Basejumper.com - archive

Now I have at last bought myself a new camera (a cheeky little PC330) - I am looking to get a camera helmet - Can anyone suggest a decent camera helmet (top mount or side mount) that also offers some reasonable head protection.........

http://www.Skyhelmets.de is a good site for some great helmets at a great price. ALL CARBON FIBER!! They are in with BASE Town Media and BASE jump themselves as well as skydiving. Everyone at the Local DZ wears them and love them. It is worth checking out.

There are also the other obvious choices. Good Luck!

How is the head protection? I've been a bit dissappointed in the protection offered by many skydiving helmets. They seemed more designed to protect you from flailing limbs and hard docks than real impact, in some cases.

I've particularly noticed a lack of protection at the back of the head, and a tendency to use light "cushion" foam, instead of heavy "padding" foam.

I have not seen any crash tests with them but I had a demo for a while until I had to unwillingly send it to the dealer in the states and can vouch for the quality. They are made from 100% Carbon Fiber with the Quality Padding(non-yellow open cell) and cover the back of your head as well as the other large brands.

Unfortunately I was still broke for an afore mentioned reason and didn't get to jump it. I know, however, that many of the huckers here wear them and like them. Maybe I will get to jump one of them in the near future when it gets warm enough for my warm blooded ass, I.E. Less than three feet of snow in the valley. If you have seen any of the Current BASE Town Media Vids you will be able to see some of them in action. So to make a long story short I have not BASE'd one but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

check out Rawa
very good quality helmets with nice cases
for reasonable prices
bsbd a.

With a little ingenuity you can mount a helmet to anything!
As far as head protection goes, check out a paragliding helmet,they are sturdy and light,no face shield either.
cheers,~J

There are virtually no skydiving helmets on the market that offer any "real" head protection--ie: distributing the force applied to the shell in a "critical impact" situation to the helmet instead of the head/brain. To date, the closest you'll find is a ProTec. Far and away the best helmet for head protection COMMONLY used in skydiving/BASE.

Carbon Fiber, Kevlar, etc. Doesn't mean SHIT. It's the LINER that makes a helmet good, not the shell. If you're concerned with a high-quality helmet from a PROTECTION standpoint, I'd get a protec and build a camera helmet out of it. Otherwise, I'd look into the MTB/Ski/Snowboard/MX markets to try and adapt something there. If you don't mind the size, look into adapting a full-face MX/MTB helmet that is DOT or SNELL rated to work for jumping.

In short, ProTec is still the best compromise for your dollar or pound or Euro or whatever).
pope

so would people say that you are going to compromise head protection for a decent snag protection camera mount?

I have seen people with protecs etc with camera mounts and they look horrible with definate snag factors, but the helmets with decent mounts I am questioning whether they give decent head protection - which is why i posted this.

I like the look of the full face enclosed side mount helmet (skysystems (i think)) and the bonehead optik or bonehead M3T but not sure about the camera mount options on this..........

anyone have thoughts of those?

I have a friend who knows how to sculpt carbon fiber and some other surfaces like that. He's able to take a bonehead (or whatever helmet you like) with a "snag prone" camera mount, and sculpt a cover around both pieces so that it's smooth and snagless. You might see if you could just find someone who could do that custom with whatever helmet you prefer. I know I've talked to guys who do that kind of thing for cars (usually for custom interior detailing and what not) and found that their rates were actually very reasonable (especially compared with the cost of a new camera helmet).

Tom, where would you look such a thing up in the phone book at? I'm wanting to have some custom camera mounts made and my skill at fiberglass/carbon fiber is on par with a 5 year old.

I just went to automotive places. Not auto part stores, and not mechanics, but rather the guys who put on graphics, install stereos, that kind of thing. The first place I went to didn't do it, but knew exactly who in town did. Apparently there's a segment of the car market where the in thing is having carbon fiber dashboards, door panels and what not, so the guy I found had lots of experience forming custom shapes to fit cars.

nice one........ sometimes some of us forget to think outside of the box...................

A friend of mine has been doing her own camera mount for a warlock or similar.

