As great as the keychain video cameras are, there are times when they could benefit from some kind of viewfinder. When recording helicopter flights I find myself wishing I could keep things in the frame better.

When I was into high-power rocketry in the 90's, I had the same problem with my Sony 8mm video camera. When a rocket is traveling a hundred feet per second or more, if you lose it from your viewfinder, you may never find it again. I solved this problem by attaching a Tasco red-dot pistol sight to the side of the camera. Once the sight was aligned with the camera, following a rocket in flight was easy with the 1x red-dot scope. Keep the dot on or near the target object, and you can be confident the object will be near the center of the video frame.

Doing the same with a keychain hat-cam is a little different. A pistol scope is a bit too large and awkward to use with the keychain camera. Even the tubeless type (see last photo below) obstructs your view considerably. But the concept is fairly simple. Focus a bright LED down to a small dot and aim it at a clear reflector that will reflect a portion of the light into your eye. And the apparatus has to be adjustable so you can align it with the camera. Ideally, some optics would allow for collimating the beam of light so it would make the smallest possible dot that appears focused at infinity. A laser would be great for this, but it would not be healthy for your eyes.

Here is my first attempt at a red-...Continue Reading