After pistols grips and stocks were adopted by photographers picatinny rails were bound to follow.
The camera in the above photo is the Navy's standard-issue Nikon D700 with a Tactical solutions LLC Nightstalker II Mount coupled with a NVM001 night vision monocular (which has a picatinny rail attached). Read about the camera and the military's frontline photographers at PopPhoto.com.
[ Many thanks to Crystal for emailing us the link. ]
I’m surprised there wasn’t a story about this earlier… I was apart of that unit (Fleet Combat Camera Group Pacific) from 2006-2009 and we were using modified PVS-14′s on our cameras back then. Also, the D700 in the image above has a rail because the tube is interchangeable between still and video. The video camera has a rail system that screws into the bottom of the video camera’s tripod mount and when going from stills to video, the Nikon F-Mount is replaced with a video lens-hood and the NVG tube is mounted on the rail “upside down” (hence the rail system being on the top when mounted to a DSLR).
Thanks to whoever posted this, my years as in ComCam were the best time I had in the Navy, possibly my life (so far).
6 
0Next thing I need is rails on every beer bottle. Please!
2 0In the same gallery, they were “practicing” on firing range without ammo!
http://www.popphoto.com/gallery/front-lines-life-us-military-photographer?image=2#container
0 0Because you never know when you’re going to need to throw on a flashlight…or bayonet haha!
0 0If I was taking a camera into a combat zone that sucker would be day-glo orange and covered with American flags. I am sure more than one embedded reporter is deceased after a big telephoto lens got mistaken for a gun.
I like the idea of tacti-lights with momentary switches on a camera though, great way to ambush your quarry.
2 2Do you really think terrorists wouldn’t shoot or execute a journalist anyways?
2 0An orange camera isnt a bad idea. If you remember the wikileaks video from a few years back, I believe the journalist’s camera was mistaken for a weapon by an Apache.
1 1You are with the unit you’re embedded with. If your camera is highly visible, the unit is highly visible. EVERYONE can see bright colors, not just friendly forces in a helicopter…
2 0No, in that video the shooter lumped the cameraman along with the people around him who had rifles, as ‘terrorists/the enemy’ and killed them all.
1 0Now that’s a camera for bird-watching.
0 0Not worth it every thing doesn’t need picitenny rails and more junk attacked.
1 14….here goes Lance, again….
7 0The pic rail not only allows for easy on off capability for other uses, but also allows the mounting of an IR lighting source. A photographer can take absolutely amazing pictures in low light and even no light situation with an IR torch attached. So, the pic rail offers a pretty significant advantage.
2 0LOL
Bust comanty evur. Y u want reail stems wen u can use glu? lolz. Glu so stiky.
0 1
Because you never know when you’re going to need to throw on a flashlight…or bayonet haha!
In the same gallery, they were “practicing” on firing range without ammo!
http://www.popphoto.com/gallery/front-lines-life-us-military-photographer?image=2#container
Now that’s a camera for bird-watching.
I’m surprised there wasn’t a story about this earlier… I was apart of that unit (Fleet Combat Camera Group Pacific) from 2006-2009 and we were using modified PVS-14′s on our cameras back then. Also, the D700 in the image above has a rail because the tube is interchangeable between still and video. The video camera has a rail system that screws into the bottom of the video camera’s tripod mount and when going from stills to video, the Nikon F-Mount is replaced with a video lens-hood and the NVG tube is mounted on the rail “upside down” (hence the rail system being on the top when mounted to a DSLR).
Thanks to whoever posted this, my years as in ComCam were the best time I had in the Navy, possibly my life (so far).
If I was taking a camera into a combat zone that sucker would be day-glo orange and covered with American flags. I am sure more than one embedded reporter is deceased after a big telephoto lens got mistaken for a gun.
I like the idea of tacti-lights with momentary switches on a camera though, great way to ambush your quarry.
An orange camera isnt a bad idea. If you remember the wikileaks video from a few years back, I believe the journalist’s camera was mistaken for a weapon by an Apache.
You are with the unit you’re embedded with. If your camera is highly visible, the unit is highly visible. EVERYONE can see bright colors, not just friendly forces in a helicopter…
No, in that video the shooter lumped the cameraman along with the people around him who had rifles, as ‘terrorists/the enemy’ and killed them all.
Do you really think terrorists wouldn’t shoot or execute a journalist anyways?
Next thing I need is rails on every beer bottle. Please!
Not worth it every thing doesn’t need picitenny rails and more junk attacked.
The pic rail not only allows for easy on off capability for other uses, but also allows the mounting of an IR lighting source. A photographer can take absolutely amazing pictures in low light and even no light situation with an IR torch attached. So, the pic rail offers a pretty significant advantage.
….here goes Lance, again….
LOL
Bust comanty evur. Y u want reail stems wen u can use glu? lolz. Glu so stiky.