mapadu
New member
Ever since I got a halfway decent digital camera, my original digi, a 1 megapixel Vivitar, has been collecting dust.
I've been toying with ideas on how to mount it to my helmet for a while now, but I could think of no workable options. Duct taping to the front is no good as the camera does not save its settings. I'd have to take it off to see the display in order to select the video option, and by the time I remount it, the thing would shut off on its own.
Mounting to the top of the helmet, like it's a tripod, would only be good for open bowls, as tree limbs would surely take it out. Also, I'd have to take my helmet off to start every vid, wasting valuable seconds of recording.
What to do?
I gave up on the idea. Until, days later, when I saw a content baby in a stroller. The solution suddenly hit me. It was right under my nose.
I wound some tape around the camera, leaving some slack on the backside. Simple. Then I stuck the slack to itself, leaving about a one-centimeter flap on the back of the camera. Instant pacifier-cam. Yeah baby!
The sub-50 dollar Vivitar weighs nearly nothing, and besides taking video, it serves as a nice lower-face shield against little branches too.
So, yeah, it looks kinda stupid. But so do I, so it doesn't matter.
I took it out for a test run yesterday and it did well. The light was poor for still-picture taking, although I did manage this one of the wind on Weathertop:
We didn't linger too long. Soon we were pushing off and re-entering the trees:
(paste url into quicktime or right-click & save as)
clip 1
After another 400' vertical of glades, we emerged onto the skintrack, a narrow bobsled run that we abandoned for more trees and someone's backyard:
clip2
Down their driveway, then face-plant:
clip 3
Down the road, a shortcut, and a perplexed SUV driver:
clip 4
Down some stairs to the door:
clip 5
Apologies to dial-up users, all but the last couple take a loooong time to download. Might not want to bother, but if you've got time on your hands, the second one is probably the best.
Now, how to put a camera on my dog....
I've been toying with ideas on how to mount it to my helmet for a while now, but I could think of no workable options. Duct taping to the front is no good as the camera does not save its settings. I'd have to take it off to see the display in order to select the video option, and by the time I remount it, the thing would shut off on its own.
Mounting to the top of the helmet, like it's a tripod, would only be good for open bowls, as tree limbs would surely take it out. Also, I'd have to take my helmet off to start every vid, wasting valuable seconds of recording.
What to do?
I gave up on the idea. Until, days later, when I saw a content baby in a stroller. The solution suddenly hit me. It was right under my nose.
I wound some tape around the camera, leaving some slack on the backside. Simple. Then I stuck the slack to itself, leaving about a one-centimeter flap on the back of the camera. Instant pacifier-cam. Yeah baby!
The sub-50 dollar Vivitar weighs nearly nothing, and besides taking video, it serves as a nice lower-face shield against little branches too.
So, yeah, it looks kinda stupid. But so do I, so it doesn't matter.
I took it out for a test run yesterday and it did well. The light was poor for still-picture taking, although I did manage this one of the wind on Weathertop:
We didn't linger too long. Soon we were pushing off and re-entering the trees:
(paste url into quicktime or right-click & save as)
clip 1
After another 400' vertical of glades, we emerged onto the skintrack, a narrow bobsled run that we abandoned for more trees and someone's backyard:
clip2
Down their driveway, then face-plant:
clip 3
Down the road, a shortcut, and a perplexed SUV driver:
clip 4
Down some stairs to the door:
clip 5
Apologies to dial-up users, all but the last couple take a loooong time to download. Might not want to bother, but if you've got time on your hands, the second one is probably the best.
Now, how to put a camera on my dog....
