Making a Go Pro Paddle Cam: The easy way

The paddle cam mount gives you the most options for snapping pictures or shooting video with the Go Pro camera. By putting your paddle in different positions, you can snap all kinds of photos from many different angles. Don't be surprised if a few of your photos blow your mind- especially when you get creative with where you move the camera and how you hold the paddle.



It's also the most convenient configuration for triggering the camera. Since the housing is only an arm's length away, starting the camera is simply a matter of reaching out and pushing the button- which is much nicer than having to jump off your board, swim to the front (or back) and start (and stop) your Go Pro. In this post I'll explain how I set up my paddle cam mount, hopefully you'll have as much fun with it as I have.



To make the paddle cam mount the quick and easy way, you'll need a couple of tools. First, if you don't have a pair of tin shears like this, go buy some. They're only a few bucks at Home Depot and you'll end up using them on all kinds of projects- they're in my top five list for favorite hand tools. Shears like these will make cutting the white, self-adhesive, Go Pro nose mount easy and safe. If you don't want to drop the bucks for shears you can probably use a sharp serrated knife but be careful, and don't let your wife see you cutting plastic with her good knife!



Next, you'll need two or three zip ties. While you're at Home Depot buying the shears, walk over to the electrical department and buy a bunch of zip ties- they've got a million uses. A good set of needle nose pliers will come in handy for snugging the ties up and for nipping off the tail once you've cinched them down.



Okay, the first thing you're going to do is mentally come to terms with the idea that you are going to destroy the white, self-adhesive, nose mount that came with your camera. Don't worry, you can always buy another one (Go Pro has replacement kits). Rest easy in knowing that, with a little practice, you'll be able to get better nose-type shots with your paddle cam then with that disk mount. Plus, it looks dumb on the front of your board and it'll probably fall off someday anyway.

Here's what you do: Take your shears and cut down along each side of the camera mount on the white disk. What you'll end up with is a thin strip (a little wider than the shaft of your paddle) with the self adhesive tape on one side and the mount on the other.



Next, make four notches in the modified white disk/strip. Each set of notches should be about an inch from each end of the disk/strip. The notches will anchor the zip ties to the disk/strip once you've snugged them around the shaft of your paddle.

Now peel the backing off the tape and stick the disk/strip to the shaft. I put my camera about four inches above the neck of the paddle on the powerface side of the blade. Slip two zip ties around the shaft and snug them up nice and tight- be sure that they are seated in the notches that you made in the disk/strip.

A couple of paddle cam tips:

1. If you're disk has lost some of its tackiness and starts slipping around you can stick some 3M VHB tape on the back of it and reapply it to the shaft of the paddle. You can buy the VHB tape at an auto parts store (I go to AutoZone), it's sold as "Moulding Tape" in the car body section.

2. I use a third zip tie to attach the camera's lanyard to the shaft of the paddle as a safety line.

3. Nope the camera doesn't interfere with paddling at all. As a matter of fact, after a while you don't even realize that it's there.

4. For Californians, get up early and shoot when the sun's coming up- you'll get much better shots with low angle light. This is the magic hour- good stuff happens early!

Now get out there and send me some good ones!

Stand up paddle surf lessons in San Diego. Come paddle with me in beautiful, flat water conditions. If you've been thinking about learning how to stand up paddle, now's the time to do it! Summer is right around the corner. Give me a call at 619.213.6622 or email me (john@paddlesurf.net) and I'll get you out and paddling. Click here for more information about lessons and for customer testimonials.

The State of the Go Pro Nation

In case you haven't noticed, I'm pretty hung up on the little Go Pro digital camera. For what it costs ($149) you can't get better resolution or versatility. Critics (a.k.a, non-Go Pro owners) complain that the online SUP world is supersaturated with vain Go Pro user. They've got a point. There has been a flood of self-reflective videos and stills (yep, guilty) but once you start playing with the thing you can't help but get hooked on it. It's serious fun and it's easy to use. The guys at Go Pro did a great job designing this thing. As good as it is though the camera does have a couple of draw backs to it.



Photo: Here's my latest and greatest fabrication. This one has not been tested yet- but I think it's got potential.

