Waiting on the rain

It's supposed to rain today.  The sky has been filled with clouds since I woke up.  The air is humid enough where one hopes and prays for rain.  We NEED rain.  So I'm waiting on it.  But while I'm waiting, I've been playing with some mini dv camera mounting solutions!  I've been following the Techmoan blog since shortly after I got my first D005 cam.  He really likes the keychain cam and I really like the d001/md80 and d005.  So I took his idea and adapted it for my cams.

A few months ago, Techmoan tested the HD keychain cam and then posted his 50 pound Go Pro alternative.  That got me excited.  I wasn't going to get a keychain cam but I could use his mount idea.  I scoured eBay and my parts arrived this week.

This is what I've got:

D001/MD80 in mic shock mount attached to mic "c" clamp

As you can see, the D001/MD80 slips right into the 1" shock mount but the d005 is a little bit wider so in order to make it fit, I needed an "adapter".  I made one with duct tape this morning.

The cam just slips inside.

I really liked using the velcro straps but it's time consuming to make sure the cams are secure.  The other problem with velcro strap mounting is sometimes the buttons are hard to access.  I had a big issue yesterday while riding with Daddy.  I velcroed the d005 to the rear passenger peg but because of how it rested, the cam kept turning off.  I never got video of Daddy riding!

While I'm just waiting on the rain, I stuck it on the bike to see what kind of shots I could get.

I won't be using the flashlight styled camera any more because it didn't survive getting wet when in the tank bag during the rally.  I'm not sure it was the moisture as much as the beating it took from being left in there for a few weeks.  It really isn't that big of a loss though because the sound is horrible and it's kind of like the keychain cam in that it's difficult to work.  I may get another d001 to replace it.

While I'm thinking about cams, the weather still hasn't come in yet so I decide to take my chances.  I suit up, position the cams, and take off.  First lesson:  make sure the cam is secure.  Less than a mile from the house, the mirror mounted one came loose.  Crap!  I grab it and put it on top of the tank bag until I can stop and re-secure it.  Just as I'm taking off, I discover the wide angle lens is gone.  Now I just have one dirty 180 degree lens, one clean 180 degree lens (Thanks Cruzman!), and one .67x lens.  I find I use the .67x the most but I'm not sure I'll replace the lost one.

Second lesson:  make sure the damn card has space for the vids!  I thought I deleted files off of both cams but apparently not.  I got a little bit of video but nothing worth processing and posting.  I did learn some things.  Mirror mount is too vibey with the shock mount, rear mount on passenger peg bracket is very stable.  I couldn't tell if the rear grab rail location is good or not because it started raining before I could get it right!

I'll get the video right and post another entry with it.

thanks for reading,
patrice, theWolfTamer