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Stabilizing Your Camera In A Driving Car
How many times have you driven in a car in an African safari, mounted your top-ultra-tele-zoom and waited for that giraffe to come by?
Never? You must be kidding!
Ok, so how many times have you driver a car with your zoom lens and wanted to take a shot, only to find out that your window is not a good enough tripod to take a shot?
I have. My kids and I love to go to the zoo. After visiting the birds and the monkeys, there is a special treat. A safari-like stretch of land, with no concrete, and no cages. It is a big piece of land, which real-estate sharks have been eye-balling for years, but for some miraculous force are unable to grab.
Is this urban savanna you can drive and see Ostriches running, hippos bathing in the pool and other savanna animals - a Lion King lover's festival.
The question is, how to photograph them. The animals are quite distant from the road, calling for a big telephoto lens. The long lens calls for a tripod, but you really, really don't want to get out of the car. Meeting a hippo face to face is not what they tell you on Madagascar.
The obvious solution is to use your window as a place to rest your lens on, like a hobo tripod. The thing is that the window edge is not the most comfortable object in the world to rest a lens on.
One thing that you can do is keep a bean bag in the car. They are small, provide excellent mount and you can even make them yourself. Now you can roll down the window, place a bean bag on the car and TADA!! An instant tripod. As with any good idea there is also a commercial version, but really, you can make an afternoon out of making those with your kids and spare a buck.
Another option, which is shown in the image below, is to use a pipe insulator. Pipe insulators are just like long pipes made of foam. Styrofoam, actually. They are soft, and easily cut along the "long side". The cut along the insulator makes the perfect mod to connect the pipe to the car's window. This is just what I did to my pipe.
Once you place the insulator on the window's edge, you can comfortably rest the lens on it. You can elevate the window to get a better angle on the birds.
And I'll give an extra 10 points if you know who the guy with the funny face is :)
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Comments
Hmmm...
Wait, who's driving?
I was thinking the same thing when I took the shot
Just kidding. The shotgun is taking the pictures. The image in this article was taken by my wife. with me riding shotgun and the car safely rested.
Stabilising mount
Cool idea, though i use a light weight bungy cord tied off to the handle above the door. If you set it to the middle of the window it will take the weight of the lens and you can be more flexible in which ever direction you wish to point the lens. it will mean you can shoot at lower shutter speeds whilst the engine is on. However I will use the insulator to prevent damage to the glass and camera.
Another thing to do is push the seat back as far as it can go, this will give you some shoulder and elbow room.
If you are in a city doing this make sure your central locking is on and the camera bag is on the footwell. Some thieves will spot that expensive camera kit and next time you are caught in traffic your car doors will be vulnerable.
Happy New Year
Rich
Office Max has these little
Office Max has these little bean bags that are supposed to be used as wrist support that cost about $5 US. Really light weight but are pretty good at holding a camera steady. You'll need a couple if you have a telephoto lens.
Good idea
I'm off on safari in a couple of months, and was contemplating this exact topic - especially with my new 500mm lens.
My train of thought, until now, was to get a couple of L brackets (the sort of thing you'd mount a shelf with), a 3/8 screw, and some rubber padding to make a sort-of clamp that would fit over the car window and allow me to use my tripod head.
Thanks for the pipe idea!
Another trick to stabilize your camera i the car
This is a great topic and a very simple DIY project. I have kept 2 DIY beanbags of different sizes in my truck for years. One trick that I learned is that I use the smaller beanbag on the window or door edge. Once I get my lens in position on the beanbag, I then take the larger beanbag and set it on top of my lens. The added weight on top of the lens makes a big difference in how well my rig is stabilized.
Let's not stop with
Let's not stop with Safaris... this is perfect for Canadian photographers who see a great landscape but REALLY don't want to get out of the car is -20C. (Pointing fingers at myself here)
I realize this is not
I realize this is not DIY---but they do make relatively cheap window mounts. I use one for my lightning/thunderstorm shots so I can remain in relative comfort in my truck.
Here's an example--they make much better mounts--but I use one similar to this and it works fine. http://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-784407C-Car-Window-Mount/dp/B000F4GIA2/re...
Thank you!
Those were simple "why didn't I think of that?" ways to successfully use my camera in my car.
True, but how to make it clear?
What you're saying is good and true, I can put that thing on the window and take the picture or just keep the window fully down, and take a normal photo.. But always when shooting and you're still, you get clearer picture than when you're moving.. I thought you're gonna teach us about that. I can stabilize my camera in a car, but not in a driving car.
Window bean bag
I make a window mount which increases the glass width from 4mm to 90mm and has a detachable suede beanbag on top to cushion the lens.
Have a look at the above webpage, the product is unique in that it can be left on the window for instant use, no fiddling with ball heads or attachments - grab your camera and shoot!
The pipe insulation idea is fine as a cushion, but you still end up with a very narrow contact area for the lens, not ideal.
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