Tower mount camera

Yes I did try a search but wow a bunch of garbage. Well I want to know what you guys have installed on your towers? Enclosed or non-enclosed and what quality is the video? Just some thoughts and where to purchase! Thanks in advance

if you are talking about the camera mount from Bryan at wake video then it works great, quality of video depends on your camera.

I got the airtrakker Pro from http://www.wakevideo.com

Video is very good - definately a lot better than what we were getting by hand.

Not sure what you mean by enclosed or non-enclosed?

I've owned one of his older design mounts and his new interia/flywheel mount (Air Trakker Pro).
The older design worked well, the new model is near genius.
Tracks well; very well made. It some gear noise, but you can only hear that when the boat is idling. When my tower speakers are playing then the only noise I've heard is the music.

I get very little shake, unless the water is really rough (duh). It stays with your rider almost continously. I use it at 2-3X zoom on a 75 foot rope. My 8 year old is at 3X zoom, since he does not get much air. My advanced rideers are filmed at 2X zoom.

Rider stays within the viewfinder frame, regardless of how hard they are pulling, jumping, etc. They are not always perfectly centered, but no system or camera operator is capable of that accuracy.

Obviously if they are getting tons of height, then you'll want to zoom out to 2X.

Bryan has great customer support. He makes regular improvements and has updated/upgraded me at no cost.

I have not used other camera mount systems, but feel no need to. He seems to have this thing figured out. It sure beats trying to have someone hold the camera and shoot. Unless you are a pro cameraman then this is the best solution I've found.

Take care.

John

one other thing. Camera quality is important. A bad camera is going to look bad, regardless of the mount. His mount made me go buy a better camera. I can get pro quality footage if i take the time to focus properly. Bryan is great at giving input on camera set up and troubleshootings, so don't fret that stuff.

John

I'm thinking of getting an airtrakker. How do you turn the Camera On and Off between falls?

your camera's remote, or just leave it running (I usually do) and edit it later.

yeah, same way. i have both a wired and wireless remote. i keep the wired plugged in, and use that. i then edit it on my computer.

Hey, anyone have that lcd mirror? Can you see the lcd when driving, or do you have to stop?

Chris
I have the whole set-up!

lanc controller from the drivers seat

pan tilt for when we surf (get a higher angle...use an old traker frame for the base)

lcd monitor

lots of fun, but got it all set up late in the season and don't have aby quality footage(haven't figured out exactly how to post footage with any kind of quality)

more

here is some real poor video with the pan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L1NuPOLsTU

Im glad people are finally reviewing these. I've been thinking about getting one. Glad to know they work well

Sweet setup Cliff. Love the camera angle in the vid.

Can you see the rider in the LCD when underway, or just on playback? I might get it anyways, just for reviewing the run and watchin dvd's but would be nice to use as a rear view monitor. Looks like I have an off-season project now

You remember where you got the remote from?

thanks Chris
yes you can see the rider...and control the zoom,pause,focus...zoom speed
the thing that I really like about the remote is the button that you can press to "wake up" the camera after it shuts down from lack of use

the difficult thing, however, was finding a mid-level camera that has a lanc port(the high-end cameras like the Canon XL1s in the picture...have that feature)
I found that only a few mid level canons and sonys have it...and since I wanted the dv tape instead of a memory card or disc, it made the search for a midlevel camera even harder....
cant remember where I got it...I will check and let you know