Yay....Helmet is finally ready to fly!!

[pyke 0]

Well, it's been a long drawn out process of having to buy pieces - bit by %*#*ing bit...but after a year - My camera helmet is READY TO FLY!!!(Thanks Joe!!) A Hawkeye with a TRV-22 box and camera.

Some final thoughts for opinions at large, please:

Strap-ectomy, or not? It fits quite well with the strap as a cushion. My only concern is if I want to pull it out and use it for other uses and such. Thoughts...?

Cut out hole for the LCD screen? At the risk of weakening the structure of the box, I have decided not to for now, but I'm not sure how to operate it efficiently for tandem videos and such with functionality of my faders and such, but don't want to have to keep popping it in and out all the time. Thoughts...?

'preechiate cha!!!

Kahurangi e Mahearangi,
Kiwi, RB #926, AFF-I, FAA Snr. Rigger, RN/BSN/Paramedic

[VectorBoy 0]

Don't cut a hole for the LCD. Is your view finder in view or do you need to cut it to view?

I have neither viewable on my old style D-box.

[pyke 0]

I can see my viewfinder fine - no problems there.

Kahurangi e Mahearangi,
Kiwi, RB #926, AFF-I, FAA Snr. Rigger, RN/BSN/Paramedic

[VisionAir 0]

I had an old model trv style box that I cut a small hole in the back for the viewfinder and a small hole in the top to access the zoom toggle and never had any kind of structural problem.

Huh?!? What cloud?!? Oh that!!! That's just Industrial Haze
Alex M.

[sitflypat 0]

hi I just got a d-box from BH for my TRV 22, and I'm wondering should I put it on the side or on top of the Helmet? I got the Optik from BH.
I'm more into Freeflying, and I would like it on the side, but it looks a little big. So could I get same help.

Patrick

DFV-3332/ SCR-14639/ SCS-8185

[ltdiver 3]

I saw a freeflyer with a TRV22 sidemounted on an Optik here at Perris a few months ago. Yes, it DID look large and cumbersome on it's mount...at little TOO much, IMO. Seem like it would be a prime target for riser strike.

Question. Why did you buy a TRV22 if you knew you'd like to sidemount a video camera?

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[sitflypat 0]

bought it 1 year ago, and i didn't know, I gona us it for skydiving.

DFV-3332/ SCR-14639/ SCS-8185

[ltdiver 3]

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bought it 1 year ago, and i didn't know, I gona us it for skydiving.

If your set on freeflying with a camera...my suggestion.....sell the TRV22 and buy a PC (unless you have the dough enough to have both on hand).

You've already surmised correctly that it just might be prudent to have a side mount camera when freeflying.

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[diablopilot 2]

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If your set on freeflying with a camera...my suggestion.....sell the TRV22 and buy a PC (unless you have the dough enough to have both on hand).

Or top mount it. I know several freeflyers who do, including the camera flyer for last years top finishing intemediate team at nationals. TRV on an Optik.

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

[ltdiver 3]

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If your set on freeflying with a camera...my suggestion.....sell the TRV22 and buy a PC (unless you have the dough enough to have both on hand).

Or top mount it. I know several freeflyers who do, including the camera flyer for last years top finishing intemediate team at nationals. TRV on an Optik.

Yes, he can do this. Of course.

Yet, wouldn't it be a slightly better idea to limit the hazards to other freeflyers as he learns? Doesn't a top-mounted camera have a better chance of wounding a fellow freeflyer when you're in close proximity? (when you're a newbie).

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[skymedic 0]

Rook top mounts all of his camera's...ya dont have to have a side mount to freefly at all....

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

[skymedic 0]

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Yet, wouldn't it be a slightly better idea to limit the hazards to other freeflyers as he learns? Doesn't a top-mounted camera have a better chance of wounding a fellow freeflyer when you're in close proximity? (when you're a newbie).

Newbie freeflyers should NOT have a camera on there head if they dont know how to fly....

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

[diablopilot 2]

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Yet, wouldn't it be a slightly better idea to limit the hazards to other freeflyers as he learns? Doesn't a top-mounted camera have a better chance of wounding a fellow freeflyer when you're in close proximity? (when you're a newbie).

Interesting question.

My gut feeling is no. Of course this opens up the can of worms that if the person is that green, should they be jumping a camera at all. I believe a sidem mount to be a bigger hazzard to the wearer than a top mount. As of other people on the skydive well you choose who you jump with.....

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

[ltdiver 3]

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Yet, wouldn't it be a slightly better idea to limit the hazards to other freeflyers as he learns? Doesn't a top-mounted camera have a better chance of wounding a fellow freeflyer when you're in close proximity? (when you're a newbie).

Newbie freeflyers should NOT have a camera on there head if they dont know how to fly....

VERY true. I completely agree. However, if a cameraflyer thinks back to when they first put a camera on their head I bet you'd hear stories of their learning curve.

For instance....(a story on myself)....one of my first cameraflyer skydives from an Otter left me on the step....not yet turned around to face the door....as the 2-way left! I gasped in 'horror' (read embarressment) as I realized they had already left as I turned around (still clinging to the outside of the plane!).

I had started cameraflying from a Caravan and C-182. Both these planes were of no problem getting out, set-up, and launched from. The Otter was another story when you considered PV (at Perris) has a handle that is MILES away from the door and a step that is far down the fuselage! I know cameraflyers who have to LEAP for the handle...then turn around and set-up. Even now (5 years later) my leg gets bruised as I 'hold on' to the door frame with my foot as I reach FAR away from the door for the back handle.

Sucks, too, when the pilot chooses to climb DURING jump run and doesn't cut the engines either!

Anyway....a person can be completely safe to fly with, but put them in a new situation (i.e. mine was a new plane and step/handle scenario) and they have even more to learn than a regular RW or vRW does. Heck, I even had my AFFI rating when I took up camera 2 years later. :^)

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[ltdiver 3]

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Yet, wouldn't it be a slightly better idea to limit the hazards to other freeflyers as he learns? Doesn't a top-mounted camera have a better chance of wounding a fellow freeflyer when you're in close proximity? (when you're a newbie).

Interesting question.

My gut feeling is no. Of course this opens up the can of worms that if the person is that green, should they be jumping a camera at all. I believe a sidem mount to be a bigger hazzard to the wearer than a top mount. As of other people on the skydive well you choose who you jump with.....

I don't freefly (very well), yet in anatomical terms wouldn't a person not be used to a projection on the top of their head that makes them about 6 inches taller than they are used to (helmet and dbox are about that tall all told). How many times did you wack your camera on the top of the door frame on climb out before you realized that you had to duck first? Or had the Otter's door slid open on your top-mount? It doesn't take many....but if that was a person you just wacked, I bet it would hurt.

OTOH, a side-mount is just a sideways extension of your head by about a couple of inches. Not as much of a chance for a wack.

My .02.

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon