Speargun/camera Mount

[Jon]

I just ordered a new Rob Allen Railgun to go after the better tasting pan fish in these parts, I 'll use another gun for the carp.

So far I have been switching back and forth between my camera and my speargun when I dive. Ted just sticks with his gun and always comes back with more fish than me. Actually, Ted is a much better spearo than me and this is just my current excuse as to why he always gets more fish.

When I dive I see some really nice size fish, that I can't spear, one minute and another nice fish, that I can spear, the next. I want to be able to go back and forth "on the fly" when I am diving taking pictures of some and making dinner out of the others. Yes, I want to do it all.

I have done little bit of diving with a camera in one hand and a speargun in the other. This allowed me to get one short video clip of me spearing a fish, but it leaves me with no hand to clear my ears with on the way down.

So, my question is, are there any good ideas for mounting my camera onto my new gun without damaging either one??


Jon

 

[ivan]

hi

Jon have you seen any of Robert Torelli's spearfishing videos from over here in Oz. On spearfishing in the coral sea he is using a 1.4m picasso with a Camera on it, the camera is under the gun but not sure how it is attached he has cool footage of taking shots on tuna from this view.

If your really keen Im sure I could find his email somewhere and you could give him a buzz about what info your after.

Sweet choice on the gun you will not be dissapointed. Once you haul in a Grander marlin with it just make sure you post up here with a pic clearly showing the gun used . Err wait a minute your diving in that lake with 2ft vis right

cheers

 

[Murat]

Try to check active eye video. They have head mount camera with very compact size and good quality but i am not sure about the gun camera.But it deserve to look.I forgot the link but you can find it in Riffe web site inside the LINK section.

Hope thats help...

Take care.

 

[Jon]

Thanks Murat, but I already have a camera- Olympus C5050-Z.

I have seen pictures of Terry Mass's video camera on his bluewater gun and I want to do something similar- but a WHOLE LOT smaller. Then gun I bought was a 70cm to match the vis that we have around here when hunting.

Ivan, I would love to take a look at how Torelli mounts his camera if you have the link.


Jon

 

[Shadowkiller]

http://www.bwhi.com.au/

If you have a look around you should find a movie with the gun cam on it..

 

[Murat]

Originally posted by Shadowkiller
http://www.bwhi.com.au/

If you have a look around you should find a movie with the gun cam on it..

Yea, gun cam pointing GW's nose ! ! !. That one is cool.

Hey jon,

What is the size of your cam? Is it small enough to attach on a 70 cm euro gun?

 

[icarus pacific]

Hey Jon, send me the diameter of the barrel and a template of the bottom of the housing and I could probably whip out a mounting plate for ya. (But jeez, an RA?? :girlie )


sven

 

[Iyadiver]

If your camera has a spare mount for those flash, maybe it will be good to use that to attach the gun to if the mount is strong. I think given the gun is small, you will need to hold the camera to hold the gun ?

 

[Jon]

The camera is a small digital Olympus C5050-Z with an Olympus Japan housing. The gun is ony 70cm long because of the vis around here where we spear.

I emailed Robert T. and he said that they did NOT mount the cameras on the guns because the recoil from a 4 band tuna gun shook the camera too hard. Since mine is a small, single band, gun I shouldn't have the same problem.

I was looking to mount the camera on the right hand side of the gun. I shoot my spear gun left-handed, since I ma a south-paw to begin with , and my camera right-handed. I thought that this would work out rather nicely to mount them this way.

I was wondering about the bracket. Since I did get a "Railgun" would a bracket not interfere with the shaft groove?? If I had a simple barrel with out the shaft guide I could see putting a clamp right around the barrel. I also was planning on mounting the camera by the base plate screw. I took the extra housing weight off of the bottom because I wanted it to float and I don't need that much weight on it in fresh water to begin with.

Thanks for the offer Sven. I should get the gun within the next day or two and can send some photos if I don't figure out something first.

Jon

 

[icarus pacific]

Originally posted by Jon
if I don't figure out something first.
Jon

...yeah, but who's got that long to wait? :t

I figure you could do this a couple of ways. One would be to take a piece of aluminum tubing the diameter, cut it in slightly less than half down the middle, so you have a "U" shape, then tap a couple of 3/16" or 1/4" holes along the bottom to act as pinch bolts when the tube lays on the underside of the gun. Then weld a flat piece of 1/4" flat with a 5/16" hole drilled through with a 1/4-20 bolt kept in the hole with a couple of C-clips, off to the side of the U shape. The whole thing would resemble a letter "P" lying on it's side, with the straight part removed at the curved part of the "P".

Or you could go real cheap and drill the hole for the camera mount bolt through a no BS hose clamp. Tres cheap. The camera would be vertical, but you being the industrious type you is, you could fab up an "L" bracket to bring the thing back to horizontal.

Ya know wha I mean?


sven

 

[Shadowkiller]

Here comes a spanner.. *twack*

Uhmm on the RA's the shooting line runs along the bottom of the barrel, so any mounting will have to be positioned to avoid fouling the line release.

Maybe you would be best off mounting a plate on top of the triggermech. Remove the safety (pointless device) and use the hole it lives in for a mounting screw. Just make sure the screw is thin enough so the trigger can still be pulled.

 

[ivan]

hi

Jon the video when Rob torrelli has a camera on his 1.4m picasso is fairly old so I think it was made in 1997 but he sure did have it on it shows him stoning a barracuda from the cam on gun. Maybe now like you said he is using different guns :hmm

cheers

 

[Jon]

Andrew,

He mentioned that he had mounted it to his gun in the past and they had too many problems with the recoil of the gun. As a result he no longer mounts it on the gun.

I think that he might have mentioned something about the Active Eye Video system, but I am not looking to purchase another camera at this time.

Jon

 

[ivan]

hi

On the subject of that active eye thing. Does anyone have the movie I think its called spearfishing the Palm beaches in florida or something like that. It was supposed to have that active eye thing and also some big Cobia

cheers

 

[Iyadiver]

Ivan,

I have that Palm Beach movie and I bought it just to see what kind of resolution the head mounted camera can offer. I find it still below the resolution of a typical Sony TRV900 DV. The gun used on the reef hunts are all RA-s.

There is another series of the video where the supposed to shoot pelagic somewhere but me have not got the video.

 

[ivan]

hi

Ahh sweet Iya what about the Cobia any good ones, deep dives etc.

cheers

 

[Jon]

I just got the gun and tired it out this morning. I came back with a lot more fish than normal because this gun is a much better size for the vis we have around here.

I have a question about the gun. I thought that Rob Allen's floated? Do they float only in salt water? My gun would float only IF the shaft was out of the barrel. Is there a special floating muzzel that I need to get, or do I just foam the inside of it myself?

Still no camera mount, just got the gun, so no pictures this time.

Jon

 

[fuzz]

I'm pretty sure they float only when the shaft is out as yours does. Most euroguns are designed that way.

 

[icarus pacific]

Most all guns will only float w/o the shaft in them, Jon. In fact I don't know of any that do.

While the benefits of having a gun that would float with the shaft in are debatable and a matter of preference, I can see having this option being a good deal where you're at, viz and muck-wise. If you do decide to foam the barrel, use only the two part polyurethane foam, not the scmeg out of the aerosol can. And foam the barrel in small shots, not one big happy load.

Man, I know this one's coming back to me...:hmm


sven

 

[ivan]

hi

Jon sweet gun eh, what setup have you got shaft and band. My mates Picasso basik 100 with a 6mm shaft is the only gun that Ive seen that floated with the shaft in.

cheers