Post your Camera Helmet .....

[Low-Mao 0]

I just squeeze this little camera between my butcheeks and go head-down. If they want a good video, they just need to keep up with me and basically kiss my ass......

[JGarcia 0]

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I see a HC3 on that helmet..........you are clearly a man of breeding with good taste....virtually English!

LOL...Thank you Sir! Overall, I love the camera, however, I'm still getting used to it not being as user friendly and (linear) editing friendly as my good old Sony PC-100.

Cheers!

--Jairo

Low Profile, snag free helmet mount for your Sony X3000 action cam!

[JGarcia 0]

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Forget the camera. I want the helmet itself! SWEET!

I've gotta say that the helmet is aweomse in every sense. I really wanted something that was safe, versatile, light, and solid.

This weekend I used it to jumps that each reqired a different set up: shooting vertical stills with HD video, horizontal stills, and even vertical stills with external flash & HD video.

Cheers!

--Jairo

Low Profile, snag free helmet mount for your Sony X3000 action cam!

[skydog.paul 0]

My New 2kc sideFX, jumped it for the first last weekend it works grate

[Ozzie 0]

My new Cookie Camera Helmet is in!!!!!! I cannot wait to fly it tomorrow! It wes built with the following:

Sony High Def HC5

Cookie Composites MXV Camera Helmet

Cookie Composites BBHC7 BlackBox HC7/HC5

Liquid Lens 37mm Liquid3 x 0.29 37mm + Filter Kit

Liquid Flatlock Liquid Flatlock

Cameye2

2 Pro-Trac Audibles

Motion = Emotion

[diablopilot 2]

I like it.

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

[AiRpollUtiOn 0]

My baby...
Here with Canon EOS analog, needed the 350D for the pic...

"Don't make me come down there" - God.

My site:http://www.skystudio.nl/video.html
Some of my vids: http://www.youtube.com/user/TomSkyStudio

[pilotdave 0]

Here's the back side of my FF2 after getting painted recently with the logo of the company sponsoring the 4-way team I'm doing video for.

Dave

[skydog 2]

FTP
HC-5E in a Cookie Box
400D in Camera Armour (Sigma 15mm lens)
Cam-eye & Remote shutter release
2 x Cookie Flat-Loc release plates
Custom cut and fitted carbon top plate.

All set up by Bob Spratley........very nice work (See H, this is what he has been up to this weekend.....)

Journey not destination.....

[velocityphoto 0]

Where's the flash? :)
LOL!
Very nice man!
I been kicking around the same idea on thew wider top plate for one of my ftp's How much for a plate like that ,ya wanna make another one?
Still trying to come up with a flash mount on top too with the same configuration of the camera's that you have there..
Lonnie

A friend will bail you out of jail , a REAL friend will be sitting next to you in the cell slapping your hand saying "DUDE THAT WAS AWSUM " ................

[DaGimp 0]

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Still trying to come up with a flash mount on top too with the same configuration of the camera's that you have there..

What ive done and works really well is use the L bracket on the front of the FTP as a flash mount. The flash dosent effect the weight and balance of the helmet much as the flash dont weight much. I just had to mount the L bracket sideways as the flash was getting in the video wit hit mounted verticlly

"Professor of Pimpology"~~~Bolas

[pchapman 261]

Summary:
Protec with home made fibreglass helmet box for an HC-42.
Camera was factory refurbished off eBay.
Extra padding inside the Protec to make it fit snugly.
Skysystems chin cup, Bonehead cutaway system, Cameye LANC system.

Cheap, interesting project, but lots of hours to work out the details.
Didn't spend enough time epoxying and sanding to make it beautifully smooth, but it's functional.

How the helmet went into service:
Showed up with it at the DZ for the first time. Very busy weekend and DZ low on cameraflyers. Ended up being put into the cameraflyer rotation. First jump ever with a camera helmet was a working dive, with no briefing. At the Cessna DZ, did 8 camera jumps that day. At least as a tandem instructor, I've been on the other end plenty of times so I just copied what I remember watching others do. It wasn't exactly a by-the-book initiation into camera flying…

All the details: (irrelevant unless building a box oneself)

The details don't matter until one has to solve the issues that are so simple in concept but messy in detail, like saying "And then you simply bolt the box to the helmet."

Box built over a male mold of hard insulating foam built off the dimensions of the camera, with I hoped enough spare space for bolt heads etc intruding into the box. To some degree, nuts and bolt heads are towards the corners of the box, where the camera tends to be rounded and thus offer more free space for such things.

Box was built essentially rectangular except for an extra angled face on the lower half of the side towards the helmet. That's where the helmet sides curve inwards for the ear covers. So it wasn't built to conform exactly to the complex rounded helmet shape.

