MOC – camera mount

I just got new sets. Among them the 42028 – Bulldozer. I also want to expand on my YouTube coverage. So I imagined a plan on how to do that. I don’t want to do plain video reviews right now, though they are nice. I am also lacking proper equipment to do that in a decent quality. First on the list was the problem with filming. I only have various Smartphones and a DSLR. But my DSLR is not able to record movies. Bummer. I then remembered my “old” Smartphone also having a relatively decent camera.

In addition to that, I remembered Sariel’s not so old “behind the scenes” video where he showed off his eqipment, including various brick-built mounts. So I decided to do the following:

• make a timelapse video of the build
• record that with my old smartphone
• build a mount for the smartphone

Please note: I will refer to this mostly as camera mount, because of the function it has. While in reality it is more a smartphone mount.

So I first began to think about the perspective and after that how I could mount the Smartphone. I settled for a top-down perspective. Since I thought it would be too much work to make something for a straight top-down, I also decided to make it having a slight tilt. This is what I came up with first:

As you can see, it has a 45° tilt and you can rotate the turntable to make tilted shots. This really was the initial build. I directly used the long frame, so it would stand stable and won’t tip over easily. Also my HTC One S fits perfectly in the 1-stud gap of the holder and sits tight enough. I can even squeeze in my HTC One, but that will bend the construction a little. With this I shot the first videos.

I pondered about the design a while when I was making a version in LDD. I thought it would be useful to have the mount stand vertical, so I can make normal shots with it. So I added a few more bent liftarms.

With this, I can put this whole thing in a vertical position to make straight shots. The only problem was, that it could now tip to the sides easily. So I inserted a axle in the bent part and put some bushes at the end. Now it stands strong in both positions.

For a first Smartphone mount, I am very satisfied. It wen’t through various minor changes and right now it already is quite versatile. Right now it is stable, I can use it for various perspectives and the construction is not visible when making pictures or videos. I already have some ideas for a next version. That one will probably have mechanical tilt and the mount might be adjustable to the thickness of the smartphone.

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What do you think of it? Do you like it? Comments are very welcome, either here or on the Facebook page.

 

More hi-res pictures are available in my Brickshelf folder once moderated.

Here you can download the .lxf for the current version of the mount.

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