Cameras are expensive and if not treated right can be broken easy. I would suggest to make a plaster cast of the camera and give that with your helmet. My friend placed the camera in a plastic bag, then dunked it in playdough. After this she filled the hole in the playdough with plaster of paris and then waited for it to set. Worked out suprisingly well as something to work with and work around. And her camera is safe from the evil clutches of fibreglass, paint and the like.

what about them ski/snowboard helmets. im looking at some at this point. they look like they give more protection but still keep down the weight.. and theyre cheaper than most of the crap "helmets" we can get in skyworld.

I like them. For overall protection, I think I like some of the mountain biking helmets the best.

did you try to mount a cam on thouse??
did it work out?
hard shell somtimes dont like if you drill holes into it(like it could crak=ruin the helmet)

Nope. Pro-Tec's take camera mounts very well, though, and although I've never used this particular helmet, for example, it looks like it's cheap, offers good protection, and with some shell work ought to be easy to make snagless (and with a camera mount, if you wanted).

for some reason that web page does not work for me

thanks

Hmm? Maybe your browser is blocking the transfer URL. Try this URL http://skyhelmets.de/Hauptseite.htm. If that doesn't work just try jumping without a helmet Just kidding, I tried that a couple times and it changed my part line.

Neither of the Skyhelmets.de pages works for me in Safari. Both work fine in Internet Explorer. You might try switching browsers.

Ah Yes! I just tried it in Mozilla and it didn't work either. I think these browsers block transfers.

Yeah, even with my User Agent Switcher on Mozilla to fool sites I am using a different system it still does not work - oh well over to IE to have a look...........

Many thanks

I'm going to order a Dainese D-Raptor helmet. It's fullface, carbon fiber, and weighs 950 grams which, I believe, is lighter than the ProTec Ace. Dainese makes stuff for impact protection and this particular model is a mountain biking helmet.

It costs about $250, which is about $61 cheaper than an Oxygn A3 which offers little protection for impacts. The D-Raptor covers the whole back of your head also, where the A3 stops above the occipital bone.

I'll let you all know what I think of it after I've jumped it and rammed into some stuff around the house a bit.

I have a Pro-Tec snowboarding helmet. It's fairly lightweight but offers a LOT better impact protection than the standard Pro-Tec.

Sorry to be so late but....

http://fibrezonecomposites.com

They don't have it listed, but they have a box for a 330 that has holes in the front and the back so all you have to do is turn your camera around and you've got a rear view. Pretty nice.

cheers dude..........

I have got quite a lot to look at. I am speakin with a guy tomo to see if they can do something to a MX / Ski helmet for a camera (i have actually ordered a PC350 now) - will be curious on what he charges.............

Thanks for all the suggestions

huh? i thourght it were a 330 mate..

The shop I ordered it from could not get hold of the 330 in the end, so they refunded the money and I decided to buy a new PC350.......

One word.....EBAY.

 I jump with a R.E.D. (www.redprotection.com)
SKYCAP "More reliable than old faithful itself"
It's a snowboarding helmet but you wouldn't know that from the warnings etc....
LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP:
Scope around the jumps first,not over them
EASY STYLE IT:
Start small and work your way up
(inverted aerials not recomended)

It's made by Burton and looks like it can take some shit.
Word!
~J

 You can try a Brazilian manufacturer.....
He sells to all world.....
Max Cohn uses too....
Very good camera case....confort and head up/down camera case option.....

Visit the site www.rawa.com.br

 Just wanted to get some feedback on the FF2 from 2K composites for impact protection.

I have spoken to SS at 2K, but I want users opinions of them. I will be using the helmet in a strictly BASE environment, so will be getting bumps and scrapes regularly from just climbing objects, I will also want to have reasonable head protection from "impacts" - what I mean is if i should have a hard landing and bang my head on concrete / a rock or have an object strike and smack my head with a "glancing blow" on something solid - will the helmet give me ample protection?

I know that skydive helmets are not known for their protection, but I like the design of the FF2 compared to getting a mod done to a ski / mx helmet with a camera box for about the same price, but I would like to hear about the FF2 in the field - anyone have some pretty hard impact with theirs?