One problem is it's voracious battery appetite. Cheap, alkaline AAAs get eaten up like breath mints at an HA (Halitosis Anonymous) meeting. You're pretty much limited to using expensive non-rechargeable AAA lithium batteries. Two AAA lithiums will last about an hour and a half. The battery life is just long enough to fill up your 2 gigabyte SD card. A pack of four batteries runs about twelve bucks so you're looking at a pretty substantial investment in batteries if you're going to be using this thing regularly.

The answer would seem to be in a set of rechargeable batteries. But from what I've read about these cameras, the rechargeable AAAs barely cover an hour of filming, if that. I'm going to do a little more research on that and will probably invest in the best quality rechargeable batteries I can find. I'd hate to tally up what I've dropped on Energizer Lithiums this far into the game. I'm sure I could've bought another Go Pro. I'll report back with my findings.

The second problem with the little camera is the variety of shots you can grab with the standard, factory supplied nose mount. The forward-looking-back angle gets old quick. The nose shot is like looking out into the night sky at light coming from distant galaxies; you're looking at the past not the future. You can't see what the waves going to do, only what is happening behind you. You can get some cool shots if you're in a super critical part of the wave but for the most part it starts to look like you're dancing a surf inspired version of the jitterbug.



Photo: Three-quarter inch Loc-line. This stuff is so cool- and pretty damn expensive. I keep thinking of different ways to use the stuff- if you like tinkering, you've got to order some up.

A paddle mounted camera gives you more options but in the video mode it's hard to get away from the "pole dancer" syndrome. This stems from the fact that the camera's mounted to the paddle. The point of view down the shaft seems to be motionless. The rider, on the other hand, gyrates around the axis like a "special dancer" chasing a bowtied five dollar bill. It's not a big deal, but it starts looking funny after awhile.

Still photos solve this problem but the limitations of the camera's sequential shooting capabilities can bar you from getting the shot. The camera in still mode only shoots a photo every two seconds so your chance of capturing the Holy Grail of Go Pro SUP photos, the fully throated tube ride, are pretty slim. Unless, of course, you regularly pull into six second tubes in which case your chances of capturing the image improve- but not much.

The third and last major difficulty with the camera is access to the "start" button. Basically, you've got to be able to reach out and push it to get the video rolling. Depending on camera placement, this can be as simple as reaching out to the blade of your paddle or as difficult as extending your arm blindly behind you and flailing around for the damn button while an overhead set drops bombs on your head. Nose mounted cameras need to be started by either jumping off the board and swimming up to the front or by reaching out with the handle end of your paddle and tapping away hoping you'll hit the button when it really matters.

Obviously, you've got to consider how easy it is to start the thing before you decide to where to put it. In my experience the paddle mounted camera provides the easiest "start" position. If I had to make a wish list of improvements, some type of reliable remote start would be number one on the list (but I've heard from a friend who owns an expensive helmet cam system that the wireless remote works about half the time- which sucks).

If I could have it my way the Go Pro would feature a rechargeable lithium battery pack, a remote control start button and a faster still photo rate (how about 3 frames a second) and while we're at it why not interchangeable lenses so you could go from wide angle to regular by just screwing the glass in. I'm sure all of these upgrades would justify the two to three hundred dollar price increase. I can see it now: The modest Go Pro Wide ($149) would metamorphose into the Go Professional Action Video Unit retailing at $399. The camera would feature all the things we asked for, work half as well and be less than a third as reliable all while costing more than twice as much. Which would then give me something totally new to complain about. All of this just goes to show you, some things are definitely better left alone!



Photo: My little work bench. Can you see the Glock? Paranoia aside, it's amazing what you can do with a hacksaw, some stainless nuts, bolts and washers and some aluminum stock. Mix in some 3M VHB tape, zip ties and five minute epoxy and you've got a fully functioning Go Pro modification unit. Just kidding about the Glock.

Video: Another Angle- Helmet Cam Go Pro

If you're more Go No than Go Pro, this one won't appeal to you. I dig the thing though. Here's a new angle on it. This one's an easy one to put together- I'll post details soon. Enjoy:


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A couple more off the Go Pro

Here's a few from the Go Pro archives. Just a couple of shots I like- kind of brings me back to when we had some fun surf.



Photo: I like this photo because it's pretty sharp, good resolution (those cameras are so cool) and you've got some horizon in it. Plus, the water looks so smooth and clean, what a killer day.