Box attached with 3 low profile bolts going in from the box, screwing into low profile internally threaded hardware -- essentially female Chicago screws. Therefore on the inside of the shell there are only very thin, couple millimeter thick pieces of attachment hardware; no thick bolt heads between my head and the helmet shell as I've seen on other quick homemade jobs.

To align the fairly rectangular box with the rounded helmet, washers were used if needed to provide the right amount of gap at each of the three bolts. Light fibre washers were used. Each bolt also had one rubber washer between the non-parallel sides of the helmet and box, to better distribute the stress.

An anti-line-snag aluminum angle was epoxied into the bottom of the box, to fill the gap between the box and helmet.

The box hinge was bolted on, although I could have used rivets instead. Nuts for the hinge and closure were epoxied into the inside of the box after the basic structure was made.

Box hinge is at the bottom, so that the Allen-threaded machine screw used to close the box, is at the top. Less snag hazard than the bottom mounted screw on, say, a Rawa box.

Painted with Krylon spray paint for plastic. This goes on thin and needs a lot of layers, and seems to scuff easily enough. So I will soon cover it all in a final layer of epoxy for protection.

Sky Systems chin cup. Seems to be good quality.

Bonehead cutaway system with mods to move handle location. Basically it uses a cotter pin through the attachment pin, with a spring to push the attachment pin out when the cotter pin is withdrawn.

The inside of box has a small cutout for the LANC connector to fit into the camera while in the box. The right angle LANC connector from the Cameye unit was shaved down in thickness too. (Just got rid of some insulating plastic). There's some slack in the cable inside the box so the camera can be pulled out some distance before one needs to reach in to disconnect the LANC cable.

Unlike some skydiving cameras, the plastic cover over the on-camera ports was not cut off in order to expose the LANC port. Instead, a hole was drilled in the plastic cover, large enough that the LANC connector would fit through the hole, retaining the rest of the cover.

The Cameye on/off button was installed as a snap fit through a hole made in the helmet. The location was chosen as one where it was unlikely to be accidentally bumped. (As it might be, say, at the center back of the helmet.) I don’t know if the location is ideal, but it is OK.

The hand strap on Sony cameras can be very thick, with heavy leather-like padding. Some of this was removed and rebuilt to make the strap much thinner so that it can be left on the camera and still fit in the box. Most skydiving cameras have the strap cut off. Particularly with a non-matchbox style camera, it is nice to retain the strap. (Given the strap, heads of bolts attaching the box to the helmet, and the LANC connector, there needs to be a little extra space between the camera and the inside face of the box. So the box is a bit wider than a minimum sized box would be.)

A Protec normally sits loosely on the head with quite hard foam. In order to make it more comfortable with a tight chin cup, and to keep it from shifting side to side with the weight of a camera, I had to build an additional foam liner. (Not in the photos.) The first simple version uses a number of pieces of open and closed cell foam, which were roughly sewn into a thin fabric cover. It does not fill the entire top inside of the helmet; there are gaps at places to allow for ventilation through the normal Protec ventilation holes.

Some helmets' linings use a fleece cover. While comfortable, it seems like it would be warmer than necessary in summer. I'd rather have a cool helmet, so the fabric used for the liner was thin, sheer material.

Direct cost was low -- about $145 US for the helmet assembly & box, excluding the Cameye as that's not part of purchased systems. Plus something for the fibreglass and epoxy, which I already had. Compare that to $395 US before shipping and taxes for a common, "inexpensive" full-box system, the Rawa.

[bomb420 1]

Wow dude, looks like you spent some considerable time working on all this. Looking good!
Very minor suggestions:

1) Cover up those bolts inside the box with something squishy. Give it a few jumps and your camera will get seriously scuffed up.

2) Take out some more material for the lanc to fit properly. Connectors in general do not like to be squished and constantly forced like that. I've seen both CamEyes and HyPeyes fail prematurely because they are in that configuration. Some day, you'll be running fast to get on a load and it doesn't quite fit right and u force it in, just weakens it after awhile... Take it with a grain, just seen it a bunch.

looking good though... my 2 cents. Hell, this weekend more than paid for your camera helmet supplies!!!

HYPOXIC

[mrwrong 0]

I bought a Tonfly Diablo complete with cut system, cam eye, newton sight and a HC3 box that they said should fit my HC5 perfectly.
Well, it didn't. But after using a Dremel (what a wonderful tool) i managed to cut the front end to fit with the wide angle lens and UV filter.

All pic's are at this site:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4691&l=7dc8b&id=518561972

“The sum of intelligence on the planet is a constant; the population is growing.” - George Bernard Shaw
He who dies with the most toys, wins.....
dudeist skydiver # 19515
Buy quality and cry once!

