Rock Climbing with a Panasonic TS3 set up as a Helmet Cam

Описание: I picked up a Panasonic TS3 a few weeks ago, and since I got it I've been working on ways to make it work as a POV camera. In this video I tried it for some toprope-solo rock climbing. It was mounted on top of my climbing helmet using a helmet cam mount made by Drift Innovation. The mount is really solid, but it does leave the camera pretty high on top of the helmet as you can see in a couple of the shadows. Oh, and I was listening to the Monarchy while I was climbing, so it had to be the soundtrack...

Overall impression: Really good image quality (much better than you see here on Youtube) and much better control than any of the POV cameras. Of course it also has its own screen, and a high-quality Leica optical zoom lens, so it is a very usable camera for taking any other photos as well, much better than any purpose made POV camera.

As a POV camera, it isn't as tough as a GoPro or Contour, but similar to a Drift. It isn't as small or low-profile on a helmet. Plus most POV cameras have a very wide, almost fisheye lenses. The TS3 has a 28mm full-frame equivalent, so the TS3's video looks less distorted, but you see less in the frame.

Shot at 1920x1080 60i AVCHD then converted to 1280x720 60i MPEG for editing in Premiere Pro CS3. Exported as 1280x720 30P MPEG for upload to Youtube.