Ballhead/Hotshoe for 7" tablet

Started by softimage69, August 30, 2012, 11:55:29 AM

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softimage69

I would love to mount my 7" tablet to the hotshoe of my cam using a mini ball head, but have no idea on what kind of device would mount the tablet to the ballhead screw..

Anyone ever see one of these or have suggestions on what to do?

Thanks for the help.

Roman

I cant help with your mounting issue, but how do you plan to get the image from the camera onto the tablet?

It sucks that there arent any cheap tablets etc with an HDMI input, would be such a perfect solution to having a decent sized live view monitor without breaking the bank.

softimage69

Two main Android apps can do this...

DSLR Controller and MLController... 

It essentially makes your android tablet/phone into a field monitor with (almost.. ~15fps) realtime live view on the device (depending on how powerful the device is) with the ability to control the camera (focus, exposure, etc) by touching the android screen and not the camera itself. 
I use with my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone as well which give me an extra inch of screen real estate over the 60D screen, and means I dont have to hunch over the tripod to see what I am doing, hence why I am trying to find a mounting solution for me tablet.  :)

 


mediabaron

I bought a Marshall Mini ballhead http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CNPK3M/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i01 so I could mount my iPhone onto my hotshoe of my Canon 60D/7D so I can do live video via Ustream while shooting video with the HDSLR. The problem with the set-up is that the phone weighs quite a bit and you really have to tighten down the tiny ballhead control to prevent any unwanted movement. Granted I was moving around and not shooting on a tripod so things tended to go with gravity.

My set-up was:

  • Canon 60D
  • hotshoe extension to allow more than 1 coldshoe device
  • Left: Marshall mini ballhead with iPhone mount & iPhone 4 Right: Rode VideoMic on right.

This was a lot of top-heavy weight. If I was shooting on a tripod without quick movement it would probably be okay but with 4 swivel points (extension-hotshoe foot, bottom of mini-ballhead, ballhead itself, iPhone mount to ballhead) it's easy to get wonky. The iPhone mount to ballhead shouldn't be a swivel point but gets to be that way unless you really tighten things down.

I may do another shoot this week with the set-up on a tripod.

albert-e

Hey, guys! check this out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4X6olWN3-g&feature=relmfu

You can now use a Nexus 7 tablet to connect via USB cable to control a 60D, 7D, 5D MK II, etc.

softimage69

Quote from: mediabaron on September 17, 2012, 11:20:10 PM
I bought a Marshall Mini ballhead http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CNPK3M/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i01 so I could mount my iPhone onto my hotshoe of my Canon 60D/7D so I can do live video via Ustream while shooting video with the HDSLR. The problem with the set-up is that the phone weighs quite a bit and you really have to tighten down the tiny ballhead control to prevent any unwanted movement. Granted I was moving around and not shooting on a tripod so things tended to go with gravity.

My set-up was:

  • Canon 60D
  • hotshoe extension to allow more than 1 coldshoe device
  • Left: Marshall mini ballhead with iPhone mount & iPhone 4 Right: Rode VideoMic on right.

This was a lot of top-heavy weight. If I was shooting on a tripod without quick movement it would probably be okay but with 4 swivel points (extension-hotshoe foot, bottom of mini-ballhead, ballhead itself, iPhone mount to ballhead) it's easy to get wonky. The iPhone mount to ballhead shouldn't be a swivel point but gets to be that way unless you really tighten things down.

I may do another shoot this week with the set-up on a tripod.

How do you mount a device to this that does not have the screw mount on the bottom?  Most LCD field monitors have these, but alas tablets do not.  In the perfect world, the mount would be adjustable and could fit my Galaxy S3 and my 7" Tablet.   :)

Thanks for the reply.