Hang Gliding self-portraiture

So, you want to take a picture of yourself while you're flying. You've seen lots of cool in-flight shots in the magazines, on the web, and on your friends' walls, and you want your hot wing and smiling mug up there too. Well, it can be as simple or as complex as you like. Here's some information that should help you decide on what equipment you'll want to buy and / or make. The info here is current as of March, 1999.

The simplest place to mount your camera is at the leading edge / crossbar junction. Most gliders have a zipper at this location to let you inspect the fittings. You can use this same access 'hole' to mount your camera bracket. Let's use this location for our discussion on cameras.

I'll break the equipment down into these major categories: Film format; Camera type; Lens; Remote Release; Glider mounting.

1. Film Format: This one is easy. Use standard 35mm. Don't use APS (Advanced Photo System). APS has only half the negative area, which means you can't enlarge the photo very much and still maintain the detail you want. If you're taking photos for your own scrapbook, color print film is fine. But, if you want to submit your photos for publication, you should be using color slide film. Use the lowest ASA film (speed rating), you can (100 for print, 64 for slide), that gives you sharp exposures. The lower the ASA, the finer the film's grain, the finer the detail. Of course slower speed film is also more prone to fuzzy pictures caused by camera shake. If you're worried about that, try 400 ASA

2. Lens type: I'll talk about the lens before I talk about the camera because your choice of lens determines what kind of camera you want. The normal lens for a 35mm camera is about 50mm (a 50mm focal length). At that focal length a photo looks the same as what your eye sees. As the focal length gets shorter, the field-of-view gets wider (you see more landscape in the frame), and the lens is more wide-angle. You want as much wide-angle as you can get because the camera is typically only about 10 - 15 feet away from you . We'll use four focal length lenses to illustrate:

click the image for a larger photo 35mm: available on many cameras (used as a normal lens on some)

Lake Pillsbury, Northern Calif. (Hull Mtn. site)

click the image for a larger photo 28mm: moderate wide-angle lens

Over Knights Valley, Northern Calif. (Mt. St. Helena site)

click the image for a larger photo 24mm: more wide-angle

Over the Alabama Hills, near Lone Pine, Owens Valley. Whitney Portal Rd. is in the foreground on the right, Horseshoe Meadows Rd. is in the middle distance, climbing up Wonoga Peak, the last visible peak. (Walt's Point site)

click the image for a larger photo 17mm: very wide angle

Over Stonyford, Northern Calif. LZ is by the lake. (St. John Mtn. site)

The sample photos were taken from the same location - LE/Xbar junction, except for the 24mm. That was a hand-held shot taken from the pilot's position. If all your shots will be from the LE/Xbar junction, then you'll want at least a 28mm lens. If you want to take shots from the nose or the tail, or anywhere closer than the LE/Xbar, then you'll have to go with the 17mm, and perhaps even wider.

If possible, use a lens that is fixed-focal-length (not a zoom). Zoom lenses are more optically complex, have a lot more glass, and more lens elements, all of which tend to degrade the quality of the photo.

3. Camera type: You have two to choose from: Point-and-Shoot (PS) or Single Lens Reflex (SLR). PS is smaller, lighter, cheaper, but limits your lens choice since the lens is built into the camera. SLR has the camera body and the lens as two separate elements, so that you can use any focal length lens, down to the shortest possible - 15mm or less. With PS, you're limited to 28mm as the widest. Also, since PS cameras are made for the typical snapshot taker, they tend to have an auto-shutoff 'feature' that turns the camera off if a button hasn't been pushed in the last few minutes. This is not something you want to have happen halfway through a flight. Also, the cheaper PS cameras have plastic lenses - not nearly as sharp as a good quality glass lens.

There is a "feature" you'll find on most PS cameras that I'd like to discuss briefly: Panoramic Mode. The panoramic mode on these cameras is not true panoramic. I refer to it as "fake-panoramic". Instead of using two or three frames for the exposure (true panoramic), these cameras use the middle 1/3 of a frame. Then the photo-finisher enlarges the hell out if it to give you a wide but short print (easy to do on today's machines that use 4-inch-wide rolls of photo paper). Think of it this way: Take a normal picture, enlarge it to 11x14, then cut off the top and bottom thirds and throw them away. THAT's the fake-panoramic mode these cameras offer as an "added feature". Bottom line: disregard panoramic mode.

4. Remote Release: There are 4 types that I'll discuss: Manual, Wired, Infrared (IR), and Radio (RF).

You can cobble together a manual release for most any camera. Some SLR's have threads in the shutter release button so you can attach a bulb release (you squeeze a bulb & the air moves through a tube to push a plunger on the camera). You can make a bulb release from a long length of plastic tubing (black drip irrigation or clear general-purpose), two large syringes (hobby shop or farm supply (used for livestock)), and a strap of rubber (bicycle inner tube). With a bit of experimentation you can get it working well enough. The 35mm sample shot was taken with such a release.

Most all SLRs have a jack for a wired remote. On some it is a simple electrical circuit that is closed momentarily to fire the shutter. On others it's more complicated. For the simple ones you can make the entire remote from Radio Shack parts. for the others you'll have to buy the remote and then lengthen it. some pilots run the wired remote through their wing's double surface and leave it there to speed up set-up. Some have several remotes in different lengths, to use for different mounting locations. Whatever works.

Most PS's and some SLR's have IR remote capability. These work fine as long as you can see the camera and you mount the remote solidly. Most IR remotes say they only work out to 16 ft. and don't like strong daylight. My Olympus IR remote professes these limitations, but it has worked at 30 ft. in strong daylight, pointed toward the sun. With most PS's you must also deal with a 3-second delay after you press the remote before the shutter fires. I've come to like this since it gives me a chance to "pose", although timing what scenery gets into the shot is harder.

RF remotes are the best 'cause it doesn't matter where the camera is or how far away it is. The drawback is that the ones available commercially are very expensive and have a weight penalty. Plus, your camera must be wired-remote capable.

Two RF units to look for:

Now for some camera recommendations:

If you can afford it, go for the SLR. The downside to an SLR is weight and cost. The upside is Wide-Angle!

Recommendation:

Canon Rebel G body ($240) (many pilots use this one)

If you want simple and cheap (comparatively), go for the PS. There are lots of them with a 35mm lens, one that I know of with a 28mm lens, and one with a 24mm lens (that you have to use hand-held).

Recommendation:

Olympus Infinity Stylus Zoom 80 DLX Wide (28-80mm lens) ($250 + $10 for battery + $30 for remote)

The 24mm PS camera I used is the Ricoh R1. Its 24mm lens is supposed to be used only in fake-panoramic mode but I glued the two skirts that normally block the light from reaching the negative so that I'd get the full frame exposed. This works fine, except that the corners of the frame have some light fall-off (darkening). The other drawback is that I haven't come up with a way to defeat the 3 minute auto-shutoff. On the plus side, this camera is super slim. You can hold it between two knuckles as you fly (of course the camera is bungeed to my harness), and weighs only about 5 oz. (w/o batt. or film) The 24mm sample photo was taken with this camera. (http://www.ricoh-cameras.co.uk/35mm/35mmprod.htm)

click the image for a larger photo Ricoh R1, hand held. Kodak Gold color print film, ASA 100.

Above Wonoga Peak, after takoff from Walt's Point, Owens Valley. Horseshoe Meadows is in the lower left, Mt Whitney is on the right. (light fall-off in the corners isn't too noticeable in this shot)

Some general comments:  

"The "fill" in flash makes every picture come alive. As far as I am concerned, it's a must. The pictures don't look like I used a flash either. The fill flash that is built into the camera (no extra weight) makes every picture so you can see pilot's face(s). I am not kidding, it makes the difference between a so-so picture and fantastic pictures. AND, EVERY picture seems to turn out great. It's amazing, really. I seldom get any bad pictures. Anyone who takes a lot of pictures will shake their head at this claim. I am not kidding."

click the image for a larger photo Here's an example of what Jeff's talking about: 

Jeff, Olympus 28mm PS camera, with fill flash. Note IR remote just above wheel on downtube.

