I joined the ranks of the more technologically advanced
back in February when I got my ContourGPS. Since then, I've been gotten a few new mounts for it. The first one is the suction cup mount, which I've used for quite a while now, and you have all seen the results in the videos. It gets great shots over the nose of the plane, mounted up on the windscreen. Since the view from the inside is pretty normal these days (just look on YouTube), I started to look into ways to mount a camera externally. I've seen a few people mount cameras externally using the 3M tape that came with the camera, but I'm not so sure I'd trust tape against the relative wind and turbulence. Beyond that, the planes I fly are owned by other people, and I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate tape residue all over their planes. Looking around at the automotive mounts, I thought I'd found what I was looking for: a roll bar mount.
The mount comes with a hose clamp in a rubber sleeve, which keeps it in position and avoids scratching the strut. Since the included hose clamp is meant for a three inch bar, I bought a larger clamp and wrapped it in electrical tape. The ContourGPS is marketed as resistant to water, mist and spray, but I'd prefer not to find out how resistant it really is, since it was rather expensive. Because of that, I opted to hold off until I bought one of the basic models. Though all Contour cameras all have the option for a case, I could capture more video with a second camera, so why not get another?
The ContourROAM is slightly less expensive than the ContourGPS, is waterproof to one meter, has a wider angle lens, and has an instant record switch. The latter means I don't have to worry about it being on or off before trying to start recording,
which has caused issues in the past. The still picture mode also allows a higher picture frequency than the ContourGPS (one picture per second, rather than every three seconds), which means the time lapse videos will seem a lot less jerky. My thought was that flights would be shot externally on the ContourROAM, and internally on the ContourGPS.
I tried to use the roll bar mount plus ContourROAM setup on my
flight back in August, but it wasn't sitting correctly and seemed loose in the clamp. I wasn't about to lose the camera that I had just bought and potentially damage something on the ground, so I opted to hold off on using it. The roll bar mount is for round tubes up to three inches, but the Cessna strut is larger and flattened to be more aerodynamic. Because of that, the mount sits on top of it, instead of around it. I'm still working on a solution for it, but whatever I come up with has to be absolutely secure. Beyond that, I'm still trawling the regs to see if it would be in violation of something, but if you recall, the
GoPro commercial did have externally-mounted cameras on an Extra. As to whether or not they had special approval for that or not, I have no idea.
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| The ROAM2 in its assorted colors |
For now, though, I have two more suction cup mounts on the way from Contour. One will be used with the ContourROAM to snag different camera angles, and the other will be used with a ContourROAM2 I'm hoping to snag in the near future. I have plans to add more, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. In the end, I'm hoping to have an array of cameras for an idea I have to add more to what's written here.
The ContourROAM is slightly less expensive than the ContourGPS, is waterproof to one meter, has a wider angle lens, and has an instant record switch. The latter means I don't have to worry about it being on or off before trying to start recording, which has caused issues in the past. The still picture mode also allows a higher picture frequency than the ContourGPS (one picture per second, rather than every three seconds), which means the time lapse videos will seem a lot less jerky. My thought was that flights would be shot externally on the ContourROAM, and internally on the ContourGPS.