US Soldier shoots photos with rifle stocked camera
Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Duran takes photos with his camera mounted on a rifle stock-like device. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Gizmodo reports:
Pointing a long lens mounted on a stock is indeed a recipe for getting shot if you’re not careful. In fact in training at Fort McCoy, Wi., I was “shot” by Soldiers on practice missions.
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Ok. It is an extremely stable platform to shoot pictures with (i.e. that’s why rifles are designed that way). It is very natural and comfortable which results in good images. When using long lenses, holding the camera steady is damn important.
Gizmodo has photos of the rifle stocked camera.
UPDATE: Albert in the comments pointed out that it the “stock” is a ” BushHawk:
BushHawk 320D Shoulder Mount with double handle ($145)
Slightly OT, but I remember seeing an ancient newsreel from what had to be the 30s or 40s, where a tiny film movie camera was mounted under the barrel of a revolver. It was intended for police so that shootings could be analyzed after the fact in court. picture quality was surprisingly good; but I’m sure it would have been horribly fragile in practice.
Check this one out.
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Rare_gun_camera_sells_for_45k_First_ever_Leica_M8_makes_19k_news_258085.html
Not good times in Afganistan wondering around with open lens of anykind(Lee Enfields),KillFlash Anti-Reflective Devices,are they really doing job I didnt see any pro using them,only hunters?(btw-anybody remembers Lt Duran from Starcraft1?)
One manufacturer of detachable folding stocks for Glock – TDI Arms, perhaps? I seem to be unable to find the product right now – makes a camera adaptor for said stock. And a college of mine made a shoulder stock out of a surveillance camera wall mount.
When I manage to scrape up the funds to get a proper camera, that folding stock is definitely on the shopping list…
Tripods can be so ackward in more mobile use.
I remember a gun camera in a 60′s (or 70′s) criminal series.
The victim was on the hunt and had “shot” his killer in the moment of his death – really old stuff.
Svan and Steve,
Mounting cameras on gunstocks is nothing new. Commercial versions have been available for decades before. I had a Canon A1 mounted on a surplus 98 stock in the early eighties. Cheekweld was a little tough, but a rasp and some sandpaper finally cured that.
Now they are skeletonized and totally portable.
http://www.bushhawk.com/about_us.html
(I would make a link, but I don’t know how to in this format.
Having said that, I sure hell wouldn’t even try to use an old school version anywhere anymore. Besides being rousted by cops, lord knows what else might happen to you!
Regards,
Albert A Rasch
That’s nothing.
I’ve seen a hunting rifle that was indeed a camera only.
It was made for hunting without unnecessary bloodshed – photos as trophy and true hunting feeling.
This is another example:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/12/07/leica-rifle-camera.html
Sven, thats great. thanks for the link. Not a bad idea for camera stabilization in an environment where you are are not pointing it at other people who may or may not be armed and have an itchy trigger finger.