Better way to mount your GoPro

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If you mount the Hero3 Black as prescribed, the lens is not centred between the landing struts, and it is slightly too far back. The result is that the landing struts get in the way of the JPEGS captured by the fish eye lens of the Hero3.

To solve this problem, I cut two small rectangular strips out of a soft plastic plaster spreader, drilled a hole in each end, and inserted them, off centre, between the mount of the Phantom and the mount on the GoPro; here is a picture. I then used two plastic screws with plastic nuts to hold everything together- they are lighter and smaller than using the metal screws that come with the GoPro, and also reduce vibration and therefore, the jello effect. Notice I used sandpaper to round both ends of the two plastic strips. Also, you should lay the two strips one on top of the other, and then drill the holes through both strips- this keeps everything square.

NuJE5bp.jpg

The two little plastic strips with their rounded ends and holes for the screws are circled, and the arrows point to the two plastic screws that hold everything together. Notice in the picture below that the upper nut is placed between two of the vertical members of the Phantom mount.

Notice that this allows the camera to be offset twice- once at the mount with the Phantom, and then a second time at the camera. The result is that the camera lens is more centred between the landing struts, and is slightly more forward; here is another picture.

GwUHeZH.jpg

The arrows point to the two nuts, and the red rectangles outline the plastic inserts.

The other advantage of this arrangement is that I can actually tilt the camera underneath the Phantom and take vertical shots. If you do this, though, the picture does capture the landing pads.
 
I like it! I also really like the idea of being able to capture vertical images with such a simple mount.
 
Here is a panorama shot using the modified mount- no struts!

JnMZtwn.jpg


Here's an unedited vertical test shot; worked great- but, of course, the horizontal portion of the landing struts do get in the way because the GoPro is right up underneath the Phantom. If I wanted to take a lot of vertical pictures, I could use longer plastic inserts, which would position the camera lower down, at the same level as the struts. Then I would just need to be careful not to have the camera lens hit the ground first when landing or, as I usually do- just grab the Phantom out of the air.

CgSyi5l.jpg


So it's easy to crop out the struts, rotate the image 90°, and, presto- a clean picture looking straight down.

I1gOpdD.jpg
 
This is a great idea. After fabricating a mount per these instructions, I made a separate one that is strictly for downward shots. I made the length of the mounting arms so that the front of the GoPro case was about a quarter of an inch above the bottom of the skids so that the camera will not touch the ground (assuming a soft landing, that is!).
 

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