I wasn't going to be roaming around the event with a camera.  Indoors, ceiling mount or hanging from the ceiling is a way to go, and most conference centers already have fixtures and rails in the ceiling for mounting lights and have electric ladders or whatever they call it so that their electricians can service those lights.

[SexyAmerican]

15 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Well I have set it to automatically follow every topic I comment... I don't receive any notifications at all.

 

@OP

If the camera is going to be fixed in that same spot all the time, then get some type of permanent mount instead of a tripod (wall, ceiling, whatever) and the camera should come with the following:

• AC power cable so that the batteries do not need to be changed
• SDI or HDMI out so that the video doesn't have to be recorded onto a memory card
• An IR remote (or LANC port) or some type of remote triggering/control system to start/stop recording

Put the camera permanently placed somewhere (where people can't touch it without a ladder or some other access) and remotely do things.

 

Today I was asked to sub for a photographer friend who came down with the flu, covering an event that lasted 10 hours.  There was also a camera crew there filming and live streaming and they told me sometimes I got in the way of their cameras.  I told them if the central camera used for streaming was going to remain at that spot all the time and would never pan left and right more than a few degrees to cover the people sitting on the stage in front, they should've ceiling mounted the camera and used a motorized setup (because I do have such a setup for when I have to do the same type of coverage).   This way the camera angle covering the people on stage would never get me inside the frame.  The camera would be looking at the people from slightly above and I or any other photographer would be free to move around below.

 

If it were outdoors, I'd use a crane or jib setup to cover such events if I wasn't going to be roaming around the event with a camera.  Indoors, ceiling mount or hanging from the ceiling is a way to go, and most conference centers already have fixtures and rails in the ceiling for mounting lights and have electric ladders or whatever they call it so that their electricians can service those lights.

 

That makes sense. It is just hard because we run a micro hdmi to hdmi into a switcher from the camera, so in order to mount it on the ceiling we would have to run about 50ft of cable. 

We currently have the camera mounted to a motorized mount on top of a solid pole and that is screwed into the sound booth itself. Just trying to figure the best way to absorb that shock, but if we can't make just mounting it to the ceiling and running the hdmi over cat6 back to the switcher would be best.

[AkiraDaarkst]

7 hours ago, SexyAmerican said:

 

That makes sense. It is just hard because we run a micro hdmi to hdmi into a switcher from the camera, so in order to mount it on the ceiling we would have to run about 50ft of cable. 

We currently have the camera mounted to a motorized mount on top of a solid pole and that is screwed into the sound booth itself. Just trying to figure the best way to absorb that shock, but if we can't make just mounting it to the ceiling and running the hdmi over cat6 back to the switcher would be best.

Running 50 ft of HDMI might not be a good idea, have you considered HDMI to SDI converters and run a long SDI cable instead?  Or use Wireless HDMI transmission system?  Or running the HDMI over CAT6 would also work.

[Aereldor]

17 hours ago, SexyAmerican said:

 

That makes sense. It is just hard because we run a micro hdmi to hdmi into a switcher from the camera, so in order to mount it on the ceiling we would have to run about 50ft of cable. 

We currently have the camera mounted to a motorized mount on top of a solid pole and that is screwed into the sound booth itself. Just trying to figure the best way to absorb that shock, but if we can't make just mounting it to the ceiling and running the hdmi over cat6 back to the switcher would be best.

50 feet of HDMI is completely unnecessary- you don't need to stick it on the roof, where it's going to more trouble than it's worth to get to.

 

I did suggest the wall-mount. Just put it eight feet up as close to its original position as possible. You don't need too much cable either. Is the original position of the camera (near the sound booth) close to a wall or a pillar of some sort? Is it close to a light rack or a speaker stand? You could mount it to either of those too, if they're available.

Alternatively, you could do as I suggested. Put it on a tripod and close it off to people using barriers. I mentioned people bumping into my cameras at one of my performances. I put one behind the cash register, which is closed off from the rest of the venue by wooden shelves, so nobody bumped into it there.

[Aereldor]

17 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Well I have set it to automatically follow every topic I comment... I don't receive any notifications at all.

That's weird. You usually get notifications for every reply on a topic you're following. That's how it works with me and most other users.

 

At any rate, my point stands. OP gets a notification whether you quote him or not, and there's no need to contextualize the first response in a thread because OP's the only other person on it so far.

[AkiraDaarkst]

16 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

That's weird. You usually get notifications for every reply on a topic you're following. That's how it works with me and most other users.

 

At any rate, my point stands. OP gets a notification whether you quote him or not, and there's no need to contextualize the first response in a thread because OP's the only other person on it so far.

Frankly I don't care.

[SexyAmerican]

2 hours ago, Aereldor said:

50 feet of HDMI is completely unnecessary- you don't need to stick it on the roof, where it's going to more trouble than it's worth to get to.

 

I did suggest the wall-mount. Just put it eight feet up as close to its original position as possible. You don't need too much cable either. Is the original position of the camera (near the sound booth) close to a wall or a pillar of some sort? Is it close to a light rack or a speaker stand? You could mount it to either of those too, if they're available.

Alternatively, you could do as I suggested. Put it on a tripod and close it off to people using barriers. I mentioned people bumping into my cameras at one of my performances. I put one behind the cash register, which is closed off from the rest of the venue by wooden shelves, so nobody bumped into it there.

I think we are going to just mount it to the wall behind us as it was previously. I think it would be the least headache. Thanks for the ideas both of you!

[Aereldor]

Just now, SexyAmerican said:

I think we are going to just mount it to the wall behind us as it was previously. I think it would be the least headache. Thanks for the ideas both of you!

Glad I could help. Make sure you purchase a solid, heavy-duty wallmount; not one of those flimsy monoprice CCTV mounts that cost $6 on Amazon.