Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1949)

421 MAKING A GUN CAMERA MOUNT Ideal for filming fast action, this handy accessory can easily be made at home O. L. TAPP, ACL k" Tripod Screw — Light Spring To hold =§ V HaRdwood ^/Glued to Top 1X31' Hwd. Dowel £ Aluminum Hinged Joint Mortised in Bottom P|n v Exploded Top View ~S jp I A of Hinged Joint COMPLETE DETAILS of gun camera mount are diagramed above by author. Only design change would be for side-of-camera release button, instead of on front as here. Photographs by Al Londema PERFECT BALANCE is obtained by taking your camera with you to the gunsmith to select stock. Used stocks come as low as $1.00. GUN CAMERA MOUNT is pressed back firmly against shoulder from the forward grip. On fast action, even telephotos can be used. DO you like filming ducks and deer? Birds and bird dogs? Football or the rough riding of the far-west rodeos? Then you know already the frustration of trying to film fast action of any kind from a tripod that simply cannot keep the subject in your viewfinder. A gun-type camera mount may be your answer. It was with me — at a total cost of exactly one dollar! Yes, a cash outlay of about a dollar, a few scraps of metal and a modicum of mechanical ability are all that are needed to build a complete gun-type camera mount. The one to be described is designed for use with the Bolex H-16 or H-8 camera, which has the release button in the front; it should work as well with other cameras so designed. For different placings of the release button you should be able easily to work out an adaptation. First, purchase your gun stock. A secondhand one will do, so take your camera along to your local gunsmith who usually has a number of discarded stocks on hand. There, by trying them out with the camera in position, you can select the one giving the best feel of balance. With your stock purchased, now cut it down (in length) to the size that fits you. My next step was to mortise in a % inch strip of aluminum on the bottom of the trigger housing. This served to cover the slot left open there, but at the same time left a new opening for the camera trigger release. The trigger release itself was constructed of three pieces of x/4 inch square steel, hinged in two places. The lower end of the bottom piece was shaped to trigger design, while the upper end of the top piece was extended above the stock to a height in alignment with the camera release button. A threaded hole was then tapped into this end and a bolt screwed into it to just the right depth for easy contact with the camera button. Several adjustments should be made here until only a verv little throw of the trigger is required to actuate the camera. A lightweight spring, as pictured, returns the pressure bolt to non-operating position when the trigger is released. After the trigger mechanism was built and installed in the stock, I then glued a piece of XA inch hardwood to the top of the stock. This serves to cover over the old trigger aperture at the top side and, in the rear, provides a flat, solid place for mounting the camera. This latter is done, of course, by sending a x/4 inch bolt completely through the stock from the bottom, so that it extends on top just enough to act as a tripod screw. The forward handgrip I in my case, a length of one inch hardwood doweling 3x/2 inches long) is then wood-screwed into the fore part of the stock — and your gun-type camera mount is complete. In closing, let me disclaim any intention of discrediting the tripod for all shooting where it possibly can be used. But where, for one reason or another, it cant be used, the gun camera mount will prove a godsend.