Bracket or similar widget to fit camcorder on light stand?

[Nigel Barker]

On Thursday I filmed a wedding in a small room where there wasn't enough room to put my locked off camera on a tripod on the groom's side. I was able to work round it by putting a GoPro Hero 2 high up on a light stand among some potted plants. The GoPro was on a small Gorillapod which I taped to the stand. I would have preferred to use my 5D3 or XF105 but didn't have a suitable bracket to fit the camera on the 3/8" screw & angle it down some. I am sure that the exact bracket I am looking for must exist but I haven't been able to find it with some casual Googling & search on eBay/Amazon but I am sure that people here will have found a solution & even have a link. I have seen some ball heads with QR plates which are a bit expensive & overkill for what I want which is basically a little bracket that allows me to tilt the camera down a little. Thanks in advance.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Nigel

Most light stands do have either a 3/8" or 1/4" stud on the top and I have a few cheap (but nice) ball heads with a sorta 35mm ball that has both a 3/8" and 1/4" thread in the bottom. Mine have QR plates but you can also get them even cheaper with a fixed 1/4" bolt that goes into the camera...that way I have total tilt control. On the QR plate ones I have stuck a GoPro Adhesive flat mount on the plate and the GoPro slides straight in! (I leave the QR plate on the head and just slip the Hero in place!!

The non QR ones are really cheap like less than $10!!

Chris

[Peter Riding]

Just use an Ebay magic arm. Search for Friction Arm, there are loads of vendors. Get one with a clamp and you can simply attach it to any lightstand or piece of furniture etc. The jaws open almost as wide as Manfrotto Superclamps so they are very versatile. They also come with hotshoe fittings. I asked a vendor and they supplied the hotshoe version plus a clamp -great :-) I have three of the 7" ones and one of the 11" ones. They are also great for attaching audio recorders to lecturns, video lights to fixtures etc.

11 inch Variable Friction Accessory Magic Arm + Clamp for LED Light HDMI Monitor | eBay

I used to use simple ball and socket heads on lightstands but it is a real challenge to get the cam horizontal especially if you need to do it in a hurry such as when changing positions. So now I have two lightstands with the small Manfrotto 701 pan and tilt heads on and a third with the pistol grip -which is highly versatile if you are on uneven floors or outside.

Get the £8 Gopro tripod adapter to quickly attach the Gopro to any standard 1/4" 20 male.

Pete

[Nigel Barker]

Thanks for the suggestions. After some more thorough searching of eBay I have found exactly what I wanted which is this cheap little tripod ball head 360 Swivel BALL HEAD Tripod Monopod Bracket Stand for Video Camera Quick Release | eBay I'll probably get a couple of the magic arms too.

[Peter Riding]

Nigel, many of the small ball heads have insufficient friction to hold anything other than the lightest of loads. I have a bunch of them from Ebay gathering dust.

The best I have found by far is the FLM CB18 - it will hold a 5DII / III at an angle without any creep. They aren't the cheapest at £18 but they punch far above their weight and are of course discreet.

FLM CB18 Ball Head - Ball Socket

You can get 3/8th to 1/4 convertors easily enough n.b. the CB18 is 1/4"

Hama 3/8 to 1/4 Adaptor 5121 - Screw Adaptors

Worth having pliers or suchlike accessible as all these things can get wedged onto threads too tight to undo by hand.

The magic arms enable you to offset the body and lens combo to get the best centre of gravity.

Pete

[Andy Wilkinson]

Some good suggestions already on this thread - some of which I also use in corporate/event work (as I don't do weddings).

Another device I've found invaluable is one of these Joby Gorillapods. Make sure you get a heavy duty one like the SLR Zoom version (and it is therefore not that cheap plus you need a ball head for it like the one mentioned above) but it'll easily hold a Canon DSLR and L lens like my 7D or lighter Panasonic TM900 with its legs wrapped round a tree branch, curtain pole, window latch, car roof bars etc. etc. for some B cam locked off or unusual shots.

It's often more versatile than putting the cam on top of a light stand - depends what attachment options are available in the room, on the walls etc. to wrap those legs around! One big advantage is that at least you don't have to worry about someone knocking over or tripping/nudging the outsplayed legs of a light stand.

JOBY GorillaPod SLR-Zoom - Portable, flexible tripod for telephoto lens cameras

Also, B Hague have some interesting attachments (but I don't have any of these specific ones).

http://www.b-hague.co.uk/hague_camer...ets_mounts.htm

EDIT: Just re-read the OP more carefully - Gorillapod is already in the kit! Anyway links will be useful to someone!