TerranCmdr Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Hello everyone. After recently acquiring a Contour Roam, and figuring out that it's awesome, I came up with a mounting solution that I think would be unique and effective. I want to put the camera inside a dummy PVS-14 or similar NVG and mount it to my helmet via the usual mounting hardware. So in essence it will look just like a night vision monocular flipped up on my helmet, but will serve as a video camera. I don't know, I think it's really cool. Here's my problem though - I can't find a dummy PVS anywhere! The cheap plastic ones (preferable) are all sold out and I can't even find the metal ones that magnify in stock. Does anyone know where I might be able to find a dummy PVS-14 that I can use for this project? Otherwise I'm thinking of 3d modeling one and having it 3d-printed and delivered to me. I'd like to stay away from that option though because it could be pretty expensive. Here's what I'm after: http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/dytac-dummy-an-pvs-14-monocular-night-vision.html Here's a mockup of what it would look like (The contour would be inside the PVS of course, it's just shown for approximate scale): Link to post Share on other sites
Pkekyo-Nor Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 I do like the idea, but unless you modify either the Rhino-arm or J-arm, the angle of view will be far too steep. Link to post Share on other sites
TerranCmdr Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 You mean you think the camera will be pointing too far down? I am prepared to do some minor modifications on the Rhino arm to get the angle just right, but judging from pictures I didn't think I would have to move it that much. I'm about to get a second hand rhino arm and mount the contour straight to that so I'll keep this thread updated when I do that. Link to post Share on other sites
Pkekyo-Nor Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Yeah, I think the camera needs to be _almost_ horizontal for it to give good footage. Granted, combat doesn't take place over large distances in airsoft, but usually the two-three yards directly in front of you won't exactly be incredibly interesting to look at. If you could just make the swivel of the rhino-arm allow you to keep the lower (J-arm interface shoe) to stay more or less horizontal, you should be good. Link to post Share on other sites
TerranCmdr Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Cool, I've never handled a rhino arm so we'll see what it's like when it gets here. Link to post Share on other sites
TerranCmdr Posted January 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 So while waiting for my rhino arm to come, I've been thinking. I don't think I'll be able to find a replica PVS anywhere for a decent price, but I think I might be able to fabricate one around my contour by using PVC. It won't be an exact copy of course but I think it'll look the part from 5+ feet away and it'll enable me to design it around the camera and make it serviceable. I have found replacement eye pieces for a semi-decent price, so I could just slap one of those on the front and it should look pretty legit. We'll see how the angle looks when the arm gets here though. Link to post Share on other sites
DesertFoxRomel Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Whats wrong with the side of the helmet mount? If you're looking for a Mil Sim look, real soldiers do mount cameras to their helmets. Case in point: Link to post Share on other sites
kojak Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 EBB listed some yesterday: http://www.ebairsoft.com/emerson-dummy-pvs14-p-5338.html Link to post Share on other sites
BFOUR Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 i like how that guy is firing over his friends heads and they probably dont realize it.. Idiot.. yeah I had one mounted to my helmet in iraq and it did its purpose well. Link to post Share on other sites
sigma3 Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Question: if you mount the camera inside a PVS housing, how are you going to operate it? Also, ^^^ what he said. Link to post Share on other sites
TerranCmdr Posted January 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 I had planned to either make a cutout to operate the switch or do some fenagling to make a switch that switches the camera on. I just don't really like it on the side of my helmet because it sticks out pretty far. I also am curious to see what an overhead NVG mount will look like. I dunno, I just thought it would be cool and different. Like a stealth camera. Thanks for that link kojak, I think I'll pick that one up. Link to post Share on other sites
kojak Posted January 5, 2012 Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 ...I just don't really like it on the side of my helmet because it sticks out pretty far... What about using the adhesive side mount? It doesn't get much lower profile than that. Link to post Share on other sites
BFOUR Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 Yeah it sticks out only the width of the camera really. Using a rhino mount will make your helmet top heavy like real nods do. Link to post Share on other sites
akiraspeedstar Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 I have my Couture mounted on the left side of my helmet, when I fire it gives a some what FPS perspective if that's what you're going for. I don't know how far back those mounts can go, but from the looks of that picture you posted, it looks like you'll get some really nice shots of the ground haha. \ Link to post Share on other sites
TerranCmdr Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 Got the rhino mount today, and after filing down my helmet mount I was able to make it fit. The footage looks great when i'm walking around, but it's pointing a little ground-ish when I'm in firing position. I can't remember if I had the switch on the rhino flipped up or down, because it gives a good 20 degrees of adjustment. I'll post some test footage soon. Ordered a dummy NVG, we'll see what I can do with it when that gets here. Link to post Share on other sites
TerranCmdr Posted January 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 Did a temporary mount with the contour (tape) and took some test footage. I think it's pretty good... I think I might try to angle the camera up slightly when I put it in the NVG shell. I should add that I play on a MOUT site so the camera doesn't have to point too far in front of me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktmoOJJeoVY&feature=youtu.be Link to post Share on other sites
TerranCmdr Posted January 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2012 Well, the dummy NVG came. It's nicer than I expected, with some metal parts. All the mounts are plastic unfortunately. You'll see why this is unfortunate below. The PVS-14 lookalike looks the part on my helmet. I proceeded to take the dummy NVG apart. 4 screws hold the fake battery box in place. The front and back cylinders (the only metal parts) screw off, and as you can see, the internal structure is nothing more than a small PVC pipe. Lol, PVC pipe. So I went to work with a hand drill (the only tool I have on hand) and started to hollow out some of the useless plastic in the battery box. By eyeballing things, I was thinking I'd be able to just barely fit the contour in there. But then I realized I'd have to cut the metal cylinders to get the camera to fit. And even then, with the camera set so far back, the video would just be tunnel vision. So I scrapped the idea of actually putting the camera inside the dummy NVG and took a look at the mounts it came with. Curiously enough, the screws on the mounts are the exact size as a tripod screw. The contour happens to have a hole specifically for this. Even better, the rubber eyepiece fits perfectly on the front of the camera. A little finagling with a spacer on the screw and I ended up with this. Not bad, methinks. And here's some test footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrHemJO2uSY&feature=youtu.be Pretty much exactly what I was hoping for. So now, I'm debating whether to build a little more around the camera to make it look more like an NVG or leave it as-is. That dummy NVG was definitely a good buy though. $20 shipped from Hong Kong, only took a couple of weeks. Link to post Share on other sites
sigma3 Posted January 22, 2012 Report Share Posted January 22, 2012 That actually looks pretty good - now if you can just reduce the angle somewhat so you're not looking down so much... Link to post Share on other sites
akiraspeedstar Posted January 29, 2012 Report Share Posted January 29, 2012 Turned out nice, I'm actually considering the same setup now, as I want to pick up those helmet mounts for my headset and it would interfere with my Contour mount. Link to post Share on other sites
Deadmeat Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 Looks good! I guess it's going to be tricky to maintain the right shot angle on the mount? Or can you fix the angle somehow? Link to post Share on other sites
TerranCmdr Posted February 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Angle can be adjusted relatively easily. There's a switch on the rhino arm that rotates it by about 5 degrees. I'm thinking I might actually hit that switch whenever I get ready to go into a building for CQB. Link to post Share on other sites
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