27May Panasonic GH4 on a 1/4 20 Mic stand mounting adapter
I know the Panasonic GH4 is a lightweight compact camera, but this really shows how little it takes to support it. I wanted to position the GH4 above a table for some quick 4k hands on product shots, but none of my tripods really allow me to get the camera into the right position. Normally I wouldn’t trust a DSLR camera on a mic stand but the GH4 is light enough that I thought I’d give my boom mic gopro mount a try.
While I wouldn’t recommend this for anything heavier than the Panasonic GH4 and Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 combo i’m using, the 1/4 20 to mic stand adapter had enough holding power to handle it. A decent mic stand can be had for around $24 and the adapter will set you back about $10 for a total price of $34. That’s a pretty good price for something that gives some very flexible mounting options.
Just keep in mind that this is a $2600 camera/lens combo on a $34 stand. While it does work you might want to consider putting a sandbag or a weight on one of the tripod legs to keep things stable. All it would take is someone tripping over one of the legs to send your camera crashing to the ground. That’s not a big deal with a gopro hanging off the end but it could be an expensive lesson if your Panasonic GH4 takes a dive.
May 27th, 2014 at 7:45 pm
This is one of my favourite things about mirrorless cameras!
I can mount my a7r in a very similar way and my NEX-5r is so easy to mount it’s forced me to sell several of my Hero3 cameras!
I use the RAM ball mounts a lot these days because it lets me piece together a mount from loose parts using just about anything with a 1/4″ or 3/8″ thread on it.