a "fwiw" post, that once and for all has everything I've found out about working with hatcams. This is a secret for addicts only, and should only be used to film 3dhs planes


1) forget helmets, they suck (was my first hatcam attempt). hats fit tighter, more comfy, and good for it all. Don't use elastic strap hats, needs to be something you can adjust the tightness and have it stay.
2) it needs a firm mount... the biggest gain is simply adding a nice firm mount to a hat. My first usable hatcam simply screwed plywood to the hat visor. Worked pretty well. My latest rig I changed wood for some shaped fiberglass. You can get bolts from the hardware store that match the tripod mount on the camera.
3) camera needs repeatable positioning... cover the bottom of the camera with press-n-seal, mount camera to hat, then smoosh Mighty Putty or equivalent around the corners of the base of the camera. When it dries, remove camera and press-n-seal, what you're left with is a camera mount that the camera will only seat in the one position.
4) reticle... drop a single piece of wire straight down from the end of the cap. in your vision this doubles up, nicely framing horizontally for the sides of the frame. A cross bar will take adjustment, but those will help aim vertically (and is actually most important... if I'm out of frame at all it's on the vertical axis). Will take some practice and testing to aim the horizontal bars on the reticle, and also to get used to it being...Continue Reading