Thanks

Michael

hi

I have a 2KC FF2.

I do not use it for BASE, as it offers no real protection from any impact as can easily be seen from the construction.

I have the all carbon fibre model, but a friend has the cheaper fibreglass version and it looks like that is marginally stronger, but still affords little to no protection.

I use a TSG bmx helmet and a 661 Full Carbon downhill MTB helmet for BASE jumps, as both of these offer significant impact protection.

Just buy a bullet cam and stick it on a helmet that is good for protection, it's an easy solution that will also prevent a sore neck from camera weight and or riser strikes.

Buying a FF2 strictly for BASE is a waste of money IMHO and with a lump of camera strapped to your head, quite likely less safe than jumping with no helmet.

cheers
sam

Does the bullet cam have the same quality as the normal camera set up? What type of lens is on it? Are others available?

Thanks,
Jason
570

i use the bullet cam from pack 4 from RF,and i absolutely wont recomend them for high qually.

My cam should be abel to record in 0lux but even in twighlight it get problems,in the dark envioment it cant be used at all.

NOTE: i did send my cam for repair but got it back whith a note that it were in 100% good shape. but also after that i get the same poor qually.

i think they might will be good in the skyenvioment were you have loads of light but BASE jumping were the ground often looks dark compared to the sky,i dont like it.

One of the reassons is might that a Bullet cam is analoug into digi. i dunno about this.

dont buy a new one before you tested one first i sure felt that i lost loads of mony on that account as i got the best,3 lenses a remote etc etc

just my oppinion....

Bullet cam is a complete camera, ccd, lens, etc., that puts out a standard video signal (NTSC or PAL). Your dv recorder is then just recording the video signal the bullet cam produces. If you're using it to feed, say, a PC330, then your investment in the 330's fancy (bigger) ccd, pretty glass, and image stabilization is for naught.

Image quality will depend almost entirely on the quality of the bullet cam. I wouldn't expect most of them to give you the sensitivity or color fidelity you get from your better mini-dv cameras (stand-alone). But, somebody please prove me wrong -- I like the idea.

I can prove you wrong. give me a few days to get back to toronto and I will post movies taken with the bulletcam

cheers
sam

Jason

the bulletcam I bought has a Sony 1/3" CCD and MUCH better lowlight and IR sensitivity than my PC105.

it has 480 lines resolution on the NTSC model that I have

it is VERY sensitive to power supply quality and set-up, especially connectors.

also, the lenses are interchangeable easily, BUT you have to focus them while changing over, there is a good range of fields-of-view available with the lenses.

when set up properly the quality is as good as my PC105 during the day and siginificantly better in low light, although it is difficult to set it up nicely.

like I said, I'll post video in a week or two.

cheers
sam

Cool -- the sony 1/3"ccd is what the 330 has, right? so if they did it right, the only thing you're missing is the Sony image stab (and odds and ends like night mode, progressive scan, etc).

I'd also be interested to learn about your setup.

Having seen Sam's video from the bullet cam, and video he shot at the same time with the PC105, I can definitely vouch for the truth of this.

looking forward to see the video. i use a 105 as well...
will see if i can dig up video recorded by my bullet setup,that can be shown here you sure can see its not the same qually.Still in focus but as it gets dark i get blue spots on the dark areas. i use 8 AA 2100mAh batteryes,which should be ok.

update on the videos

I'm home and I've uploaded them to skydivingmovies.com

here is the boat footage:
http://www.skydivingmovies.com/...ion=file&id=1920

(It doesn't show the clearest picture and there are blue dots, but you can see colours and also read my watch when using the backlight, which you couldn't do with the PC105, even on nightshot)

here is a sunrise jump shot on the bulletcam(hope the troll doesn't mind a cameo appearance):
http://www.skydivingmovies.com/...ion=file&id=1918

here is a daytime jump shot with the bulletcam:
http://www.skydivingmovies.com/...ion=file&id=1917