Photo: This photos off kilter but it's cool because it's got a foreground and a background. Check out that wave that's getting ready to unload across the sand bar. That was an unreal day of surf, LDS guys were getting barrels all over the place. The right hander in front of me is breaking in about a foot and a half of water. Dues were paid that day with several guys getting thumped off the bottom. There were injuries. To tell you the truth it was thick and mean enough that I wanted nothing to do with trying to stuff a 9'4" x 29.5" wide stand up into a swirling death hole. No thanks.

Hawaiian Style: Always Cool!

I got a tip that my friend Sheldon was shooting some cool Go Pro nose-mount photos up the coast and so after a couple of emails, I got the goods. I thought I'd just post one or two of the shots but they're all so good that I just had to get 'em all up. I'm digging the paddle style- keep ripping Sheldon! And- next time when you get some good shots don't make me come beggin'! Shoots.



Photo: I'm digging the little slice of horizon in the corner of this photo- and the positioning. Go Pro nose shots are cool when you can frame 'em up with something to ground the shot- this one's got it going on.



Photo: How rad is the back lighting on this one? Now we just need all that and six foot, open barrels! Gonna have to stuff that 9'6" Paddle Surf Hawaii right into the hole- 'cause the camera's watching.



Photo: Slidin' one, cool style.



Photo: And that's a wrap- the fish eye on the Go Pro gives you a neat perspective- made to shoot surf but givin' up a pretty nice landscape shot too. How killer is this little camera? For $149 bucks nothing else does it better!

Thanks for the shots Sheldon!

New Stuff: Down the Line II Video, La Paz SUP Race, More Tahoe Madness

Great to be home again. I've got lots of new stuff and some unfinished business to take care of but to tell you the truth... I'm dead tired! Here's what's coming up this week:

1st: Check out the video clip I'm posting today. Down the Line II Rough Cut- I added some new footage from this last swell- some good stuff. Things to see include, Matt Wilson surfing in front of me- jiving and weaving inches from my rail and be sure to pause the clip at 2:17 that's a shot from inside of the wave looking at me in the pocket of the barrel- super cool!


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2nd: The La Ventana Kite Festival's 1st Annual Stand Up Paddle Race was super fun this weekend- perfect race conditions and a really fun and fired up group of racers made for a excellent morning of racing. Check back for photos, a video clip and the full results.

3rd: Tahoe Masochist Tour Part II coming at you in the next couple of days- the pain continues!

Beach break barrels

You had to catch it just right: tide, crowd and wind. If you worked it out, or just got lucky then you know how good it got today. Phenomenal, unreal, stupid-good. The guys surfing the right were getting unbelievable tubes- deep clean and fast. Shallow too- some guy got butt bounced and had to crawl up onto the sand. I tried my best but we're talking doubling up, pop up peaks with no real set take off spot- tough conditions for stand up. I'm out there again tomorrow!

Here's a few from the paddle camera:



Photo: Looking for an escape route.



Photo: Pedal to the metal.



Photo: Caveman squat.

Waiting, dreaming, waiting!

I was able to get out into the water today for an hour before low tide. Sheet glass and a nice little left running off into the big hole at the foot of my street. It was a super fun and clean little wave but nothing like what we've supposedly got coming.

Now it's just a waiting game. And it's killing me!



Photo: Paddle cam photo from last weekend. Dropping in and hoping that this one will stand up enough to get worked.



Photo: Here's a shot from a hot little swell that pushed through town last summer. What a day! Glassy, warm, fun little waves zipping through the pier and throwing out nice little sections. This day was all about building speed and STICKING the rail off the bottom.

Go Pro Hero: Down the Line Video Part I

Mike convinced me to post this one now. This is getting closer and closer to what I'm trying to get with this little camera. Hopefully, I can pull into something this weekend and make it legit!


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Slotted at the sand bar: More Go Pro madness!

This little camera makes even a hack look good! Now I know why the word "hero" is in the name. All you need to do is set the thing up, paddle out and let it start snapping away. Somewhere in all those photos you'll find a keeper, even if you're more chump than champion!



Photo: Nope, I didn't get barreled. That wave is only waist high but the lighting is right, the angle is good and even the horizon is level- through no skill of mine!

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Confessions of a Paddle Cam Junky: Some observations.

Half the battle is admitting you've got a problem. Here's a few observation from a Go Pro Junky:

1. You surf differently when you've got a camera on the paddle. Instead of cranking turns around a planted blade, you start nursing 'em so you don't splash the housing and screw up the shot.