5. Mounting hardware:

This is where your ingenuity comes into play. A good mount must:

At least one supplier advertises a camera mount in Hang Gliding magazine.

click the image for a larger photo Commercial camera mount used by Jeff Nielsen

Here is another that is offered by Mark Vaughn.

click the image for a larger photo Xbar camera mount by Mark Vaughn (photomarks@aol.com)

Here's a cheap mount that I use:

Buy a PVC tee coupling: 2 inch PVC pipe (diameter of your LE or Xbar) to 1/2 inch threaded. Cut the 2 inch section in half. Use a rat-tailed rasp to remove the raised section in the middle so you end up with a 2 inch diameter half-round with the threaded coupling sticking out one side. Position this on your LE (or xbar) and use two hose clamps to hold it in place. This 'anchor' will stay with the wing. Now use PVC tubing and fittings to fabricate the rest of the mount, down to the camera. I use thin-walled 1/2 inch PVC tubing (used for sprinkler systems). If you want to bend a section, fill it with sand and heat it up a bit over a flame. I prefer using elbows and hose clamps. With two elbows you can get full 3-axis adjustability. A sheet metal "nibbler", (looks kinda like a pair of shears), works great for making tightening slots in the elbows. Or, use a hacksaw to make tightening slots. To mount the camera before flying, simply screw the arm into the base until it's tight. Use a length of cord, attached to the LE/Xbar at one end and to the camera at the other, as a safety.

click the image for a larger photo Homemade PVC mount, less than $10. This one mounts to the LE.
(a 45-degree dogleg was added later to clean up exit from zipper - see photo below)
click the image for a larger photo PVC mount with extension to place camera further out in front. Notice yellow string bracing.

Here's a fancier mount that will require some welding. Aaron Swepston describes his setup:

"The wing mounts and the rear keel mounts are made from two aluminum pieces welded together. The long tube is the inner sleeve from the older Wills streamlined downtubes, just before this most recent US version (the ones that were on HPATs). Know anyone with an AT and you have a source for mounts! I use this particular inner sleeve because I'll also be using a section of the outer (streamlined) tube that mates with it. I cut a section as long as possible, like two feet or so. Then I make a saddle, cut from aluminum tubing one size larger than the crossbar or keel. I cut a section of tubing, say 3 or 4 inches long, then slice it lengthwise so I have a simple half tube. I get a welder to weld the inner sleeve to the half tube at a right angle. At the same time, he welds a small hook, carved out of some flat stock, to the base of the inner sleeve where it joins the half tube saddle. These two pieces, welded together, make up the body of the bracket. I made 3 of these bodies with different sized saddles: one out of 2.5" tubing for the crossbars of most gliders; one that would go on a keel; and one that will fit 50mm aft sections, XC leading edges (that's where their zipper pocket is) Moyes CSX keels, etc.

The lever is a carved section of the streamlined tubing, and it fits snug against the inner sleeve section. I take a 6 inch section of the streamline tube (which mates with the inner sleeve) and slice the front half away, leaving the back half. I have to carve a crescent section away from the trailing edge at one end, then snap this lever to one side of the inner sleeve tube, about 2 inches away from the saddle, on the opposite side as the hook. There are two clevis pins, one used as the pivot, and one as the lock. I drill through both the lever and the tube, and insert a clevis pin, securing it with a safety ring. I drill another hole about 2 inches further out for the keeper clevis pin. There is a long eyebolt slid inside the handle and secured with a speednut from PacAir. The speednut allows you to make adjustments to the cable tension. The loop of cable is nico'd through the eyebolt and fits onto the welded hook on the body.

This bracket setup works slick, is really strong and rigid, and is really light. "

click the image for a larger photo Homemade aluminum LE/Xbar mount used by Aaron Swepston.

Aaron also shares his setup for mounting a camera from the nose of the glider:

"For nose booms, I use standard round downtube material. Not the herkin' .095 stuff of the old HPs, but the more common .065 stuff. Downtube or basetube, same stuff. Mine is about 8 feet long, and bent with a curve so it will hang down somewhere close to the same plane as the pilot. You have to be careful not to get it so low that it interferes with takeoffs! I remove the nose plug from the keel, and have a nylon or Delrin plug made that is the same outer diameter as the inner diameter of the keel. I also have the center bored out to 1 1/8 inches so the downtube material will fit into it. The plastic plug is about 7" long, and that is how far the downtube slips into it. Then I cut a slot through the whole thing, leaving about 1 1/2 - 2" not slotted. The slot should be about 1/4" or very slightly wider. That is for the plug to slip past the nose plate bolts when inserted. I have a clevis pin that goes through the downtube boom and plug, to keep them together, and then just hook a bungy or string around the pin and the nose wire to act as a safety. The boom doesn't slip out in flight, so I don't pin it in place, just put the string around for a safety."

