Vertical Mounted Still

[Canuck 0]

Hey there fellow vidiots. I'm thinking about re-configuring my helmet, and putting my still up on top with the video. I have a TRV video camera though, so the only way to do it without having the camera hanging over the edge is to mount it vertically on a shark fin. I have a flat top pro.

How many of you have vertical mounted still cams? 95% of the pictures I take are tandems, and I know the horizontal layout is better for that, but is anybody shooting tandems vertical? Thoughts?

Canuck

[AggieDave 6]

E-mail [email protected], he just finished his setup a couple weeks ago (he got motivated and got back into shooting video). He has a PC-9 mounted on a flattop narrow with a Cannon 10D mounted vertically.

I've seen his stuff, they're VERY nice. He also gets in very close for the shots, so that could have something to do with it.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Canuck 0]

Oh I get close - I've landed more than once with spit on my lense from tandem passenger screaming into the camera. That's the problem, when I go for the ultra close-ups (like litterally about 2-3 inches) I can't get both video and pictures at the same time. If I'm focusing on pictures, I'm getting close up video of the TM (and ours are ALL ugly), or if I'm focusing on video, I'm getting pictures of the chest strap. That's why I want to get the two lenses closer together.

Canuck

[diablopilot 2]

You have a Flat Top Pro, right?

Does it have the older top plate that extends out over the front of the helmet and alows you to "hang" the camera upsidedown?

If so you can get a new top plate, and the "L" bracket for the front. The "L" is designed to be able to be rotated 90 degrees, so you can go from horizontal to vertical in about a second.

You could also use a sharks fin. I've shot both ways, but the sharks fin makes the helmet quite tall, and prone to bumping on the celing on the way out of the door. It also uses valuable space on the top of the helmet, you could be saving for flash, or a second camera.

Oh, and I prefer vertical for tandems. Looks real nice when you are right up close and underneath, and can get both the instructor's and students grins!

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[Canuck 0]

Yup I've got the Flat Top Pro. It does have the L bracket on the front, that's where my still is mounted now. Rotating it 90 degrees wont do anything to get the lens any closer to my video lens though, which is the objective - you know - to minimize the parallax.

Cool that you like shooting tandems vertical. I was just wondering about the framing - do you lose their arms from the pictures quite often, or do you stay out far enough to get everything? With horizontal, I have my perfect distamce dialed in to get finger tips to finger tips, but with a vertical camera at that distance, I think it would be more like shoulder to shoulder.

Canuck

[ihateskydivers 0]

i shoot both vert and horz...just use a 24mm or smaller lens.

don't shoot vert with anything bigger than 24

[diablopilot 2]

When you're real tight on them you do cut off the arms, but with the subjects faces so big and clear it's not really something that people notice. When you back out a few feet, you get everything in the frame again.

Another realy cool vetrical shot on a tandem is to do an orbit on them and as you come around in front again shoot 2 or 3 shots stating at 90 degrees to their heading. It looks especialy cool if they are looking at you coming back around!

I think opening shots taken vertical are nicer too. Check out the cover of the new 2004 SIMs for one of mine.

(Yeah, I know it was a shameless plug, but who cares!)

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.