Here is a sunset jump shot with the bulletcam, mounted on my hand. Shows pretty good how going slider up at TF, geeking the camera and getting a 180 with a half twist, when exiting over the centre of the river, will likely end up with you getting wet!
http://www.skydivingmovies.com/...ion=file&id=1919

I hope this has given some idea of what I was talking about.

cheers
sam

edited to add:

some have asked about my set-up, I have posted a fair amount about it in the photography and video forum if you'd like any details that you can't find there, just ask, I'm still ironing out some details

more edit to add:
I uploaded .wmv files, which is how I captured from the tape, as I did initially capture the sunset jump in .avi format, but that created too big a file size. This means a loss of some resolution and quality, due to the format, not the bulletcam.

You got some cool vid there,heres my coments to it:

At the 2 jumps you clearly can see that the ground change collur(purpel to brown)as you have a canopy out.I had the same issues,try turn your cam 180degrees and look at the outcome... youll get purple ground..

your sunset jump truly looks way better than what i get on my cam.

I must say that you have better qually than i have,from the describtion it looks like we have the same setup through..
I got mine back and were told that it were ok,and still have not as good qually in the dark envioment as yours...

how much power do you use(which batteryes)
i use 8 AA(or AAA??)2100mah which fits in the batterypack.its the strongest batteryes i could find.

> What type of lens is on it? Are others available?
I have permanently mounted a 2.9mm-130° lens; they are also available 3.6mm-92° and 4.3mm-78° lenses.

> I use the bullet cam from pack 4 from RF,and i absolutely wont recomend them for high qually.
I have got the same bullet camera as you, Faber, but you know I like very much the quality of the bullet camera we have.
Simply speaking, you must know which the specifications of our bullet are, and we CANNOT demand more from it (nor from ANY videocamera in the world).

> My cam should be able to record in 0lux but even in twighlight it get problems, in the dark envioment it cant be used at all.
Here comes my above point. First, 21CWSHRX bullet camera (=package 4) min illumination is 0.1 lux (not 0, nothing works in 0 lux!). Our bullet camera is simply 70 times brighter than our PC105 (without night shot). Second (and we spoke about this on the phone), our bullet, in case of low (=nearly zero) light, shows blue spots among the "black".
Well, this can easily be something that upsets you, while a PC105 would show just "black". But when something is honestly "seeable" (let's say, when light is around 1 lux), our bullet shows good pictures, while PC105 gives just the contours of images (the inner part of contours just being black).

> i think they might will be good in the skyenvioment were you have loads of light but BASE jumping were the ground often looks dark compared to the sky,i dont like it.
Faber, sorry, I think you have WAY HUGE expectations from (any) bullet camera.
NO CAMERA CAN SHOOT IN DARKNESS (unlkess you go on infrared, with internal/external illuminator).
I can guarantee you that I took a video (just as soon as I set my system up) of a jump from our A, total darkness, yes, my mate is a black contour, but as soon as I lighted up the (small) speleo light I have on my helmet, I got very bright images on those "objects" that were in the light cone of my light (my arms in red jacket, the iron beam, my canopy above my head, the grass approaching for landing, my camo stash bag, whatever else felt into the light cone of my light).
Yes, outside the cone light everything is black with blue spots, but even with a "direct" PC105 with super night shot (=with infrared illuminator on), what you can get is that everything (that is within the cone illumination of infrared) in green and black and everything is outside (the cone illumination of infrared) is simply black.
I do have 2 videos of a S jump, shot at the same time, around sunset, the first through my bullet, the second of my exact jump, but shot by a PC105 from the landing. It was possibly just after sunset, the video shot from my bullet shows nice seable colours, the video shot from PC105 just gives contours with dark "inner".

> One of the reasons is might that a Bullet cam is analoug into digi. i dunno about this.
With a 2 m length cable, the story of analog input is simply a "non issue".

