Attaching Camera to outside of car

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Michael
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Okay so I'm not sure if this is even in the right section of the forum so someone please tell me if it isn't. Basically I'm looking for a way to attach my dslr onto the roof of my car in order to do some long exposures, at night, whilst driving.

Can this be done relatively cheaply? I'm guessing this is the same as everything in that you get the quality (and therefore reliability) that you pay for. Apologies if this has been covered a 1000 times before, if so just post me a link (y)
 
Manfrotto F1000 suction cup and the correct mount would work best, not completely sure if I'd want to go road speeds with it though. Basically parts of a rig.
 
Yes a gopro 3
 
Ghost hd B-)
 
Those are cameras though aren't they? i just want something like a ball head attached to a suction pod to mount my dslr on that I have confidence in.
 
a car rig

Porsche-911-Rig-Picture-setup-1.jpg
 
ID IV and a 70-200mm f2.8L II

cup1.jpg
 
rig shots and real driving speeds are two different things though.

I'd also not fancy my chances with the cops either! How much is the fine for an unsafe load?
 
Not as much as a camera bouncing down the road. Will cost.

Rigs are used at speeds below 5mph really. I'd trust a suction cup like Admirable posted to about 20mph if need be, but on a flat surface, and not on the road.

A GoPro doesn't cost a huge amount more than the suction cup and mount would, at least not an older used one.
 
Hmmm okay so the two major issues I'm going to have is ensuring it remains secure at decent speeds and not getting stopped and fined by the police.. Starting to go off the idea...

I'm basically after creating photos such as this. How do you suggest this has been managed?
 
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That particular image has been done when driving fast and you can tell that it was fast by virtue of it only being a 2 second exposure but there is also quite a bit of camera movement in the exposure for such as short long exposure....the best of these types of shots are done at much slower speeds (vehicular speed) with much longer exposures, most of the best are done at sub 5mph, it not actually un heard of for the engine to not even be running and actually pushing the car to ensure a smooth vibration free exposure...,

That type of photo you linked I doubt if camera was actually out of the car it was more than likely a camera inside of the car with either a wedged in tripod or a suction mount

Within the car photography and rigging circles the standard is almost the manfrotto suction cups discussed above

Like http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manfrotto-Suction-Cup-Mn-241V/dp/B00006H2XF

One of the best in the art is Andrew (AndWhyNot) who is a member here (y) you can see some of his excellent examples of this style here http://www.flickr.com/photos/andwhynot/sets/72157610886216957/
 
Personally, I'd get an Abaco or Weha double suction cup handle; ~$30. Drill a hole for a 1/4-20 or 3/8-16 bolt and mount a ballhead. The two I mentioned are cast aluminum and are used for handling granite slabs. They'll hold a lot more weight than those manfroto cups. (abaco also makes a triple cup version for ~$50)

There are cheap PVC versions for about 1/2 the cost but it's not worth the risk IMO.
 
MWHCVT said:
That particular image has been done when driving fast and you can tell that it was fast by virtue of it only being a 2 second exposure but there is also quite a bit of camera movement in the exposure for such as short long exposure....the best of these types of shots are done at much slower speeds (vehicular speed) with much longer exposures, most of the best are done at sub 5mph, it not actually un heard of for the engine to not even be running and actually pushing the car to ensure a smooth vibration free exposure...,

That type of photo you linked I doubt if camera was actually out of the car it was more than likely a camera inside of the car with either a wedged in tripod or a suction mount
Click to expand...

^^^^^^^this!

I think this is what the OP is missing, what you start out thinking is achieved with an external cam at high speeds usually isn't :)

Try messing around with some settings and learn exactly how slow things are to produce the speed blur you think represents hyper-speed :)

I did some tracking shots of truck racing - shot out the back of a vehicle with the truck following me.... we were doing maybe 40mph but it looks like we were at race pace!
 
Lights out said:
Okay so I'm not sure if this is even in the right section of the forum so someone please tell me if it isn't. Basically I'm looking for a way to attach my dslr onto the roof of my car in order to do some long exposures, at night, whilst driving.

Can this be done relatively cheaply? I'm guessing this is the same as everything in that you get the quality (and therefore reliability) that you pay for. Apologies if this has been covered a 1000 times before, if so just post me a link (y)
Click to expand...

Long exposure and driving at night? if it could even be achieved the pictures would be so blurred with car vibration the pictures would be crap. So forget the long exposure bit.
 
