Ceiling Camera Mount Fun & Interesting

A little more than a year ago, I bought a wireless lapel microphone set that consists of a small transmitter and a receiver. The receiver is not overly large, but it’s often a problem finding a place to put it while connected to the camera. I’ve had problems with interference when a solid object (table saw, for example) gets between it and the transmitter clipped to my pants pocket. After considering a few different possible solutions, I figured the best place to have it would be on the ceiling of the shop near the centre of the room. With it centrally located, the camera can be placed almost anywhere in the shop. Also, having it up high cuts down on the possibility of interference. The shelf is simply made from 1/2″ plywood and screwed to the ceiling. It is just big enough for the receiver to sit on.
While I was at it, I figured it would be interesting to make a camera mount that would be attached to it. As it is directly above the table saw, I would be able to use it to get some interesting birds-eye shots and high angle shots for the videos I do.

I started by making a simple camera platform from a piece of hardwood:

curved blade ax

It has a 1/4″-20 threaded stud to mount the camera and a hanger bolt in one corner to allow it to pivot.

It’s attached to a simple slotted arm that is in turn connected to the receiver shelf mounted on the ceiling:

How to make a ceiling camera mount
How to make a ceiling camera mount

The range is all vertical, but the camera can be angled on the platform to point to anywhere in the room.

With the camera installed and pointing straight down:

How to make a ceiling camera mount
How to make a ceiling camera mount

Since the only way to access it is from a step ladder, it’s likely that I will not be using this often, but it is nice to have for those rare occasions when I would like to get a different camera angle. It also took very little time and material to make.

Back to the receiver and one small problem to fix – how to keep the cord that feeds the camera up out of the way when not in use. I took an ordinary eye bolt and cut part of it out to make a hook:

eye bolt
eye-bolt converted to a hook and screwed into the ceiling to hold wires out of the way

The cord could then be hung from the hook, up out of the way.

To do this, I made a stick with a slot on the end:

curved blade ax

To keep it handy, it hangs on the side of my router bit storage cabinet.

router bit cabinet

A project that will probably not be of much interest to many, but for those of us that are making videos, it may spark an idea to deal with a similar problem.