Your mask cam setup

[Snowking63]

I've tried a few different action cams on the field over the years and every time the rig gets a little more complicated. (Satire)

What camera setup do you take on the field?

[glaman5266]

I don't have a cam setup, but I just wanna say that's a pretty great looking setup pictured there.

Also, welcome to MCB. Sit down & stay a while.

[Snowking63]

This was mine and my buddy's little concoction we came up with after a few beers.

And actually I've been on mcb since 2017 but this is the first day back after realizing this site got hacked. I'm really just trying to get my posts in so I can have access to PMs on here

[glaman5266]

Ah, I see. Welcome back then. Apologies for not recalling you. The spammers & scammers have been busy, so new rules/minimum post count have been put in place to help circumvent it.

[BrickHaus]

Im not anything fancy, but when I recorded every outing, Id run a contour roam on my right cheek. Essentially I used a contour mount, and stuck it to a jt hard ear. I didnt trust the 3m vhb, so I qlso super glued the seam. This has a great pov for most cases. You can see mask and lens in the frame which I enjoy. The only killer is when I play the left side of a bunker, you dont see much. Right handed play looks great.

[Snowking63]

I've used a Sony (Contour-esque style) action camera on the right side of my dye I4s for a good while. Most of my videos on YouTube are wih that setup I beleve.. I never did like the way I mounted it though but having it side mounted is definitely the way to go. And it blows that exact camera lens isn't wide enough to pick up my mask in frame which I think looks way better. I used my I4s cause it seems like even the proflex hard ears are too soft to hold anything stable. It'd be really nice if a manufacturer designed a mask with a flat mount on the side just for this reason

[Araphel]

The I5 has integrated mounting points on the sides

https://images.app.goo.gl/mTB7rihdWxeihKBL8

[chrislognshot]

I've tried a few different action cams on the field over the years and every time the rig gets a little more complicated. (Satire)

What camera setup do you take on the field?

few things as photographer and paintball player you do not need that large setup. since your make easy for you be found or making your camera setup easy target to get hit. just use gopro or the other one like it. since all you need and want hard case for them. also fact since upper part not well built to take hits or ridged handle to getting hit a lot or bumped if someone hits with body or gun or bunker.

[Paintzapper]

This was my mask setup when I use to film my games:



I also used runcams with zoom lenses (16mm for roundball and 35mm for FSR from https://www.brainexplodermerch.com) and attached to picatinny rails.
For more info, I wrote up a little tutorial for action cams on my website https://www.paintzapper.com/paintball-action-cam-guide/

[martix_agent]

Is there something else attached to this, that is not the HK mask mount? I read up on your blog, and maybe I missed it, but I didn't see much detail about how it actually sits in this position.

Does it just pick up a hopper in a lot of the shots, making them unusable?

[Paintzapper]

BrickHaus Thanks! They are a lot of value for the money.
I found some clamp on shotgun picatinny rail adapters to hold my cameras in place and they worked quite nicely.

[Paintzapper]

martix_agent I have a suction pad on the back of the gopro mount that sticks to my lens to prevent any extra movement. the gopro case is connected to the HK mount using a couple small link arms to rigidly hold it in place. I ended up finding some aluminum link arms instead of the plastic ones as I was breaking the plastic ones almost every day.

Since it is on the same level as my eyes, If I angle my hopper like I normally do you rarely block the camera. But even when I do, I'm usually switching to a zoom cam for actual footage so it renters the issue moot for how i was filming.

[Meleager7]

I ran an action cam for the first time last month at a winter big game. I set it up similar to Paintzapper to get the field of view closer to my own eyes, and this also creates less target sticking up over top of bunkers. I think this also creates less wobble since it is not so top heavy as other action cam setups I have seen.

I actually got it held on the mask pretty securely , not much wobble or bouncing around at all. In game, I did not notice the camera at all.

It is first mounted to the mask with an HK go pro adapter. Then using a short arm from my extended kit , the rig is angled backwards, where I then zip tied that section really securely to the flex 8 .

Finally, before tightening the last hinge point, i pressed the waterproof housing firmly against the lense frames, almost compressing it ever slightly. Then I tightened the hinge. This made for a pretty good friction fit here as well.

The camera is a DJI osmo action, and its rocksteady stabilization is pretty decent. The camera also knows its upside down automatically , so no flipping videos upright in Post.