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realspeed said:
Long exposure and driving at night? if it could even be achieved the pictures would be so blurred with car vibration the pictures would be crap. So forget the long exposure bit.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but you are wrong plain and simple there are plenty of people that do it myself included
 
matthew
I would just love to see one of your photos taken from a moving car with a long exposure at night. with the time length of the exposure



As you passing anything static would become blurred to start with, even in daylight. Yes possibly could be done with a fast shutter speed,but a long exposure??????? I doubt it.
Say you did even a 10 second exposure at night from a moving car even of the car itself would produce a blurred image, and at night presumably a far longer exposure would be necessary depending on camera settings.
If you consider even shutter slap can stop a sharp picture or at least have some affect on it, think of what a moving car would cause.
 
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realspeed said:
matthew
I would just love to see one of your photos taken from a moving car with a long exposure at night. As you passing anything static would become blurred to start with, even in daylight. Yes possibly could be done with a fast shutter speed,but a long exposure???????
Click to expand...

The point is that the stuff you pass does become blurred but your vehicle remains sharp..to give the impression of great speed...I'm by no perfect at this style as I down own the rig for this particular style which is why I linked to a set by Andrew that shows some great examples I have done a few examples thought


314/366 (679) by mwhcvt, on Flickr

This was a 30 second exposure at about 10mph with my tripod secured out of the passenger window
 
realspeed said:
matthew
I would just love to see one of your photos taken from a moving car with a long exposure at night. with the time length of the exposure



As you passing anything static would become blurred to start with, even in daylight. Yes possibly could be done with a fast shutter speed,but a long exposure??????? I doubt it.
Say you did even a 10 second exposure at night from a moving car even of the car itself would produce a blurred image, and at night presumably a far longer exposure would be necessary depending on camera settings.
If you consider even shutter slap can stop a sharp picture or at least have some affect on it, think of what a moving car would cause.
Click to expand...

So what you really meant to say is the photos, in your opinion, would be crap.

Art doesn't have to be sharp...
 
To put it bluntly yes. Having said that I will have to quantify that by saying I don't understand abstract type of art in any shape or form, therefore to me there is no point in trying to produce it. Obviously everyone understands different forms of art and may think it is fantastic, but it just leaves me cold.

OK maybe I am old fashioned and a purist but I do like a picture/photograph to represent the actual scene without being messed about too much, but that's just me.

As many here and on other photographic sites may have come to realise I speak as I find without hopefully upsetting other members. One thing I can't abide is those who say great-fantastic- marvellous etc and don't really mean it but say it just to please. If one is dishonest on here then one wonders what they are like in the real world
 
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realspeed said:
To put it bluntly yes. Having said that I will have to quantify that by saying I don't understand abstract type of art in any shape or form, therefore to me there is no point in trying to produce it. Obviously everyone understands different forms of art and may think it is fantastic, but it just leaves me cold.

OK maybe I am old fashioned and a purist but I do like a picture/photograph to represent the actual scene without being messed about too much, but that's just me.

As many here and on other photographic sites may have come to realise I speak as I find without hopefully upsetting other members. One thing I can't abide is those who say great-fantastic- marvellous etc and don't really mean it but say it just to please. If one is dishonest on here then one wonders what they are like in the real world
Click to expand...

Yes but your first post on the subject was dismissive at best and at worst quite rude....just because you cannot comprehend how something could successfully be achieved/executed....or understand why someone would want to achieve that look is not about being nice or polite or sugar coating something
 
Personally, if I wanted to attach a camera to the roof of a car, I would get hold of a roof rack designed for the model of car and work from that. It should be easy enough to rig a solid mounting, either using a tripod head of some sort or a solid, machined wedge bolted securely to the rack's bar or bars. I would also rig some sort of safety strap, probably using the camera's strap attachments just in case.

While most modern art leaves me cold, that photo of Matt's interests me in that the street lighting shows the strobing effect that AC lighting gives while the red tail lights of the cars seem solid as expected. The technique of bodging the tripod out through the passenger window has allowed a significant amount of vibration to soften the car (or of course, it could just be a largish aperture not giving enough DoF).
 
I once setup a tripod in the back of my car. Two feet in either rear footwell, one wedged in the armrest hole and then strapped down for good measure. With a cable release got some pretty good shots despite driving at normal speeds.
 
I've done a similar technique as Andrew, 2 legs on the rear seat and one by the handbrake. Depending on how sculpted your car is depends how well it works, but just jam a tripod in the back, remote trigger and away, I even used flash to do 'portraits' of people driving with the outside blurred.

It's probably how this photo was done.

But yes, roof rack with a super clamp would be the most secure method I'd imagine.
 
Alright guys, many thanks for all your suggestions. I'm going to try setting up the tripod in the car, either my hama or maybe even my gorilla pod if thats easier. Will see how that goes. The roof rack is a good idea and i'll look into that once I've tried the tripod in car setup.

Thanks for the tips everyone.
 
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