camera & light on helmet
06-18-21, 08:15 AM
#1
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camera & light on helmet
slow season in the office again ...
probably not useful this time of year, but. re: wanting photo something I am looking at, aka camera on helmet, but in the evening (requires a helmet mounted light). & for anyone that likes to make their own mounts ;-) ... this past fall, while on a trail, an owl swooped down in front of me & I was following it for a cpl seconds before it rose back up into the trees. I was able to extract a video frame of it sitting on a branch on another evening. but I wanted to be able to point my head, my camera & a light simultaneously at this owl if I ever saw it again, regardless of it's location, meaning not right in front of me. found out how uncommon it is to have camera & light on a helmet. crafted something in the office w/ a highlighter & rubber bands at 1st & then finalized a few generations later with better & fewer parts & finished w/ a better light. sadly, the owl never flew directly in front of me again. maybe next Fall when it is dark enough after work. the final product works as designed but admittedly has limited usefulness for a very narrow set of circumstances
11/17/20
got out last night. surprised a BIG owl which launched just a cpl feet in front of me then flew along the trail, ahead of me, for a cpl seconds, as I followed it, before disappearing up into the trees. I was so startled all I could muster were 2 frightened ahh! ahh!s it was spectacular & had such broad wings. of course my camera was off at the time. IDIOT!
been using a light for a long time & added a beam cutoff hood for riding with the general public. but off in the woods I don't care to cutoff the beam & would rather see more. I like the setup tho, so I'm thinking of getting a different head for the big battery I have. and something extra for the helmet, next to my camera. I really want to capture a vid of that flying owl!
11/18/20
saw the owl again. I stopped & it took off. I shud have just kept riding like last night. this is a frame grab from the video. the fly away is only recognizable in video format. but the vid is so poor it's not worth sharing. if he's gonna be this predictable, I can take a vid w/ my phone. when I stopped I turned my handlebars toward it & might have tried to point my light up toward it & then it took off
since I glued a camera mount to 3 helmets, I chose 1 helmet & tried to figure out a light mount that points at the same thing my camera is looking at. I was guessing something like this. no idea how, maybe if I use a wine bottle cork ...
the rubber bands didn't explode & I had a prototype ready for phase 1 testing. used a highlighter marker for the mounting bar, then swapped it for a wooden dowel
11/19/20
I love having the light on the helmet. having it point where I'm looking is great. like for going over foot bridges & making turns. a better light & camera were in my future & got a better light (but no new camera yet)
combining it with the cam was good, if there's anything worth recording. making my own mount was fun but I had an actual helmet mount that came with the cheap knock off light. having that big battery on my head wasn't bad at all. really surprising
an added bonus of a helmet mounted light is anytime I wanted to look at my bar mounted computer, I simply just looked at it! I didn't have to fiddle with a headlamp hanging from my neck
11/20/20
continuing my best coal miner impression ...
rigging a light to the front on a helmet doesn't seem popular. in fact while searching the googlenets all I could find was ppl mounting either a camera OR a light at the top of the helmet. could not find anyone with both. since I had a strap/head/helmet mount thing at home, I scratched my head & did some work w/ scissors & hacksaw until I came down to this little thing. I attached it just before bed w/ 2 short dry wall screws
started w/ this
wound up w/ this
swapped in a better light
probably not useful this time of year, but. re: wanting photo something I am looking at, aka camera on helmet, but in the evening (requires a helmet mounted light). & for anyone that likes to make their own mounts ;-) ... this past fall, while on a trail, an owl swooped down in front of me & I was following it for a cpl seconds before it rose back up into the trees. I was able to extract a video frame of it sitting on a branch on another evening. but I wanted to be able to point my head, my camera & a light simultaneously at this owl if I ever saw it again, regardless of it's location, meaning not right in front of me. found out how uncommon it is to have camera & light on a helmet. crafted something in the office w/ a highlighter & rubber bands at 1st & then finalized a few generations later with better & fewer parts & finished w/ a better light. sadly, the owl never flew directly in front of me again. maybe next Fall when it is dark enough after work. the final product works as designed but admittedly has limited usefulness for a very narrow set of circumstances
11/17/20
got out last night. surprised a BIG owl which launched just a cpl feet in front of me then flew along the trail, ahead of me, for a cpl seconds, as I followed it, before disappearing up into the trees. I was so startled all I could muster were 2 frightened ahh! ahh!s it was spectacular & had such broad wings. of course my camera was off at the time. IDIOT!
been using a light for a long time & added a beam cutoff hood for riding with the general public. but off in the woods I don't care to cutoff the beam & would rather see more. I like the setup tho, so I'm thinking of getting a different head for the big battery I have. and something extra for the helmet, next to my camera. I really want to capture a vid of that flying owl!