> how much power do you use(which batteryes)
i use 8 AA(or AAA??)2100mah which fits in the batterypack.its the strongest batteryes i could find.
Now I tell you about my experience with batteries. Firstly, the manufacturer says that you could use bullet camera either with 8 AA batteries for 12 h (or so) or with 9 V (small) battery for 1 h (or so).
The story of supplying the bullet canera with the 9 V (small) battery is simply FAKE - FALSE - VOID - BULLSH|T.
I used both a rechargeable NiMH 9 V battery and a standard alkaline 9 V battery. Results: imagea were bad and all the screen was full with blue spots.
My opinion: bullet camera is simply quite eager of current for its normal operation, which current for its normal working simply CANNOT be supplied by a 9 V battery.
So, after the unlucky test with 9 V battery, at first I used in the battery package 8 AA NiMH 2300 mAh batteries, but now I bought 8 AA NiMH 2500 mAh (2500 mAh are the most powerful AA batteries so far).
The 8AA batteries can supply enough current for the (normal) use of bullet camera (which bullet camera absorbs 1.3W of power, not exactly "nothing", it gets jolly warm after few minutes it is ON).
Edited to add: current absorbed by bullet camera is 130 mA (=0.13 A), that is NOT exactly nothing. In fact, supposing of having 8 AA batteries having a voltage of 1.25 V each, we end up with supplying 0.13 A at 10 V, which in fact gives an absorption of 1.3 W (= a small heater!!!).
Note: along the usage of my bullet camera, I always use also the external microphone (which drains a little bit current on its own).
Using 2500 mAh batteries gives me a very nice working usage and time for my bullet camera, no blue spots (unless it is jolly fu(king dark...).
In the end: I am very happy with my setup, even if it takes 30 minutes (or so) to assemble everything up.
I used my bullet to take a video of an urban jumps of mine, night time but there were street lamps everywhere, and they were enough to give a good illumination to my video, I am really happy about it.
Furthermore, I used my bullet camera (with a headband) for videoing my snowboard adventures (well, actually, I video my brother skiing!!!), with very, very good results (possibly, a 2.9mm-130° lens is a bit too wide for this sort of videos, but never mind!).
Just my 0.02€.

Hi Andrea
Im werry aware of our conversations(which i really enjoyed and apritiate),you helped me alot,and thank you for that.

I see you use 2500mha batteryes(recharcheble i guess) could you please post the name of thouse,i havnt been abel to get any higher than 2100mha yet,perhaps the last 400mha could do the job.
As you i like to use the mic aswell.

I see that i didnt got my fact straigth(about the lux,your correct that its 0.1lux).

i had one similar jump were i go nothing but black whith blue spots on...

hope your doing good

Andrea (and Faber)

sounds like we have the same experience of our bulletcams

I have the same CCD, bought it from www.spycameras4less.com as I'm in Canada and it was cheaper

I used to use 8 x 2100 mAh batteries, but now I use 10 x 2300 mAh batteries (energizer rechargeables), a thing to note, the high capacity rechargeable NiMH batteries like this do not produce 1.5 Volt, they only give 1.2 Volt and the bulletcam seems to want at least a good 12 Volt, so I went to 10 AA sized rechargeables.

cheers
sam

for Faber:
> ...could you please post the name of thouse,i havnt been abel to get any higher than 2100mha yet...
Faber, just go on eBay and search inserting the following string: "2500 mAh NiMH" and you will get plenty of choices. Ansmann are really good quality batteries (I have got Ansmann batteries), but there also other good brand for 2500 mAh batteries.

for Sam:
> ...they only give 1.2 Volt
The fact that a rechargeable battery gives out only 1.2 V is damned true.

> and the bulletcam seems to want at least a good 12 Volt, so I went to 10 AA sized rechargeables so I went to 10 AA sized rechargeables
Damn!!!!!!! So you bought a 10 batteries holder? Are they available? I must get one!!!

I would like to add some comments to your battery discussion. If you want to get more power to your bullet camera, rising the mAh's of the battery is not the right way to go. From the mAh's one can tell for how long the batteries will last if the current drawn is known. Here, if you have 130 mA current and the capacity of the battery is 2300 mAh (milliamperehours) you'll theoretically get about 17 h 40 min working time. And with 2500 mAh you'll get 1 h 30 min more. So, 130 mA is not a big current drawn, but if you have long and thin cables supplying the power to the camera you could lose a lot of mA's there. And that's why you won't get working times like that.

