Experience with mounting a camera outside a car

@Patrick @tastrax the magnetic signs I ordered arrived.

Haven’t driven with them yet but they stick on nicely and I can take them off at the end of the drive very easily.
I need to cut them to size though as they’re too big for the side of my car.


Pretty happy with them though so will talk with the design team about doing some more.

Very nice - with a bit of resizing you could get three or four on the same sheet in portrait mode.

Can you place a scalable graphic somewhere as I have a local sign shop that can probably produce some for me.

I could use magnetic stickers.
I would use them when I have my camera on my car roof.

But I do not do that often as Mapillary does not support action cameras.

@tastrax have a look at the assets here. They should do the job for you.

Mounting a GoPro stick like this seems like it would be awesome to use for some great out front road trip footage which is what I’d like to use them for in my case, I always wondered based on whatever laws that they wanna make up, whether or not a windshield mount would be kosher with some anal law enforcement officer who pulls you over and says you cannot have that thing mounted to the windshield. Could have sworn I heard somewhere that that was a no-no! Anyone have the scoop on that? If mounted on your windshield (obviously not in your safe field of view !) could a LEO nail you for that? Anyone know?

As you say, it 100% depends on local laws. I use the pointer that if people can mount a GPS or dash cam, then an action cam is ok. One thing is sure, if someone hits you from the side, or the car flips around, you may get it flying in you head like a bullit.

I use very strong magnets of an old hard disk.You can hardly remove the mount and it is tested up to 130 km/h.

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Cool idear. I have a bunch of dead drives and will try to open one when I get the time.

The platters also can be used to make some wind chimes, if you’re so inclined! :grin:

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Will add nothing new, only for inspiration :slight_smile:

First mount (no photo) for GoPro camera was on windshield with GoPro suction cup.

Later replaced with custom mount on grille. USB power from inside. (Not on actual pictures, camera was secured with wire. But camera never fall down)

360 cams (theta m15 and Mijia) were on GoPro suction cup. (up to 100km/h without problem, always properly cleaned surface of roof under holder)

Last one for Mijia is on roof rack.

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Even though the 360 camera is mounted fairly close to the cars roof, I think it creates a really nice panorama. If liftet 0.5 -1 meter it would only get a little bit extra of the ground. When I get the oppotunity to mount a 360 camera on a car, I will keep in mind, that I do not need a gigantic rig to lift it high.

Well yes. It’s quite low. Yellow part is 120mm high.
I have already designed new piece 2x 150mm https://photos.app.goo.gl/qZfTAv91eeHYMpCY8 :slight_smile:
Just thinking about how to design individual parts to make them foldable, but it probably will not be worth the effort.

The test autonomous setup traveled 300 km in 3 hours. External battery under the hood

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If you look carefully you’ll find an even bigger battery under the hood, easy to use with an adapter.

I found this video useful for mounting Gopro on car

Manfrotto clamp on roofrail:

I was thinking of using Manfrotto/Hague equipment, but it’s just so expensive.
Will probably end up switching to magnets as kind of tired being afraid about the suction cups

Here’s my setup:

When it’s not used, it’s folded like this:

Works fine at 90km/h. It may look slim, but it’s a rigid construction with everything bolted.

The roof bars I used:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/362159902188
(the exact item is out of stock, but you got the idea, there are plenty of similar ones)

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I am sure you will find an even bigger battery under the hood.

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I’ve finally given up on suction cups and switched to magnets (essentially mothballing a lot of equipment). So far, I like them a lot: they seem much more stable/reliable, adhere to even dirty metal, are more compact and don’t mind temperature differences.
The magnets I use are large-ish rubberised discs with neodymium magnet elements arranged in a circle, with the normal 1/4" thread mount in the centre. I stick a gopro adapter+extension on it to raise the cameras.
The only downside is, well, magnetism - some roof panels are plastic on one of the cars I use, so it limits mounting areas a bit.