GoProing tips (plexi and exterior)

[James331]

Hey guys,

Thought I'd get the thoughts of the group, I'm new to gopros so I wanted to get y'alls 2 cents.

I recently got a GoPro off POA, it's got the filter, nflight audio cable and the suction cup, and just got a handle bar mount and a dive case too (like the original case but a little more beefed up), plane is a skywagon amphib.

My thoughts are

Interior:
Clean right side of windshield with pledge, chean suction cup, install on the rear middle upper edge of the windshield, use the Skelton case, filter and audio cable into the headset jack on the right side.


Exterior:

Go pro dive case, no filter.

Handlebar mount off the bottom of the tail stinger, activate via wifi.


Id be filming in 1080 narrow view, also just updated to firmware V3.0


Anything I'm missing, or anything seem like it's a bad idea here?
Guessing the suction cup won't hurt my windshield right?

Thanks!

 

[Shawn]

Guessing the suction cup won't hurt my windshield right?

No problomes on this one. I have three Ram suction cup mounts...iPhone, water bottle holder and timer...zero issues so far with the windshield after three years.

 

[dans2992]

On the tail, you may get crap (bugs dirt, etc) kicked up by the prop and onto the lens. Been there, done that.

On a low-wing, I've had the best luck with mounting to the tie down rings under the wings.

 

[Blindrage]

I mount to the left seat windscreen. It tucks close enough that it does not get in the way of my head or looking out that side (PA28). It also captures out the front, left side, all the panel, and most of what I am doing with the controls.

Using the audio cable is great because it captures all the radio stuff for when I am looking back on the vids for my own training.

Either get a larger external battery or a charger that works with the planes systems so that you can do even CC flights with recording from start to finish; not sure a good tip if you are mounting external.

 

[James331]

I mount to the left seat windscreen. It tucks close enough that it does not get in the way of my head or looking out that side (PA28). It also captures out the front, left side, all the panel, and most of what I am doing with the controls.

Using the audio cable is great because it captures all the radio stuff for when I am looking back on the vids for my own training.

Either get a larger external battery or a charger that works with the planes systems so that you can do even CC flights with recording from start to finish; not sure a good tip if you are mounting external.

Anyway to use the audio cable and the charger at the same time? adapter maybe?

 

[Maciej]

Use a graduated neutral density filter to get the proper propeller blur.

 

[Mtns2Skies]

Don't mount it anywhere in the exhaust stream(even far away). I did that once and only the first 3 minutes of the flight were visible before the camera case got covered in oil.

 

[JLowe]

On the tail, you may get crap (bugs dirt, etc) kicked up by the prop and onto the lens. Been there, done that.

On a low-wing, I've had the best luck with mounting to the tie down rings under the wings.

I don't agree to this. I bought a RAM mount for my iPad a few years ago and put it on the windscreen. With my polarized glasses on I can forever see the circle where it was attached. I no longer use suction cups to attach anything to the windscreen.

 

[G-Man]

Don't mount it anywhere in the exhaust stream(even far away). I did that once and only the first 3 minutes of the flight were visible before the camera case got covered in oil.

Okay, this has to be a pretty funny video during minutes 2-5!

 

[Stewartb]

I screwed a RAM mount under the tail on a sacrificial inspection cover. That's by far my favorite location for forward facing. I have a RAM mount attached to my left wing strut near the top. It works okay but tends to get buffeted when pointed forward. I like it for looking at the gear. I made a clamp that grips my Skywagon's lift rings and screwed a RAM ball to that. That's a cool perspective providing you have a good ND filter to get rid of the prop interference. It also makes a great rear view shot. Wifi control is a battery killer. Not everyone agrees but I adjust my GoPro and Virb cams to the narrowest FOV they have. Experiment with it to see what you prefer.

I like filters that protect the camera. This rock hit left a mark.

 

[eman1200]

I slapped a suction mount on the pilot side window for every single lesson during ppl training. I don't recall every seeing a 'coffee cup ring' on the window, but it's also probably shtty glass to begin with. I haven't used too many other mounting locations, mainly cause I'm a lowly renter.

 

[James331]

Well I'm chicken about the window thing, think I'll use that handle bar mount that I bought for the stinger, with the fat rubber insert, and clamp it to the v-brace

I screwed a RAM mount under the tail on a sacrificial inspection cover. That's by far my favorite location for forward facing. I have a RAM mount attached to my left wing strut near the top. It works okay but tends to get buffeted when pointed forward. I like it for looking at the gear. I made a clamp that grips my Skywagon's lift rings and screwed a RAM ball to that. That's a cool perspective providing you have a good ND filter to get rid of the prop interference. It also makes a great rear view shot. Wifi control is a battery killer. Not everyone agrees but I adjust my GoPro and Virb cams to the narrowest FOV they have. Experiment with it to see what you prefer.

I like filters that protect the camera. This rock hit left a mark.

Any reason you didn't mount it to the stinger?

 

[Stewartb]

You mean the tail spring? An inspection cover cost me about $4. I put the painted one away for safe keeping and put the RAM base on the primed plate. It's been there for years. The tail spring is too close to the ground and moves too much. Are you thinking of doing this on floats? On the lift rings would stay dryer!

 

[Blindrage]

Anyway to use the audio cable and the charger at the same time? adapter maybe?

You need a battery eliminator of some type to do both at once. The audio cable connects to the micro-USB port, and the eliminator connects to the bus port; at least on version 4, I have seen them for other version that connect somewhere else.

 

[3 in the green]

For in-cockpit footage, I prefer a ceiling mount. I've used the suction mount on the windscreen with zero issues, however, sometimes the footage is wavy because of the vibrations.

Depends on the plane of course as to whether or not this option works for you, but our 172 has one of the removable (slide out) 3M sticky mounts stuck up on the ceiling in the middle. Put the camera up there, slightly angled down, in upside-down mode and make sure your spot metering is on. The mount is of course semi-permanent when stuck up there like that - however, I'm sure it would come off with a putty knife and clean up with some goof-off if for some reason you wanted it removed.

You'll get a fantastic view of the panel, out the front windscreen, and even your control inputs.

Here's an example (not my footage). You'll see how it's mounted in the first min or so (first camera looking back), and then at around the 2 min mark you'll see what that footage looks like.