I hope these examples help to point you in the right direction. If you come up with some trick setup, please share it with the rest of the in-flight-picture-taking community.

Contributors to this article:

March, 1999

 

Peter Lawrence's Camera Setup


Here's what I have used successfully in the Owens, at Telluride, and
Fort Funston:

Pentax-ME-Super - a light weight 35mm w/ built in meter and auto shutter speed (not auto f/stop which I feel is less useful).

auto-winder attachment - battery powered winder that screws onto the bottom of the camera, and has a socket for a long wire trigger which comes with it (12 feet I think).

20mm lens - the Pentax 20mm lens is lighter than their 50mm!, which is good for wing mounting. It is not a rediculous f/1.2 or f/1.4 that all the other manufacturers try to out do each other with that you wont be using in the mountains anyway (I usually have mine set at f/8, f/11, or f/16 up there), 20mm is very wide angle but it is flat, not fish eye.

I made a bracket as follows: a two or 2-1/2 foot piece of 1 x 1/8" aluminum, bent like this:

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the upper "L" is attached to the cross bar with hose clamps that are fully insulated from the cross bar by flexible 1/2" plastic tubing that the hose clamp strap is slid into. (a picture would be worth a thousand words here...) if you do it right, there is plastic even under the clamp screw housing. I soldered a big washer onto the clamp screw so I could tighten it by hand, no screw drivers required (important when you land in the middle of no-where which is what much of the Owens valley resembles!).

The camera is bolted to the lower "L". a standard camera has a 1/4-20 thread on the bottom for tripod mounting, in this case the motor winder does also.

This is all out at the cross bar - leading edge junction and hangs down from the wing about 2 feet, and is far enough away from the pilot to make a good picture with the 20mm lense. This hanging mount can be leaned forward or back to set it's "level" attitude to what speed (i.e. pitch) you like to fly at when snapping shots. For me this is usually around trim speed, but you have to take into account whether your down tube will be blocking your face at that pitch or not.

The long wire release can be wrapped around the side cable, or for prettier pictures, go into the sail and come down through a down-tube (but it might not be possible if the connector will not fit, in that case tape the wire to the inside of your down-tube).

I use a lead counter weight hose-clamped to the other cross bar.

I use relatively fast film for these altitudes, and shut the f/stop way down to get both myself and the landscape in focus.

Remember to tape the eye piece or stray light will foul the meter from entering where your eye usually blocks it.

I have tried polarizing filters to try to cut down on haze, but in practice this does not work while flying since the polarizer needs to be adjusted for every sun-to-line-of-sight angle.

I have flown this setup a lot. I feel the weight is noticable but not a problem. Some people think that was because I was flying an HP-1, any better handling glider and I would have noticed it more! Things might get "interesting" when I try this on my Laminair, now that I'm used to such a sweet handling glider. (did I say how much I like the Lam!)

My own experience is that simply talking on the radio typically causes me to fall out of my thermal because I cannot multi-process those two functions for some reason. Adding a camera practially ensures a sub-optimal flight as the manouvering to line up the camera inevitably takes you where you don't really want to be. Since I ususally have a bad case of milage fever I fly with camera only occasionally in the Owens.

My favorite shot (still stuck on my refrigerator) is from crossing Onion Valley near the town of Independence, I was already flying straight and the camera was on the "right" side which points it at the Sierra, and all I had to do was adjust pitch to get the horizon level. An awesome view of a half dozen dark blue lakes, lots of streams, waterfalls, pine trees and meadows, snow splattered granite peaks extending to the horizon in the background,... (I could never live on the east coast!).

I shot a roll at Funston with this setup once. One shot out of 36 was worth keeping (it's on my refrigerator too!). I think many professionals consider that a good yield ratio. Keep that in mind when planning how much time and effort you're going to spend to come home with that treasure that you're sure will make it on the cover of HGMag.

Peter.Lawrence@Eng.Sun.COM
February 1999

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