Overall, i really like this setup. Watch out Wolf, soon Mel Eager Productions will be nipping at your heels!

[Snowking63]

few things as photographer and paintball player you do not need that large setup. since your make easy for you be found or making your camera setup easy target to get hit. just use gopro or the other one like it. since all you need and want hard case for them. also fact since upper part not well built to take hits or ridged handle to getting hit a lot or bumped if someone hits with body or gun or bunker.

That setup was meant as a joke

[Snowking63]

I'll have to give that position of the camera a try. How does it look in the footage? Do you gave videos of game play? Does it look alright when using a hopper? I've used my DJI Osmo Action mounted to the top of my goggles but it's really only good for playing stock class or modstock because all it captures is the hopper.

The osmo actions in body camera stabilization works pretty damn amazing. At full sprint the footage makes it look like I'm on a skateboard. But the weight of the camera kind of makes things difficult which keeps me wanting to run my small action cam on the side

[Matt Drown]

2020, I ran a Grill with gopro mounted like so to get out on the side. Shown with a Hero3+case, but I actually shot with a Hero8. Narrow field-of-view kept the mask out of the shot. Ran the hero3 mounted with a Stanchy "gtek mount" (briefly visible around 3:13). Not shown, but had a little cable strapped to the gopro and the mask so when the glue on the 3M tape came loose, I didn't lose the camera about half way through day 2. I then took it and flipped it to the other side of the mask (and left it high instead of low). In that position the mask is partially visible (you can see it around 4:08 in the video link, I zoomed in the video a bit in the "grinder" footage because it was distracting). The first half the video the camera is mounted as shown

Video Example - https://owncloud.dhp.com/index.php/s/WIt3eIojxtrbTMp






I then picked up some replacement 3d printed clips and mounts, I don't have sample footage, and i didn't run them at the same time, but they held up. In hindsight, these would have been better if they were just gopro mounts on the clips, then any combination of arm up/down can be added. I didn't edit any of this yet, so i can give examples, but a quick scan and the lower angle is better for less hopper.

In both cases you notice the camera weight putting the mask one, in game play i didn't really notice. Yes, your gopro's will get hit, and you won't notice.

[chrislognshot]

as photographer and paintball play and take photo on field. you do no want something that easily breakable or something that make you stand out too. since more it stands out better target they have to shoot you. also if hits camera gear your out and chance it will be broken. like time i got paintzapper i got burly photo of his go pro hit dead center and broke it. also his wife go so mad too. next year i got this photo and was not for hard case would broke second go pro. some how CCM double feed and he got hit with double shoot dead center on go pro with hard case this time. you need to find way to have camera on field but does not make you stick out or break easy.

[JeepDVLZ45]

That’s an awesome pic! 👍🏻👍🏻

[Paintzapper]

I still absolutely love this picture. This is also the time when I changed from plastic link arms to aluminum as the wear and tear on the links kept braking em.

[Cyberpyr8]

I was running older GoPro3's for a while on my mask. I used the HK mount and just had it sticking up over top. Obviously, it was a big target and I had to be extra careful playing that way. I tried gun mounts but because I tilt my hopper inwards, my shots were blocked by window frames or door frames most of the time. The mask mount worked best but I had the plastic cases and they broke. I bought the aluminum one and it worked better until I got hit in the LCD screen. I switched to the Ashok 50 camera after that and it did ok. It's hard not to get hit with them. Plus you don't want a light showing up in front.

I like the way you guys mounted yours downwards. I've seen some people mount the camera inside the mask in the lens. I don't think I could play that way. But outside like you all have might work better. After seeing this, I'll have to revisit the camera and mounts.

[Meleager7]

I'll have to give that position of the camera a try. How does it look in the footage? Do you gave videos of game play? Does it look alright when using a hopper? I've used my DJI Osmo Action mounted to the top of my goggles but it's really only good for playing stock class or modstock because all it captures is the hopper.

The osmo actions in body camera stabilization works pretty damn amazing. At full sprint the footage makes it look like I'm on a skateboard. But the weight of the camera kind of makes things difficult which keeps me wanting to run my small action cam on the side

If your hopper is always getting in the way, can I recommend you switch to a Right Feed paintball gun? They are all the rage right now!

Here is a clip from a March 2022 big game the Ontario MCB gang went to

The Right Feed autococker and stick feed made for some clear visuals!