Stands for Taking POV's

[coolbeans326]

I was wondering what kinda stand do you use to film on rollercoasters, and crap? This was brought up over at ACN, and the dude never answered, so what do they look like, how much, and where?

umm, you dont use a stand, you hold onto it. anyways, if you mean stands that attach to the coaster, you wont find one, the manufacters usually have to make it to fit their custom fit train.

[coolbeans326]

crap, then how do you get these amuter pov's with really still picture?

Hang on to the camera for dear life and hope to God it doesn't get jerked out of your hands. Try to press it against a non moving surface such as the restraints...I've never taken a POV video, just a few onride shots

Lets see: Six Flags Magic Mountain or Cedar Point?

lol.. why do you think onride videos of steel coasters always come out better than the wooden ones? just hold on to the camera for dear life. actually, i heard a story that this guy went to film sros @ sfne and the park made him glue AND duct tape the camera to a glove which was then duct taped to his hand and arm. i saw the video on his web site and it turned out so-so. he was only allowed to film the drop though [:(] and i wish i knew what site that was.. but get permission from the park first, then do everything you can to hold on to the thing!

[Dirk_Ermen]

at my typhoon onride i just hold on the camera tight enough and try to get the best onride i tried to make. [:)]

Ive taken onride on several coasters now, and to be honest trying to capture a wooden coaster is ridiculously hard. If you watched the onrides in the vids section of the Blackpool wooden coasters you'll see what i mean. A technique i used on Stampida at Port Aventura was to learn forward, grip the camera really tight with both hands, and lean your elbows on the restraint and the camera on the front of the train. Obviously Stampida is fairly new, so unlike the Grand National it wasnt ridiculously bumpy, which allowed me the rest the camera on the train unlike GN. Sit down steel coasters are fairly easy. The track is generaly smooth and most of the time you can just rest the camera in your lap. I guess there is no real way to take a good onride, just hold on for dear life and hope for the best.

It depends on your camera. If you wanne take a great on-ride you will need a optical image stabilize. Not digital. If you got this, and hold on you should get a pretty good video. But most cameras doesn't have this, so you would propably have to pay a lot for one.

[coolbeans326]

I want to hear Xtreme15's techinique, he seems to have rediculously smooth POV's. Or did he steel them?(music plays in the backround, everbody else gasps)

Xtreme15 i believe uses the technique i mentioned which was just to let the camera rest on the restraint/lap. Also Montu looks to be a nice smooth ride, so the camera wouldnt jerk all over the place

For Steel coasters you can do some handy work and get a really good tight grip clamp. If you can get one that applies a GOOD amount of force, you can possibly get permission from parks that otherwise wouldnt let you. (like Paramount or Cedar Fair)

Otherwise, you do just need to hold on. I prefer to hold it against my chest firmly, but not too firmly. Let the forces move the camera around a little bit to dampen the blows, but not too much.


As for wooden coasters, 3 words. Wide Angle Lens. The wider you get, the more stable your shot will be. Why? Because your FOV is wider and not so narrow. Thus, when the camera shakes its filtered out through the wide angle of the lens.

You can apply this theory easily. Take your camera, zoom as far in as you can go and shake it. Then zoom back out and shake it the exact same amount. Because you are zoomed it every movement is magnified. So, a wide angle lens will increase your FOV and give a much more stable shot.

Thats how Robb Alvey's wood coaster POV's come out so great. ACN uses a mount for steel coasters but his wooden ones arent too good because his lens isnt wide enough.

[coolbeans326]

you got any pictures of this clamp you speak of?