Mount a PC120 on a flat top?

[AndyMan 7]

I've got in my hands a shiny scratch free Flat Top Pro.

In front of me is a not-so shiny, nor scratch free PC120.

I'm sitting here, looking at these two... and not seeing how they go togeather.

I also have a D-Box. Think this might have something to do with it.

How have people mounted their PCXXX cameras on a flat-top?

The PC120 has a bottom loading tape. I need to come up with a way that I can still swap out tapes reasonable quickly.

Thoughts?

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[lewmonst 0]

My dbox is mounted on my flattop narrow. I do not use a thumb screw or anything else to hold my 330 (like the 120) in place. But i have to take it out of the box to change a tape, which takes a few seconds.

peace
lew

http://www.exitshot.com

[freekflyguy 0]

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1059369;#1059369

My set up, no DBox though and I now have a HC 30E

Buzz

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

[AndyMan 7]

So is the 120 just held in place by the foam?

How did you attach the box to the helmet? Relocate the screws from the side to the bottom?


_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[DaGimp 0]

I beleive that Deuce has a 120 mounted on his FTP...he dosent use a D-box though....just 2 shark fins with a Stroboframe to attach it.

"Professor of Pimpology"~~~Bolas

[Deuce 1]

Yeah, I've been lagging on posting these, cause it's a work in progress.

This is the setup for now.

[hottamaly 1]

Quote

So is the 120 just held in place by the foam?

How did you attach the box to the helmet? Relocate the screws from the side to the bottom?

Yes, just use a dremel tool with a carbide bit and drill out the holes in the bottom. Use the foam to secure the camera in the box so it won't move around. The foam supplied should have sticky back on it so it won't come out with the camera.


_Am

Skydiving gave me a reason to live
I'm not afraid of what I'll miss when I die...I'm afraid of what I'll miss as I live

[lewmonst 0]

Quote

So is the 120 just held in place by the foam?

pretty much. It's tight in the box, I have to push down the top-plate pretty hard to get the hinge closed. After talking to bonehead, it's likely they just sanded that down a little too much so it's maybe an 1/8" shorter than it should be, but I've gotten it to work. I also added a little padding on the sides, and my strap is still on, i just make sure it's pushed forward when I put the camera in the box. It works quite well. Only downside really to the dbox is accessing all the functions. I have holes drilled for my cameye (for the 120 in front and a new hole for the 330 on the right side). I have not yet drilled holes to access anything else. I am considering drilling out a big hole where my zoom button is. And I hadn't thought of this until i was over at bonehead last week, but you could potentially cut out a huge hole on the left side of the box big enough for the screen display to open up. This would be nice as I don't do an fancy transitions because i don't bother taking the camera in and out of the box. There was a dbox at bonehead with more 60% (my estimate) of the material cut out and it was still strong as a rock. It had pretty much the whole left side removed with just a small stem left in the front left corner, and it was not flexible at all. This is what is tempting me to make that big hole in it and make it more like a roll-cage. I'd rather have a rollcage, but with this I might not need one. I like the shark-fins like Deuce has because you can access more of the funtions, but I don't like the stroboframe on the video camera.
Deuce - do you have to take the stroboframe mount off to change tapes?
if so, that would be a pain for me because i swap tapes in between each tandem video.
Next time I'm at bonehead I'll try to take a photo of that dbox if Linda lets me.

Quote

How did you attach the box to the helmet? Relocate the screws from the side to the bottom?

yes. just drill more holes. I then put some foam padding in the bottom so the screws wouldn't scratch anything.

peace
lew

http://www.exitshot.com

[skysurfcam 0]

Jeeez Deuce,

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=29046;

I didn't mean for you to take the wings/baggy discussion that seriously...

Noice setup,

C.

Brother Wayward's rule of the day...
"Never ever ever go skydiving without going parachuting immediately afterwards."
100% PURE ADRENALENS

[Brains 2]

Quote

So is the 120 just held in place by the foam?

Well, i don't use a pc stlyle cam but i do have a bonehead d-box mounted on top of my ftnarrow. I added some mini-cell foam to the box to help the cam fit a little tighter, unlike lew, i cut the strap off my cam. so it was still a little loose. Kayak shops are a great source for mini-cell foam.

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[Deuce 1]

BAH!

But the Wings harness and container system, with the new amazingly comfortable cut-in laterals, is a great compliment to my Camera Wings.

HAHAHAHA!

[chachi 0]

Hey Deuce, couple Q's. Why use two shark fins, if you are looking for protection why not a dbox, also if you have these things sticking up, why not mounts your still to one of em?

~Chachi

[Deuce 1]

The fins are cheaper than a D-box, and allow me to use my quick release mount. I just unscrew the stroboframe base when I take it off to change out tapes. I'd rather unscrew the base than fish my camera out of the box every time. This is a prototype, anyhow. I'll be doing something with machined aluminum, but I want to find out as many problems as possible before asking my friend to fire up his zillion dollar machine tool.

I mount two 550EX flashes to the outboard sides of the fins. I rotate the still camera where it is for vertical if I want that.

Mathias mounts both cameras on top (DigiRebel and some sort of PC video) That's where I got the idea for the fins. They protect the camera, too.