2. Unmakeable tube over a broken razor blade reef studded with protruding rebar sections? Sounds good! Cutbacks around undetonated explosive ordinance? Let's do it! Paddle surfing in a bacon suit in the Red Triangle? I'm an XLS! You get the feeling that you're going to do some dumb things once the conditions get heavy... all in the name of getting the shot.



3. Your sessions start getting anorexic. Instead of a four hour go-out, an hour seems pretty good. After all, how hot is that little tube section going to look? With these babies, instant gratification is just a hard drive away.

4. You think your footage looks cool, even if, to everyone else, it looks like your pole dancing... in a wetsuit.

5. You've gone from down the line flow master to straight line kook all while holding your paddle straight up over your head like Bruce Jenner charging the pole vault.

6. No matter how hard you rip, 990 of those 1000 stills will capture you with a stupid look on your face.

7. Yes, that wetsuit does make you look fat.

8. You realize that you've sold your soul- you photo slut.

Free Stuff: I made a couple of extra DVD copies of the Go Pro clips I shot this weekend- the DVDs also have six other older clips from this blog on them. If you've got a shop and want to have some pretty nice Go Pro footage for prospective customers or some stand up paddle video to play for laughs, send me an email and I'll mail one to you. First five who respond will get DVDs. If they suck bad remember that they do make super cool danglies for your rear view mirror!

Another One: Paddle Cam in Baja

How much can you look at yourself before you get sick of it? I'm thinking we're going to need two cameras. One on the paddle and one mounted to my chest or hip and then edit the clips between the two different angles. It's pretty obvious: I've got problems.


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Stand Up Paddle Surf Lessons in San Diego: Give us a call! 619.213.6622 or email john@paddlesurf.net Click here for more lesson information.

Paddle Cam: Video and Stills.... I'm HOOKED!

I'm going to lose sleep and valuable hours of my life with this thing! Check out this video I just edited up from footage I shot this morning:


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Here's a still photo:

Go Pro Hero surf photos: Paddle Cam!

All I can say about this one is, "Thanks Casso!". I saw a couple of photos he'd taken on Stand Up Zone and realized that he had found the angle that I was looking for. Next thing I know I'm cutting off the FCS tab from the factory supplied Go Pro FCS mount and sanding it flush to the base. The flat face of the Kialoa Shaka Pu'u made a perfect mounting spot. All I did was whip up some five minute epoxy and in a few minutes I was ready to start blasting off photos. Here are few of the better ones I nabbed this morning:



Photo: Early morning, still a little dark and a bit overcast. There were some fun ones out there- high tide walls, lefts and rights.



Photo: I ended up shooting in the "2 second" mode by accident. I thought I was shooting video but I must have pushed the wrong button a couple of times. It's a happy mistake though, I'm digging these shots!



Photo: Half way through a round house cutback, trying to push my back arm all the way through it to bring it all around. It's cool how the slower shutter speed blurs everything that's moving in the frame- it's a great effect... and totally unintentional.



Photo: Running down the line on the far inside of the sand bar. I'm so jazzed on this little camera! I've already been thinking about how I'm going to change the angle of the camera on the mount and where I want to place it when I'm doing different things on the wave. I can see that I'm going to be preoccupied for a little while!

The camera mount snapped off the paddle blade after my third wave (bad timing too, my fourth wave was a couple feet overhead and was a real screamer). On inspection it seems that the epoxy didn't form a bond with the mount. I probably should have roughed that part up quite a bit more. I've already modded up a replacement mount (zip ties are amazing) and I'm locked and loaded for tomorrow morning. I'll keep you posted.

And it's done: Go Pro Camera Mod Part IV

Here's the finished product. The camera slides right into the mount just as it does with the stick-on mount that is supplied with the kit.



A bonus is the leash plug's proximity to the mount- it makes a great place to attach a little lanyard. I modified a little loop lanyard that had a quick release clip. It's now a simple matter of sliding the camera into the mount and clipping the tether to the camera. Bada Bing!



The camera really is a cool looking little unit. I'm going to pick up some batteries tomorrow and try some test photos to check out the angle and see how much coverage I get with the wide angle lens.



Here's another shot of it on the board. I'm stoked. The mod came out really clean and now I'm set to shoot pictures and video from both the tail and the nose. Check back to see the results!

Go Pro Mods Part III

Once I had the pad cut, scraped, buffed out and ready to go, I scratched up the bottom of the bonus mount with a sand paper pad and tested it to see how it fit.