[pchapman 261]

Re my yellow helmet post:

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1) Cover up those bolts inside the box with something squishy.
[...]
2) Take out some more material for the lanc to fit properly.

The padding on that inside face is quite thick so that there is space for the bolts without being close to touching the camera. Still, a little extra foam over them wouldn't hurt.

The LANC connector isn't forced in, but if the camera moves more than I think, it can get stressed by pushing on the edge of the hole around it. You're right, a little more room around it might be good.

I've also heard of people building a little extension for the LANC, so that the extension can stay in the LANC port all the time instead of plugging and unplugging every jump. Rather wear out the extension instead.

[velocityphoto 0]

What is the measurement side to side on the plate? I think i'd like a plate made a little wider for mine so i can get my flash beside that setup too! I measured it on mine for me to put flash and everything up there i need a plate 10 3/4 wide compared to the factory 7 in wide?
Think he can make one for me?

A friend will bail you out of jail , a REAL friend will be sitting next to you in the cell slapping your hand saying "DUDE THAT WAS AWSUM " ................

[Wolkku 0]

I just updated my Optik Illusion to FTP. HC-96 in blackbox, 580exII, 350D + canon 15mm. I also changed some of the screws to metric ones and did some changes to front plate. Now the screw in front plate doesn't stick out and back screen of DSLR touches the plate. Now I'm able to adjust my 350D easily everytime in same position just by using thumb screw.

Here are few pictures of it attached...

[rwieder 0]

O.K. the first pic is not a camera helmet, it's a new 2008 Z-06, it's way faster than freefall! The other pics are of my Optik Illusion & My new FTP i just finished assembling. I use a bite switch on the illusion, and a thumb switch on the FTP. No ring sight on the Illusion, but have just installed one on the FTP and have it "Dialed In" No fancy paint jobs or loads of chrome, but functional.

-Richard-
"You're Holding The Rope And I'm Taking The Fall"

[BGill 0]

have you considered adding a cutaway system and cutting down the post on your ringsight? the post sticking out is one hell of a snag hazard.

[rwieder 0]

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have you considered adding a cutaway system and cutting down the post on your ringsight? the post sticking out is one hell of a snag hazard.

The Cut-Awat systen, no because it's a brand new FTP and has the advanced cut-away system on it. I've already been in a hanging harness, and intentionally entangled it around the ringsight, and was still able to cut-away my FTP w/ ease. (Mind you now, i' NOT saying it cannot happen) No, i havent. But i will consider your advice. Actually i'm more concerned about the "Bitch Slap" on the left side on my camera (Illusion) from my risers than anything. I haven't had any bad experiences w/ the FTP as of yet. Your advice is welcomed, and i appreciate the fact that you are looking out for me.

Have a great evening, and be safe! And "Thank You" for your learned advice, i am always receptive to it!

-Richard-
"You're Holding The Rope And I'm Taking The Fall"

[PharmerPhil 0]

Random Thoughts...

1. I agree on BGill's flat-top pro comment. There is no reason for that sight post to extend past the helmet post except to deflect risers from hitting the plug on the still camera. I would cut it down.

2. Make some sort of deflector (non-snagging) for the plug on the still camera (both helmets). You are just asking for those plugs to be sheared off, and you could easily destroy a camera (lost a camera that way b4).

3. That looks like a huge snag hazard on your Optic still camera. I don't know what type of quick-release you are using, but I would prefer one that is lower and wider. Or just use a screw through the helmet to the bottom of the camera. They are pretty quick to use, and pose much less of a hazard.

4. Personally, I hate side-mounting really wide cameras. Don't know why you would ever put that Optic on rather than the FTP.

5. I like the extra straps on the video camera on the FTP. They're good insurance (years ago I lost a couple of cameras on opening).

6. On the FTP, you have a 50mm lens on your still cam, and what appears to be a very wide angle lens on the video camera. Any reason for the mis-match?

[The111 0]

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it's a brand new FTP and has the advanced cut-away system on it.

What's that? Is this a new type of FTP cutaway?

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[Zee 0]

Yeah, you really should chop that sight post off. Once mine was sighted in I just chopped it off even with the clamp and rounded off the edge.

Action©Sports

[BMFin 0]

Do you shoot with that 50mm in freefall ? If you do, I would be intrested to see some results..

[Wolkku 0]

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it's a brand new FTP and has the advanced cut-away system on it.

What's that? Is this a new type of FTP cutaway?

Mine arrived 2 weeks ago from BH and they didn't offer me any special cutaway. Mine cutaway can bee seen in my first and last picture. Handle might be different but method is the same.