Any recommendations on racks/clamps/systems for easily interchanging all kinds of camera models for testing?
What does IPVM use when doing side-by-side comparisons?
That might be perfect for us, since we have 16-32 cameras lined up along windows facing street traffic for testing.
I use Manfrotto super clamps or generic lighting clamps. Many have 1/4 20 or other sockets to insert nuts and bolts.
Excellent. I've added them to this idea list. Any ideas on the poles/frames to which we'd attached rows of concurrently recording cameras?
We use DJ lighting tripods. They aren't ideal, but we've gotten used to it.
We use a heavy duty spring clamp with a Panavise 1/4" mount attached to it for box cameras or anything with a 1/4-20 mount.
For domes, we use a bolt through the dome's mounting holes and straight through the mount holes on the tripod bar. I've drilled additional holes in them in the past for higher density mounting.
That being said, I think using an octagon or 4" square box mounted to a spring clamp might be an easier way to mount domes and bullets, since so many of them ship with box adapters. We may look into that before the next bigger shootout.
For that quantity of cameras, you might also look at the double ended light stands, like this. Not as portable, but holds a lot more.
Also since it simply attached to 1.5" stands, you could pretty easily rig something up to hang from a ceiling or mount to a wall and attach the crossbars to it.
Perfect! Exactly what we needed.
If we want clean ethernet cabling, do you recommend any clamps that could run along the tripod and polls and handle 8-16 cables? (running up each side).
Great list already! http://a.co/3xTBxlj
thank you everyone these are useful comments. (for those of us in the camera torture business ;-)
how do you deal with domes. I'm getting tired of dome cameras staring at the ceiling in my lab. Should I use a 4-gang box and then figure out some way to hang that from something?
For both Carter and Rodney, I've been trying to figure out a better way of handling domes, too. I'm thinking about using a 4" square or octagon box attached to two spring clamps. Clip that to the tripod cross bar, then use the dome's box adapter (the type of thing shown below) to attach the dome to the box.
Dome -> adapter -> box -> clamp -> tripod
For those cameras without adapter plates, Arlington makes a blank one that you simply screw into, which will mount to a variety of boxes:
Historically, we've run small toggle bolts through the dome mounting holes and through the crossbar, but small toggles are notoriously weak and it's a pain to level them. So this might take more hardware and planning (we have to remember to buy adapters) but it will be cleaner and more flexible.
if you have thoughts on attaching spring clamps to an outlet box that would be interesting. You don't have to flash your awesome drawing skilz (or was that just the thumbnail output from your 3d printing tools?)
I'm feeling motivated to tie-wrap a couple of c-clamps on the back side of an octagon...
Ok, so hopefully everyone knows what I'm talking about, here's an example using an octagon box, two clamps, and an Axis P3225 (which I had on my desk and it has the box mounts built in so it was easy).
1. Two 1/2" 1/4-20 screws through the back of the box. You may need to do it in reverse (screw head on the clamp side) if the screw is too long and bumps the bar.
2. Nut on the other side to hold the clamps.
3. Attach dome adapter plate to the box (kudos to Axis, btw, for putting the icon-style (IKEA-style) indictors to show you which holes are for which style box right on the plate).
4. All done.
If you don't want them repositionable, drill holes through your crossbars and use longer bolts to attach the backbox directly. You could do the same with the boxes mounted face out (vertically) for many bullets.
I've been a fan of RAM mount equipment for demo/portable camera mounts.
Here is an example of a a 1" ball base, double socket arm and 1" ball with 1/4-20 threaded stud, mounted on a lighting tripod:
By combining various parts with a suction cup base you can create some fairly flexible mounting arrangements:
The downside is cost, you'll pay a lot more for the RAM gear, but once you have a handful of parts, you have a highly configurable set of mount options.
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