When getting bigger voltages (adding cells) one'll get more power with same current. It is straight: P = U*I, P=power, U = voltage, I = current. Look at the specs of your camera and get the highest voltage. I wouldn't advice going over it. Also here the cables may play a big role, the another formula is U = R*I, R = resistance (of the cable). It tells you how much of the voltage you'll lose in the cable.

These were my thoughts from my very limited experience flying electric RC-planes. There, I use Li-Po (Lithium - Polymere) cells, which are a lot lighter than NiMH's. But I wouldn't use them in this case, because when short circuited (e.g. bad landing) they will explode easily.

-Harri-

The Protec Full face ace is a very nice helmet. Protection, sturidiness and adaptability and price (59 bucks!!) Cant find a better deal. The only negative I have about this helmet, Is that my head (do not read ego, actual dimension) is too large for their largest. But most normal people will be able to fit into them very nicely. In fact I'll sell you mine if you want, Unused, still in plastic and box.

PM me if interested. I have two.

nic

Looks like the 21CSHRX is designed as a very low-light (.1lux at f2!) camera. It must push the Sony EXVIEW Super HAD 1/3" CCD to the limit -- the "blue spot" artifacting is something that another manufacturer might tune out, but I like the fact that it'll give you whatever low-light image it can get.

Was hoping someone would chime in on the battery thing.
The specs for the 21CSHRX state:
From what you guys are saying, it sounds like the tolerance they claim is a little iffy when you get on the low side.

> From what you guys are saying, it sounds like the tolerance they claim is a little iffy when you get on the low side
I made a small research about specifications (including power supply) of the two bullet camera manufacturers. Here is what I got. Interesting indeed.
·
21CWSHRX from RF of MY (and Faber’s) bullet camera (bought 1 year ago) gives:
S/N ratio: more than 50 dB
min illumination: 0.1 lux at F2.0
Power Source: DC 12V (8V÷15V)
Operating current: 0.130A
·
21CWSHRX from RF (updated with reference to their website) gives:
S/N ratio: more than 50 dB
min illumination: 0.1 lux at F2.0
Power Source: DC 12V (no reference to min÷max voltage to be supplied)
Operating current: 0.090A
·
21CSHRX from SpyCamera4less gives:
S/N ratio: more than 36 dB
min illumination: 0.05 lux at F2.0
Power Source: DC 12V (10.8V÷13.2V)
Operating current: 0.120A
·
apart from natural and obvious small differences in specs from manufacturer to manufacturer, it can be noted that while my ("old") power source was 8V÷15V (nominal being 12V), surprisingly "too large", SpyCamera4less gives as power source a range of 10.8V÷13.2V.
I do not where the truth is about power source range, but if the "true" one is 10.8V÷13.2V, I guess that in my and Faber's setup (where we use 8 AA 1.2V batteries, for a total of 9.6V) we are BELOW the minum value for power sorce, this minimum being 10.8V (versus our 9.6V).
While I am quite happy about videos shot with my bullet camera, it is indeed true that when in "difficulty" (either supplied by (small) 9V battery or when (parts of screen are) totally dark) our bullet camera gives out either "blue spots" or "black filled with blue spots".
While these blue spots don't annoy me that much (because when everything else is lighted up, is caught quite well with good colours), it is going to be very, very interesting to see what happens when I supply my bullet camera with true 12V (being 12V the nominal voltage and well above the "minimum" of 10.8V).
I have just bought a battery holder for 10 AA batteries: next time I am going to power up my bullet with 12V (connecting a battery pack with 10 batteries of 1.2V each) and I will let you know the results.
See you soon.

