Perils of the Samo-cam

Still needs tweaking - the Samo-cam, a handlebar mounted rig for the G12

It works!

The much-anticipated Samo-cam MK1 was tested today at the MPSJ health ride.
I rigged it with a remote shutter release cable fastened to my right hand grip and tried it with flash and the results were disastrous.
Vibration from the ground and lateral force yielded some blur shots.
This was not as bad as shooting it handheld. All I need to do, is to stretch out the neck strap with one hand and fire away.
Previous results with this technique were acceptable.
The Samo-cam MK1 however, did perform well in broad daylight.
Some of the chase shots I made was quite decent, yielding crispy clear and sharp images of the ride.
What I found flawed, was the threaded base.
Due to vibration and lateral force, the medium hygrofriction arm was loosened.
I think the solution is to thread-lock it and I have just the tool for the job.
Two parts on the Samo-cam needs to be tweaked.
First is the base thread and the micro ballhead.
Hopefully, with the problems at bay, I can test it again in Broga next week!

Mo better gadgets

Getting some flak - the massively souped-up Curve SL

The right stuff: Manfrotto's nano-clamp, medium hygrofriction arm and 492 micro ballhead

I drew some flak for showing my new camera rigs.
First, some dude was poking fun. Said that I better pack in an M-16, AK-47, bla-bla-bla, ding-dong-ding-dong.. 
That was okay.
The practical guys (whose ideas and advice I truly appreciate) said the ball-joint may not be steady.
True. No arguments about that.
But can we improvise? Of course.
What I showed, was how a super clamp, magic arm and quick release plate can be mounted on the bike.
There's no way that I would ride it without attaching a safety wire on it.
On the other hand, the medium hygrofriction arm, nano clamp and micro ballhead on my Dahon Curve SL's handle would seem like a viable option.
All I need to add for remote capture, is a remote control..