rolling rig trouble shooting. . Help

I am in the process of building a rig for car photos. I am employing a couple tricks my grandfather and I know. I am using a lot of parts from the electrical section at the local Home Depot. I spent $460 at a local camera shop, Sammys, in southern Cali. I bought this full rig of metal rods and clamps seemed like the right idea. Unfortunetly, the rig was heavy as was not as sturdy as the price justified. So we went to the hardware store and spent about $25 with the intention of utilizing some pieces of the original setup.

I have learned my lesson about store return policies, as I when I tried to return the pieces worth $260 they would only give me store credit. Well I decided to spend $90 more than my store credit there as they were having a pretty big sale. Anywhooo.

I am at this point now, where the new clamp that I bought today, makes the suction cup, which is closer the the middle, far to tall. We need to figure out what is the next step. Our idea to go buy another pole clamp will pose problems when I attach the rig to different shaped vehicles. Another idea we have is to attach a pipe over the suction cups stud to it will allow greater vertical adjustment at the base point.

If you have any suggestions please feel free to chime in.

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I'm not following.... Why do you have one suction cup in mid-air?

aridan wrote in post #4945314
I'm not following.... Why do you have one suction cup in mid-air?

I was just testing the stability of just the one suction cup at the end. The one closer to the middle is to long and it would just be a fulcrum, not a stable point.

Just snapped the photos to show what is what.

Well heres your problem.

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phylet wrote in post #4945625
Well heres your problem.

If your rig is unadjustable in any way i describe, disregard or modify.

Move the floating cup closer to the end, and set it at its minimum height from the pole, and set the one at the end of the pole at its maximum height.

OR

Attatch the the windscreen?

The floating cup is the one that has made me rethink the end cup.

I am not sure if I should buy another one of those big plastic clamps or attach a pipe over the stud to make adjustable up and down.

If there is another suggestion that anyone has, try and be specific please.

thanks

To put it simply, you have no adjustability and so you should completely srap what you have.

You've bought the wrong pump cups, you need these..

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Deanphoto wrote in post #4946936
To put it simply, you have no adjustability and so you should completely srap what you have.

You've bought the wrong pump cups, you need these..

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with super clamps on the end, like the one dangling in mid air they are fully adjustable.

I can't think of how to solve your problem though without replacing the cups.

can you post a link for me please. I cant seem to find it on their site.

Thanks for chiming in Dean

SnowManZ wrote in post #4947120
can you post a link for me please. I cant seem to find it on their site.

Thanks for chiming in Dean

No worries Kris...

http://www.manfrotto.c​om …to/cache/offonc​e/pid/2860

Ok an update for you dean and anyone else following this. I called the local camera shop about those F1000 suction cups, they are back ordered from Manfrotto and don't know when they will get them in. I am not sure what to do since I am leaving next week.

I got a 3/4 inch pipe to go over the suction cup stud. I got a couple more metal clamps to strengthen up the channel guide I have chosen to go with over a metal pipe.

I can see that I have a ton of sideways play that I am trying to get rid of. I used, temporarily, a rope stretched tight hooked to the bottom of the magic arm. The sideways play is not as bad with the rope attached. I am going to get some cable and see how much better it works over the rope.

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hey i have a question. im tring to make my rig which is very similar to yours. now the suction mount, is this it?

http://www.nextag.com …with-55261586/prices-html

is the thing that you connect the camera onto the pole, is that called the magic arm? cause ive been having trouble finding it and i cant find it anywhere. and as far as the clamp, any clamp can go on any pump?

aznvintagewear wrote in post #4967416
hey i have a question. im tring to make my rig which is very similar to yours. now the suction mount, is this it?

http://www.nextag.com …with-55261586/prices-html

is the thing that you connect the camera onto the pole, is that called the magic arm? cause ive been having trouble finding it and i cant find it anywhere. and as far as the clamp, any clamp can go on any pump?

No they are not the ones with the swivel heads. I am trying to get those ones from my local camera store, but they are back ordered.

I see you have link to Nextag.com.
Go to BHpoto.com, you'll be able to find the manfrotto magic arm there.

How hard is it going to be to Photochop out that pole when the suction cup is such an obvious position to get that angle??

Amfamora wrote in post #4976645
How hard is it going to be to Photochop out that pole when the suction cup is such an obvious position to get that angle??

Well, the whole idea is for the background to be blurred and then clone out the rig. Depending on the background, it shouldn't be that hard.

Snowman, I honestly don't think with the design of your 2 mount rig that the weight of the Magic Arm + the weight of the camera and lens will be sturdy at all. When I had a desgin like that, I used for a leightweight ball head and a Super Clamp mounted upside down. The adjustability wasn't as good as with the Magic Arm, but the "boom" didn't move as much because there was less weight at the end of it.

Ball Head I have: http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_482_Micro_Ball​_Head.html

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