cheers mate

Hello there. I just bought a 10 AA batteries holder, I welded the right connector and I sticked 10 AA NiMH 2500 mAh batteries into such a holder.
I measured the output voltage of such battery pack, and my tester gave me 13.4 V, meaning an average of 1.34 V each (actually, just charged NiMH batteries have around 1.3-1.32-1.34 V, after a while they have 1.2 V and only when they are about to die, they have something below 1.2V).
So, let's say thay I powered my bullet with something more than the nominal voltage. For sure, nothing less than nominal voltage.
I did a quick test with the bullet camera in my living room (daytime), after having connected my bullet to my TV. Of corse, I got (as usual) good images.
I simulated the "very dark" condition simply pushing the glass of my bullet against my trousers (thigh): on TV screen I saw an image that was, yes, black and blurry, but it was "black" with not so many "blue spots".
Apparently, the higher voltage (still within tolerance limits of input voltage) you supply your bullet, the less "blue spots" you get.
Of course, I will try the above setup in real night/dark conditions to see what it yields and I will post results here.
See you soon

Hello People

Just thought i'd chip in here.

I also have the bulletcam from Rf concepts and naturally have experienced exactly the same issues you fellas have, blue spots in low light etc. The problem for me has always been the power supply. I have tried the 8 x AA setup and switched to the 9V setup. Neither really work for more than 10minutes before the blue spot noise starts to edge in. Keep recording and then it deteriorates into stripey vertical lines, followed by black and then finally the audio goes.

I have some great footage from The Firestation in france. A large group of us, i'm about the last to exit. The power just about held out to catch everyone elses exits but by the time i reach the exit point it;s just black and the sound of the freefall and flight. Shame cos i broke my ankle on that jump and it would have been interested footage.

I'm pretty close to giving up on the bullet cam entirely cos i keep missing jumps.

What's the solution people.

ian

Were did you get that 10 pack from,did i miss it some were???
is it compact,i think the setup already takes loads of room
I think its interesting what you experienced and i´ll give my cam another shot to get it up running.

Ian,even as i have the 8pack whith 8 AA 2100mha,i have power for serval hours of recording even whith the mic on aswell,its the Qually i complain about.
If your keen to hook up in easter,ill be arround UK at that point

Did any try play hooking up a bullet cam as handheld(video glove)? how were the results of that? and any pics of the glove?
Cheers.

For Faber:
> Where did you get that 10 pack from, did i miss it some where???
With Package 4 it came a power pack for 8 AA batteries, it is just a plastic holder for 8 AA batteries ending with a connector. You put into your holder 8 AA batteries (either alkaline or NiMH). If you put the NiMH ones, you get the (negative) issue of supplying bullet with 9.6 V (instead of nominal 12 V), that seems to be "not enough" (to say the least) to get a good supply for bullet camera, expecially in dark conditions.
Faber, simply go in any good (big) electronics shop or electrical shop and ask for a holder for 10 AA batteries (you can show them yours and tell them you want one similar but for 10 AA instead that for 8 AA, with same connector).
As 10 AA holder they will give you (nearly) exactly the same as our (in package) 8 AA battery holder, with the small difference that it is (obviously) sligthly bigger.

> is it compact, i think the setup already takes loads of room
8 AA holder has got 2 rows for 4 batteries each.
10 AA holder has got 2 rows for 5 batteries each.
10 AA holder has got same thickness as 8 one, 10 AA holder has got same height as 8 one, 10 AA holder is simply 25% longer than 8 one. I don't think it is a big issue.


For Ian:
> I have tried the 8 x AA setup and switched to the 9V setup. Neither really work for more than 10 minutes before the blue spot noise starts to edge in...
Ian, please, read what I wrote above (in another post of mine). Small 9 V batteries simply cannot give enough current to supply properly bullet camera (with 9 V battery, I experienced blue spots since the very first second, getting very "rubbish" images; yes, bullet camera (my feeling) would have drained small 9 V battery in 10 minutes, maybe less (I was measuring the voltage of "9 V" battery during use, after few seconds battery voltage went from 9.3 V to 8.8 V)).
With the 8 AA setup my experience is good (several hours of use, including external mic) , eventually you could give a try to stick into your holder 8 AA alkaline batteries (so with such 8 AA batteries you get 12 V as supply voltage): if you get good images from your bullet camera, then you too can switch to buy a 10 AA battery holder and sticking into it 10 AA NiMH batteries.
In this case you have the advantage of using rechargeable batteries and still having 12 V as supply voltage for bullet camera. Remember, the most powerful rechargeable AA NiMH batteries are (so far) the 2500 mAh ones.

