Today's project. A do it yourself Hat cam build.

[DDSBYDAY]

   I have a handy cam but it is hard to use and fish or hunt at the same time.  I have a cheap hand held digital cam that takes videos too.  I am going to attach this to the bill of my hat and see what I come up with.  I am not using the camera anyways.  Pics will follow.  I researched this on youtube and it looks pretty simple and effective.  I will let you know.  Down to the mad scientist lab I go.

[wildlifeminnesota]

  If you want I could look at custom you a hat?

[Bobby Bass]

Duck Tape 

[dakids]

If you want I could look at custom you a hat?

Kind of like a hidden nannycam. Only question is mouth or eyeball?

[DDSBYDAY]

   Good suggestions.  I went with a Wildlife Minnesota hat because I wear it.  I could not find my duct tape so I went with a bolt a nut, and a couple of washers.  It took about 7 minutes because I went with too short of a bolt to start.  I like the result.  It actually is not top heavy at all.  The only problem will be finding the owners manual on the camera so I can figure out how to use it again.

       Steps-

    1)  Pick out a high quality hat you are comfortable with.
    2)  Mark a spot on the bill as close to center as possible
    3)  Heat up a Phillips screwdriver to red hot and punch a hole.
    4)   Insert a bolt the size of your tripod bolt.  I just grabbed one I had that fit. (so I don't      know the exact size)..  
    5) Washer on the bottom, nut on the top.

             Elapsed time 3 minutes if you have a lot of hats to choose from.

[DDSBYDAY]

    Easy so far. 

    Next steps-

   1) If you are me you realize your bolt was too short.  Spend 10 minutes finding a longer one of the same size.   

   2) Skip the first step and go to step 3.   

   3) Tighten the proper length bolt down.  With a nut on the top of the bill.

   4) Gently turn your camera onto the bill.  You could be done at this step.

    5) You now have a hat cam.  We could be done here.  I didn't like the angle of view so I changed it.

[wildlifeminnesota]

   glad  i could   

[DDSBYDAY]

    Your new MNO hat cam's field of view.

    The most common complaint of hat cams is you can't really tell for sure without some practice what you are filming.  I would like to capture what I am seeing without a lot of head shifting.  I decided to pop a couple of shims in the mount.  One may be better but I put two in.  One can be easily removed if needed.   That was not on Youtube- so you heard it here first folks.  

     I hope someone finds this helpful.   It is very comfortable and not top heavy at all.  I have to get some batteries for the camera to find out if it will be one shim or two.

                                   Till next time.

[Bobby Bass]

You will find out that your angle of view is best left straight out from the camera. If the camera is tilted up you will lose about 60% of what you want to see. The hardest thing with a hat cam is keeping your chin down on your chest so you can film things at arms length. The urge to turn your head quickly from side to side is also a problem, you have to learn how to just move your eyes. Editing on the go is also something you need to do as the cameras do not store that much and you need to remember to delete any footage that does not have anything good on it and to remember to save anything that does. You have not gotten to the editing part yet at home, that just takes experience. The more you do it the better you will get at it. I actually went to broadcasting school about 35 years ago and we were just getting into TV and video. That  little cam on your hat would be worth thousands back then as we would carry around battery packs that weighted 40#'s just for a few minutes of video. Looking forward to what ya come up with!

[DDSBYDAY]

   Thanks for the tips.  I did angle the camera down to make the closer shots easier.  I have two half washer shims that can be removed in the field if I don't like the angle.  I put batteries in the camera and was not happy with the quality from this camera.  Very slow auto focusing.  Because the mount is the same as a tripod, I just put my handy cam on it.  What a difference.  Fast focus HD quality.  It is a little top heavy, but very manageable where as the small camera was hardly noticeable.  I can't wait to try this out in the field.

[DDSBYDAY]

   The hat cam performed well.  I took 1 shim out after some experimentation.  I will be removing the other too for the rest of the open water season.  Like Bobby said straight out is the way to go. For ice fishing I will put 1 back in.   I got some nice HD footage but don't have a good software to edit it.  I had to convert it to a WMF or something like that to be able to use it on the windows movie maker software.  The conversion took hours  .

   I am not even done with that.  Then I have to do the editing.  That I have done so I think will go pretty smoothly provided my older computer doesn't lock up like it is prone to doing.

[DDSBYDAY]

   I can't tell you how long this little vid took me.  I think I have it figured out though.

          [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5LN6qLGnmU[/youtube]

[lentz]

I'd take out the washer I felt like I missed a lot because of it

[DDSBYDAY]

  I agree.  I pulled it.  I turned my head to much too.  It is going to take some practice.  The battle with the net was quite a bit  longer.  I had to edit it out because I don't have a way to insert bleeps where the language got a little x rated.   

[lentz]

Lol

But that adds to the exitment

[Bobby Bass]

  A good start, I would check to see that your camera is not zoomed in at all so you get as wide a field of view as you can. You miss some things that are far away but you gain a wider angle on what is happening at the boat. Don't be afraid to take your hat off and hold the camera in your free hand, this of course lets you see better what you are filming and you can always edit out when you take the camera off and put it back on. Language is always fun, got to keep it g rated if you want to post it for someone else other then friends. Then of course there is the looks you get when you are talking to yourself and pass other fishermen and they see you are alone. Practice Practice, be good to have someone else share video here on the site. 

[DDSBYDAY]

   Thanks for the tips.  My cameras screen is small and I had hoped to review my footage on the water and make adjustments but I could not see it very well.  I had to wait until I went back the cabin.  The next day I had a couple of friends along and we got into the pike.  That will be the next vid.