Canon 5D Mark II helmet mount attracts Hollywood's attention

Details are a bit light on this one, but the Planet 5D blog has received an email from the director of photography on 24, who himself received an email from the DP of Dollhouse, who passed on a video of a Canon 5D Mark II helmet mount built by the folks at Panavision. The rig was apparently designed specifically for use in fight scenes and other instances where a very close camera point-of-view is beneficial, and of course for "parachute drops and the like." The story also goes that the mount might have actually been used on Iron Man, although that's yet to be confirmed. Hit up the read link below to check out the video for yourself, although it unfortunately doesn't actually include any sample footage taken with the rig.

[Bad Beaver @ Jul 20th 2009 4:32PM]

Nothing like some good olf-fashioned neck-twistin'...

[Bad Beaver @ Jul 20th 2009 4:36PM]

"Old."
Seriously, this looks completely unhealthy. You better have a neck like Hogan if you parachute with that thing on, and an insurance agent with a wicked sense of humor.

[Kimleng @ Jul 20th 2009 4:36PM]

Caution: Extreme rapid auto-focusing may cause whiplash when wearing this mount.

[Erluti @ Jul 20th 2009 4:39PM]

Hopefully it can zoom in really tight and be extra shaky during fight scenes.

[Grammar Delinquent @ Jul 20th 2009 5:02PM]

haahhahaah I loled

[Link2877 @ Jul 20th 2009 6:32PM]

No kidding lol. That's one of the reasons I liked Watchmen so much, because you could actually see what the fuck was going on during fight scenes.

[Windzilla @ Jul 20th 2009 4:53PM]

they should conceal it in a gigantic cowboy hat, and do investigative infotainment with it.

[Yem @ Jul 20th 2009 5:01PM]

Pffft, it's been done. Check this out:
http://www.vimeo.com/4636468

[Grammar Delinquent @ Jul 20th 2009 5:03PM]

clicked hoping for the FPS scene from doom...

disappointed...

[Yem @ Jul 20th 2009 6:44PM]

helmet-cam at 1m25s

[pavlindrom @ Jul 21st 2009 9:31AM]

They also used it in this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jBKKV2V8eU

[robthorne2007 @ Jul 20th 2009 5:05PM]

You should see it when they put a Panavision on there not pretty.

[superfresh @ Jul 20th 2009 5:06PM]

They should've used a football helmet. The facemask could provide extra supports for the equipment without interrupting the cameraperson's field of view. The Cleveland Browns have dozens of helmets that get little use.

[Return of Jackson...whoo! @ Jul 20th 2009 5:18PM]

Taking Voyeurism a tad bit too far...

Also good for getting Apu Nahasapetapettilan to stop selling floor hot dogs for the evil Qwik-E-Mart head office.

[Waiko @ Jul 20th 2009 5:20PM]

Heh, there's a tone of skydiving helmets specifically made for this type of setup...I guess they don't use google.

[Bad Beaver @ Jul 20th 2009 5:46PM]

When I google those helmets, they all have seem to have something in common: big cameras are mounted on top, only small cameras go on the side, very small lever arm vector. And why is that? Because torsion fractures of the spine are no fun at all.

[Waiko @ Jul 20th 2009 5:59PM]

You can get an L-bracket pretty easily.

And yes, I agree...having extra weight on your head on a hard opening isn't a pleasant experience.

[Waiko @ Jul 20th 2009 6:02PM]

Oh, and the weight isn't the only problem when skydiving with cameras. If you have something protruding out the side of your helmet you'll smack it with your risers or worse, tangle your lines around in.

However, if you don't have to worry about that you can still get a custom L-bracket and a counter weight. A flat-top helmet might have enough space on top for a DSLR+video camera as well.

[Eric Hoffstetter @ Jul 20th 2009 5:24PM]

OOOOH! I can't wait to find out if this is confirmed as being used in Iron Man!!

Hold on, no, actually I don't care. Is this posted so we can all laugh at this guy? What's going on here? The post sounds like it's serious.

[Eugenia Loli-Queru @ Jul 20th 2009 5:27PM]

I hope that Canon adds 24p support. Without it, it's not nearly as useful for Hollywood.

[loocas @ Jul 20th 2009 5:47PM]

I don't know... I still haven't found a way to get uncompressed, above-8-bit data, video out of MKII. :( I seriously doubt any production will actually adopt MKII for any serious shooting in the standard 8bit QuickTime format! That's just unusable for any postproduction work.

If anyone knows, please, let me know on my site or e-mail, thanks a lot in advance!

[Eugenia Loli-Queru @ Jul 20th 2009 5:52PM]

No, there's no way to get uncompressed, since HDMI is not always active, and it's 8bit indeed. But thing is, you can get a decent quality out of it anyway. Definitely the best ratio regarding price/quality than any other camera.

[loocas @ Jul 20th 2009 5:57PM]

I don't know, I'm used to working with, at the very least, 10bit DPXs, but VFX wise, we're purely up on the full 32bit float pipeline.

So, I can't really imagine grading or any kind of 2D-post done on 8bits, well, feature-wise. Of course we could deliver an ad or perhaps, if we'd be pushed, a TV show?! shot on this, but, I'd rather not think about the consequences...

I'd rather go RED, to be honest... I can't wait for Scarlet to come out! :P

[thedankone @ Jul 20th 2009 6:11PM]

oooooh....this really high tech man.

Who cares about his thing give me nano bots in my eyes or give me diarrhea.

[InnocentEd @ Jul 20th 2009 6:20PM]

I don't know. It today's level of technology, that just looks a little weird.

Its like a baseball helmet with shit screwed into the side of it

[Pre-determined @ Jul 20th 2009 7:27PM]

Adult XXX POV FTW!

feature highlights:
-keep production cost low with a one-man crew!
-now you can have both your hands in the shot at the same time!
-the 5D's excellent image stabilization should iron out the jerky video during...certain scenes.

[Jason @ Jul 20th 2009 9:55PM]

Is this serious? If so, it is innovative....how?

[jesse.greathouse @ Jul 21st 2009 9:04AM]

It needs a black visor that covers the whole face, with an monitor screen on the inside of the visor.

[Cajones @ Jul 21st 2009 12:08PM]

This helmet is NOT suitable for skydiving videography/cinematography/photography.

The cameras sticking out the sides like that are going to get hit by the risers (the straps that connect the skydivers harness to the suspension lines) when the parachute is deployed.

I can't speak for the entire move, but the freefall/flying scenes from Ironman were created in CG. Dynamic data was gathered in a wind tunnel from actual body flight pilots (i.e. skydivers).

I have a slew of skydives with the 5D Mark II, and it is an amazing camera - please leave camera rigging for skydiving to people who know what they're doing.

[keithwwalker @ Jul 21st 2009 3:06PM]

I can't wait until I see FPS of Al Franken legislating!

[Hyperion @ Jul 21st 2009 7:18PM]

not shown, neck brace

[Mike V @ Jul 22nd 2009 12:12AM]

That helmet mount isn't meant for skydiving.

As has been posted already at least twice, cameras go on the top of skydiving helmets so that they don't get in the way of the risers or lines, or whatever they are called, attached to the parachute.

Also if you note, that mount is fitted with a Preston focus motor and MDR box.

I've never seen someone use remote focus skydiving.