Hello Sam,
I downloaded your videos. From bulletcamvspc105.wmv I noticed that (on the shooting of bullet itself) you had a (central) damp spot in the middle of the lens.
That's exactly what I get when my bullet experiences a brisk change in temperature conditions (jump at our terminal wall, under nice May sun but after 1h 15' of hike in the cool shadow of trees, or while snowboarding (outside extreme low temperature).
This "central damp spot" is due to the fact that we assembled ourselves our lens in "normal environment" (=our home) and not in a laboratory under either (nearly) no atmosphere or under very dry air condition.
The small amount of humidity present in the air of our home environment at the moment of closing the sealing cap with glass, trapped that small amount of humidity within the space between lens and glass. Under certain (wrong!!!) conditions, there is condensation and so pops such an ugly central damp spot.
It was very big and very annoying while I videod my brother while we were skiing last Xmas (I was snowboarding, he was skiing!!!).
It took me 2 days to sort the central damp spot out.
First day I kept for few ours my bullet open (with "screw glass holder" unscrewed), in two pieces, in the warm environment of my mountain home. Not enough: the following day I experienced once again (this time, on a lesser extent) the central damp spot.
Second day, I unscrewed the glass and kept for several hours screw, glass and bullet over a (very hot) heater. Assembled again, next days I experienced nothing but just good video, without any central damp spot.
My suggestion to get rid of central damp spot on bullet cameras: unscrew glass, clean lens and glas with special glass/lens product and then heat everything with a hairdryer or equivalent "heating system", keep everything under those conditions for few minutes/1 h or so, ensuring that around there is the driest air possible, and when everything is still jolly hot (careful to not destroy the toy with heat!!!), screw glass back in position. And never touch it again!!!!!
Just my 0.02€.

well, waking up this old thread :

I got the RF concepts kit as well. I rigged up a hand mount, and put one jump on it so far. Too bad I salvaged all the available AA batteries I had laying around, so the battery pack gave up about 5 mins before exit - got nice sound though.. ( I got the 10 pack and rechargable AA's on the way )

A few questions for the ones that already have experience using this setup in the field :

how'd ya rig your handmounts ?

I used as set of motorcycle gloves that has the top just like female velcro. One you stick a bottom of the bulletcam ( which I have male velcro attached to), it stayes pretty snug. I also have wrapped 2 velcro cable-tie strips around, for security. My next step is attachding a spandex made pouch to the top of the glove to eliminate any snag points. Cables go under my shirt to the fanny pack, so there's no snag potential. ( have to wear long sleeves of course )

Also WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE CONNECTOR ON THE END OF THE CAM itself ? Not the BNC on the extention, but the actual 4 hole round connector that is about 10" down from the bulletcam ?

It's very impractical the way the whole thing is configured and I was gonna splice and dice and make it a single cable which has that connector on one end, and the SONY composite ( 3.5mm ) on the other with the barrel coming of off it to the battery pack - I think that would be ALOT cleaner.

any help ?

thank you.

P.S. The low light performance is amazing compared to my TRV22...

I took an elastic band, the small/medium size used for skydiving linestows, and just poked my left thumb through it, and slid the bulletcam under the elastic, pointing along my thumb, so I can point the camera where I like.

then I ran the bulletcam cable under my watchstrap and under a longsleeve t-shirt, which also covers the hipbag that houses my camcorder and batteries.

I put my Cameye Sport under the watchstrap too, so it's accessible without messing with my clothes, especially if I'm wearing a winter jacket and I have to be geared up before the climb.

I posted a video shot like this on skydivingmovies.com

cya
sam

Dexterbase,

On the assumption that you have now rammed into a few things at home and possibly elsewhere would you kindly advise what you now think about the D-Raptor from Dainese.