Camera mounting assembly

摘要

A camera mounting assembly includes a base member or plate for holding a camera and a side member or plate. In an exemplary embodiment, lower slots on the base plate or side slots on the side plate are gripped by a vertical support's quick-release mechanism to mount the camera in a landscape or portrait orientation, respectively, the camera being generally centered and evenly balanced over the support in either case. The side member is detachably fastened to the base member, which modular construction permits separately timed purchase of the base member and side member as allowed by the user's budget and further permits breakdown of the assembly for ease of transport. The side member may be generally L-shaped with a lower arm length less than the side arm length, which also facilitates transport. Other components may be detachably added such as a hand grip facilitating freehand shooting with the camera.

主权项

1. A camera mounting assembly for adjustably mounting a camera on a vertical support comprising:
(a) a base member having an upper portion configured to receive a lower surface of the camera and a lower portion, the lower portion being adapted for selective mounting on the vertical support such that the camera is positioned in a landscape orientation; (b) a side member detachably fastenable to the base member such that at least a portion of the side member extends along a side surface of the camera received by the base member, the side member forming an opposite pair of side slots adapted for selective engagement by a pair of jaws of an engagement mechanism such that the camera is adjustably mountable in a portrait orientation; (c) at least one of the base member and the side member including a pair of spaced apart elongate members extending within at least one of a portion of said base member and a portion of said side member to form an alignment mechanism for aligning the base member and the side member as the base member and the side member are being positioned for detachable fastening in a manner independent of either of said base member and said side member being attached to said camera; and (d) a fastening element structure including a side opening defined in said side member and a threaded base opening defined in said base member aligned with said side opening when said base member and said side member are fastened together configured to enable a rotatable member accessible from said side surface of said camera when said lower surface of said camera is supported by said base member where rotation of said rotatable member enables detachably interconnecting said side member to said base member when said camera is supported by said base member, said fastening element structure enables said rotatable member to extend through at least a portion of said side member into at least a portion of said base member when said base member is fastened to said side member and said fastening element structure enables said rotatable member to be removed from within said at least a portion of said base member when said side member is said detached from said base member, wherein said fastening element structure is separate from said alignment mechanism, said base member being free from extending along a substantial portion of said side surface of said camera when said camera is supported by said base member and said side member is detached from said base member.