11/18/20
saw the owl again. I stopped & it took off. I shud have just kept riding like last night. this is a frame grab from the video. the fly away is only recognizable in video format. but the vid is so poor it's not worth sharing. if he's gonna be this predictable, I can take a vid w/ my phone. when I stopped I turned my handlebars toward it & might have tried to point my light up toward it & then it took off
since I glued a camera mount to 3 helmets, I chose 1 helmet & tried to figure out a light mount that points at the same thing my camera is looking at. I was guessing something like this. no idea how, maybe if I use a wine bottle cork ...
the rubber bands didn't explode & I had a prototype ready for phase 1 testing. used a highlighter marker for the mounting bar, then swapped it for a wooden dowel
11/19/20
I love having the light on the helmet. having it point where I'm looking is great. like for going over foot bridges & making turns. a better light & camera were in my future & got a better light (but no new camera yet)
combining it with the cam was good, if there's anything worth recording. making my own mount was fun but I had an actual helmet mount that came with the cheap knock off light. having that big battery on my head wasn't bad at all. really surprising
an added bonus of a helmet mounted light is anytime I wanted to look at my bar mounted computer, I simply just looked at it! I didn't have to fiddle with a headlamp hanging from my neck
11/20/20
continuing my best coal miner impression ...
rigging a light to the front on a helmet doesn't seem popular. in fact while searching the googlenets all I could find was ppl mounting either a camera OR a light at the top of the helmet. could not find anyone with both. since I had a strap/head/helmet mount thing at home, I scratched my head & did some work w/ scissors & hacksaw until I came down to this little thing. I attached it just before bed w/ 2 short dry wall screws
started w/ this
wound up w/ this
swapped in a better light
Last edited by rumrunn6; 06-18-21 at 06:51 PM.
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06-18-21, 08:17 AM
#2
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quite effective stills even tho the beam pattern doesn't match the wide angle camera lens. standing still test
while moving
12/16/20
it was fun for a cpl months, incl snow storms at dusk & night
while moving
12/16/20
it was fun for a cpl months, incl snow storms at dusk & night
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07-07-21, 11:43 AM
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I have a helmet I bought in S E Asia several years ago, with mounting brackets for a camera and lights. I don't know where you could get one, and I don't know if you would want one. The brackets are probably not compatible with your camera and lights anyway. It is a helmet sold in S E Asia for use on motor bikes. But it would probably not meet the safety standards for motor bikes in most countries. It is lighter than most motor bike helmets, but heavier than bicycle helmets. I don't know what it was officially manufactured for. Probably some kind of sports. The brand name is Via.
Just something to think about. You may find something similar.
If you search for 'army style helmet,' you should find some with mounting brackets on them.
Just something to think about. You may find something similar.
If you search for 'army style helmet,' you should find some with mounting brackets on them.
Last edited by alo; 07-07-21 at 12:05 PM.
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07-07-21, 12:02 PM
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unrelated, but these are cool
07-07-21, 02:52 PM
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I have some stuff mounted on my helmet and I wonder if I crash whether I'm going to end up with a light-sized hole pushed into my skull. One thing I would certainly never do is put drywall screws aimed at my forehead into foam that's designed to collapse on impact! WTF? [ . . . goes to search Google for "Dutch insurance ad acupuncture" video on YouTube . . . ]
Last edited by mdarnton; 07-07-21 at 02:58 PM.
07-07-21, 05:06 PM
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I have some stuff mounted on my helmet and I wonder if I crash whether I'm going to end up with a light-sized hole pushed into my skull. One thing I would certainly never do is put drywall screws aimed at my forehead into foam that's designed to collapse on impact! WTF? [ . . . goes to search Google for "Dutch insurance ad acupuncture" video on YouTube . . . ]