I'd cut the pad just a little too big but the fit looked pretty clean. I noticed that there was some white showing through so I took a Sharpy pen and blackened the deck around the edges of the cut pad, just to keep it looking clean.



Luckily, I've got a very tolerant wife who puts up with all my messy hobbies- she even let me bring the board into the living room to epoxy it up. Letting your husband finish the job in the warm living room so that the epoxy will go off correctly, that's love.

A couple of friends were checking out my placement of the mount and they wondered if I would step on it when I was surfing. Honestly, I've never been able to get my foot that far back onto the tail and still be able to drive the board down the line. I haven't tried it yet but I'll report to you once I see how it goes.

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Go Pro Mods Part II

A whole set of options ran through my mind, including running back to the surf shop and buying the last camera kit they had in stock. When I tried to think of ways to justify that purchase to my wife, the idea quickly went out the window. Hmmm, how about the good ol' duct tape option? But the thought of a gob of duct tape gumming up my new camera and slowly unraveling throughout my session wasn't so appealing.

Then I saw it, there is a "bonus mount" in all that flashy packaging! It's the mount used to display the camera in the fancy transparent jewel box and it's exactly the same mount as the one that comes with the kit. Suddenly it all started to click.



Photo: The bonus mount is right under the camera and can be pried off the black plastic square.

First I'd peel it off the black piece of plastic that it came glued to. Next, I'd cut out a piece of my deckpad. Then, I'd scuff up both the mount and the deck with some sand paper and epoxy it to the surface of my board. Voila!

So here's how I did it, step by step:



You've got to get the mount off of the plastic- notice how it's a perfect match with the white one?



If you heat it with a hair dryer it softens up and comes right off.



The toughest part was cutting and peeling up the deck pad. Whatever holds those deckpads down is tough stuff! I used a razor blade and just scraped, peeled and scratched it until I got all the goo off the board. Then I scuffed it up with some sand paper.

Check back for more of the Bonus Mount Mod!

Stand up paddle surf lessons in sunny San Diego, let's get out and have some fun! If you've been wondering what all the excitement is about and have been wanting to get out on the water and learn stand up paddling, you've come to the right place.

I am certain that I can get you out onto the water and paddling like a natural in an hour and a half of thoughtful, deliberate instruction. We've put scores of people on stand up boards.

Give us a call and schedule a lesson: 619.213.6622 or email john@paddlesurf.net If you'd like more information about our lessons click here and be sure to scroll down and read some testimonials from satisfied paddle surfing students.

Got a Go Pro for Mexico... Check out the Mods!

I walked into my local surf shop just wanting some wax... next thing I know I'm face to face with one of the those nifty Go Pro Wide Surf Cams we've been seeing so much of lately.

Believe me, the marketing hit squad has the surfer mind all figured out. The packaging for the camera is beautiful and with all that flash, color and action, simple minds like ours are in real trouble. We're like predatory fish, we just react; like a largemouth to a spinner bait, I practically inhaled that thing right up and into my greedy little paws!



Photo: Flashy packaging, cool camera!

Ever since I've seen some of the footage from these wide angle cameras, I've wanted to try some different angles. The pointing-back-at-the-surfer angle never did much for me, you get a look at what the guy's doing. What you don't see is how the waves unraveling in front of him. It's not really a surfer's eye view. Not to say that I'm not going to give that angle a shot, it's just that what I really want is a point of view shot that lets you see down the line. Here's the angle I'm interested in:



So my idea was to mount the camera as far back onto my board as possible, hoping that the 170 degree wide angle would be able to catch me and the wave in front of me. To do that I'd need two mounts.

The problem is that the Go Pro Camera Kit only comes with one glue on mount and an FCS plug mount (whoa, I just had a flash of inspiration, how cool would it be to mount the camera upside down, underwater, while you're riding a wave?). Since I'm leaving for southern Baja in two days I would only be able to use the adhesive mount and that leaves me one mount short.

Check back for more about this mod!

Paddle surf lessons in sunny San Diego. Come on out and learn how to stand up paddle surf with us here in San Diego. We've been putting people on the water for almost two years now and we've got this thing dialed! Click here for more information about our lessons and for testimonials from satisfied customers! Anybody can learn how to stand up paddle! Give us a call: 619.213.6622 or email john@paddlesurf.net