The "Bicycle Mounted Video Camera Arm System" (I just call it bike-cam) is a weatherpoof video camera on an adjustable and extendable arm that mounts onto the side of a bicycle. I built this to record myself riding across Canada and to make the movie The Cross Canada Project. It can extend 2 Metres and pitch up and down and the camera itself can rotate and pan in all directions. The recorder is housed in a crash-proof lexan case inside a pannier along with a large capacity battery. A handlebar mounted control box houses stereo microphones and has controls to allow the camera to be turned on and off and LEDs to monitor it's recording state.
When I first thought about riding my bicycle across Canada, I pictured a still-picture camera mounted on my bicycle taking still images at a timed interval. The idea quickly evolved into using a video camera and making a movie about the trip. I knew I wanted the camera mounted on the bicycle, but I wanted it to adjust to lots of different angles. It was really important for me to get the entire bicycle and the rider in the shot, not just a static head-shot. This meant the camera had to be really far away from the bicycle. I also wanted it to be completely weatherproof and able to be turned on and off while riding.
I picked up a small bullet-camera, commonly used in security systems. They take 12VDC and output a composite video signal. The camcorder I bought had video and audio inputs and ran off of 11.1VDC. To power both, I used a 7.2AH lead-acid battery. Since I was worried that the camcorder absolutely required 11.1VDC (although I'd be willing to bet 12VDC would be fine), I used several 5A diodes in series to drop the voltage to 11.1V for the camcorder.
The first thing I did was buy the widest angle lens for the bullet-camera I could find. Bullet-cameras are essentially just CCD's with threads in front of them. The lenses just screw in, and focusing is done by screwing the lens in more or less. Strangely with this new lens, in certain conditions, the colours were really off with this new lens. I eventually figured out that this lens didn't have an IR filter in it (probably so it could be used in IR night vision security systems). I ripped apart an old broken digital camera and got the IR filter out infront of the CCD and put it inside the bullet-camera. Once I got the lens focused as best as I could, I put hot glue all around holding it in place and making it water proof. The cover of the bullet camera also needed to filed down because the lens was so wide that it created a lot of vignetting.
This bullet camera was mounted on a retractable boom arm that was mounted to the right-side of the bicycle. This arm was made out of a 3-section leg of a salvaged tripod. A support coming off the top was also made out of 2 of the sections of a second leg. This meant that the arm could retract and extend to 3 times its length, and since the top support was adjustable, it could pitch up or down. The bullet-camera also came with it's own ball-mount, so it was able to be rotated in any direction and locked into place. Because the tripod legs are thin aluminum, I epoxied blocks of UHMW plastic inside the hollow legs at any areas where I drilled holes for pivot points or attachment points. I also drew a line at the top of the bullet camera, so I would know where the top of the image was. The boom arm was mounted to the bicycle using automotive hose clamps.
The video signal from the bullet-camera goes to the miniDV camcorder, which lives inside one of the rear panniers. Since I was worried about the camera getting crushed if the bike fell, I built a simple box out of threaded rod and lexan. I lined the box with foam that I got out of the garbage at a nearby upholster's. Inside of the box, I mounted an infra-red LED and a photocell. The IR LED was positioned in front of the camera's remote sensor, and the photocell in front of the camera's talley light.
On the handlebar of the bicycle, inside of a plastic project box, I mounted the camera's remote control. On the contacts for the STOP and RECORD switches, I soldered on a few wires and mounted switches to the outside of the box. Also, power from the lead acid battery (also in the rear pannier) went through a fuse, then straight to this handlebar control box where there was a power switch and power indicator LED. The power then went back to the camcorder and out to the bullet-camera. I had to wire up both the camcorder's STOP and RECORD buttons, because the camcorder leaves the tape wrapped around the heads unless STOP is pressed and I didn't want to kill the power to the camcorder without first hitting STOP and letting the camcorder do what it needed to do with the tape. I suppose it would have been fine, but I just pictured the camcorder not liking the power being cut hundreds of times when it was in record standby mode. Mounted in the enclosure next to the miniDV camcorder's tally light (the red record light) is a photocell. Wires from this also travel up to the handlebar control box, where a simple circuit using a transistor turns on an LED when the photocell senses light. Without this, I wouldn't actually know if the camera is actually rolling tape or not.
Outside the handlebar control box was two electret microphones, covered in a thin layer of foam (to try to cut down on wind noise). These were connected to two matching q-kits pre-amps that were inside the box and the stereo line-level audio signal went back into the camcorder in the rear pannier.
The cool thing about this setup was that I only had to charge the 7.2AH lead acid battery maybe 8 times over the whole 110 day trip. Because the camcorder thought it was plugged into the wall, I was also able to charge the camcorder's real batteries through the camcorder with this setup.
Overall, I was amazed that this whole setup actually worked and survived being left outside all day and all night for so long. I thougth for sure vibrations would shake the boom arm apart, but since I was able to retract it when not in use, it managed to survive. If I was to do this again, I'd ditch the lead-acid battery and get something smaller and lighter. The lead-acid battery was really heavy and required that I carry around an equally large charger for it. Also, condensation formed in the bullet camera on a few occasions, so I would have to take the cover off and air it out for a long time before I was able to get useable pictures. I think hot-glue wasn't the best method for sealing off something so important. But for the price, this was definitely cool and got some pretty unique shots. It also confused a lot of people when they saw a large 2 metre long arm sticking off my bicycle (and me talking to the end of it).
Here are more pictures of the bike-cam.
