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Tactical Camera
Posted by
samzenpus
on Tue May 05, 2009 03:51 PM
from the guns-make-everything-better dept.
from the guns-make-everything-better dept.
An anonymous reader writes "What do you get when you mount a Nikon D200 with a standard rifle stock? Why a Tactical Camera of course! One that no
reporter would be caught with in a war zone or covering any armed action anywhere. What started out as a tongue
in cheek project for April Fools wound up being quite the successful demonstration of concept. It features a fully functional
trigger; it has controls for operating the shutter and auto focus; and for the patient shots, it has a mounted bipod. Carry sling optional."
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Submission: Tactical Camera by Anonymous Coward
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Photo Sniper (Score:5, Informative)
This was done a long time ago during the cold war, it's slightly less inconspicuous than a tripod, though much more likely to get you shot by the police.
http://shop.lomography.com/zenit/fotosniper/ [lomography.com]
Re:Photo Sniper (Score:5, Informative)
Darn, you beat me to this.
Modern equivalents (which probably function better for camera purposes but don't have the "cool factor" of using an actual rifle stock) are the BushHawk (highend unit) and the Agonic Stedi-Stock (relatively cheap, doesn't have the trigger switch and cabling the BushHawk has)
Parent
Re:Photo Sniper (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Err. slightly more inconspicuous.
Re:Photo Sniper (Score:5, Funny)
Come on, this is slashdot.
Q:What do you get when you mount a Nikon D200 with a standard rifle stock?
A: "You can have my rifle-camera when you pry it from my cold .. " BANG!
A2: Imagine a Beowolf cluster of those? BANG! BANG! BANG! RATATTATATATT! INCOMINGGGGGGggggggg ......
A3: Netcraft confirms it - photo sniper is dead!
A4: In Soviet Russia, photo shoot gets YOU!
A5: Did it survive field testing?
A6: Why does the "after picture" of the user look like the goat guy?
A7: Why not just mount it in a Zune? They might still shoot you, but at least it would be justified.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but does it run Linux?
Re:Photo Sniper (Score:5, Informative)
Yup applying gun parts to cameras is old hat. I find it funny as kids "discover" new things that us old geezers have done for decades.
Like a shotgun sight on the top of your SLR. works awesome for fast action or sports shots, you can shoot without looking through the lens and with both eyes open. I get perfect shots every time with it. and I dont get killed by that motorcycle that was 20 feet in the air and is now coming down wher I am standing.
The fresh new hires for the local news look at my camera with questions, and then say "you cant get a good photo that way"
I ask to look at their camera, they dont even have a focus prism. None of these "photographers" coming out of college know how to take photographs or how to use a camera. They all rely on autofocus and program modes.
Athough IS lenses area godsend for still life or low motion zoom shots. but they are worthless for action shots where you are panning trying to catch a bike doing 200mph around a track.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Here's a picture of someone carying one almost exactly the same back in 1977 Here [starwarschina.com]
Pictures from that set. (Score:2)
I've got one of those Zenit's with the 300mm Helios lens and sniper mount. Here is an example shot of the Orion Nebula [ecuadors.net] and here is comet Hale-Bopp [ecuadors.net]. Both were made in a light-polluted city (Athens), shot through a cheap lens and scanned with a crappy scanner, so don't expect quality.
Northern Exposure (Score:3, Informative)
The character Holling from the tv show Northern Exposure had something like this.
Yikes. (Score:2)
I do not recommend this for the "man on the street" journalist.
Aim that at a cop and your more then likely going to get shot.
Personally, I'll stick to cell phones.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Personally, I'll stick to cell phones.
That's better. Then you get a righteous tasering for 'failing to preemptively comply with police directions'.
I prefer the Sgt Shultz response: "I see nothink!"
Re: (Score:2)
But you'll have first hand pictures for proof.
This will get you shot... (Score:4, Informative)
You want to run around either a Warzone or hell the Streets of any major city with this thing? You'll wind up getting either shot, or if you're lucky tasered.
Re:This will get you shot... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
You're thinking about this all backwards (Score:5, Funny)
Taking pictures is illegal now and helps the terrorists. But we still have our second amendment rights. This cleverly conceals the dangerous camera as a harmless rifle.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Make up some press passes. hang them around your neck and stencil on a kaki color fishing vest "PHOTOGRAPHER"
You can walk past a guard and take photos of things you should not and they wont even bug you.
And yes it's LEGAL to make a press pass for "daves news blog" or whatever blog you have.
Cops dont bug you if you look like press, hell I have gotten into concerts and back stage to take photos of the singer from 8 feet away with my press and event passes and vest.
If you look like a press photographer, nobod
Re:This will get you shot... (Score:5, Funny)
Sure, obviously it's a bad idea to run around with a camera attached to a gun stock. That's why instead I mount my camera to the front of my vest, with rows of cylindrical batteries with wires running to the camera (for extra picture-taking longevity) and a big digital timer (to indicate how long until I take a picture to anyone thinking of passing in front of me), and a dead-mans switch to activate the camera (for when I'm waiting forever for the perfect shot, and pass out just as the moment arrives). This should be much safer. Also great for those candid shots. People act different when they know you have a camera. So this way I can hide the camera-vest under my coat, and run up to people and throw the coat open so I can take a picture. Seems perfect to me.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
It doesn't look even the slightest bit like a gun. Any policeman that shoots you for carrying that would have shot you anyways.
You'd have to set aside two very important principles of using a loaded weapon in order for that sort of mistake to be made. First you're not identifying you're target and second chances are you're not checking your backstop either.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
MANY reporters dead via shoulder mounted videocams (Score:5, Informative)
At least 4 or 5 cameramen in recent years in middle eastern police actions (wars) have been shot due to large shoulder stabilized videocams looking threatening.
And the army always gets off, even if caught with witnesses
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/08/2008813164823716764.html
Better would be to start hiding propelled grenade launchers in videocameras to even the score.
assasination (Score:2)
I have long wondered why more public officials are not assassinated using a pistol mounted in a video camera.
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Re: (Score:2)
I'm pretty certain I've seen a film where that was the plot.
Federal agents used a video camera to sneak a weapon into a hostage situation in True Lies [imdb.com].
Re: (Score:2)
Pistols have a short effective range and, oddballs aside, aren't powerful enough to guarantee a kill in one shot.
Re: (Score:2)
The Taliban did it by filling camera batteries full of explosives for a targeted assassination: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/DI12Ag02.html [atimes.com]
Why? (Score:2)
Why oh why would a photographer (excuse me, "Photo-Journalist"), want to be holding ANYTHING that looks remotely like a weapon, especially when in a War Zone?
Re: (Score:2)
It doesn't look like a weapon to me. It looks like a camera with a boat paddle attached to it. If a photographer were taking a picture of you, all that you'd notice would be the camera on the bipod.
It probably won't be mistaken for a rifle, but it could easily be mistaken for a poorly conceived improvised grenade launcher. It has the same general form as several non-improvised models, including the China Lake NATIC [wikipedia.org], M79 [world.guns.ru], and HK69 [world.guns.ru].
Award time (Score:5, Funny)
Nikon D200
The "D" stands for "Darwin"
It's cute but, useless.... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
What I want to see... (Score:2)
What I'd like to see is the youtube video of someone pulling this out in a highschool sports game to take pictures of the game while standing right next to the local policeman...
Ooooo..an assault camera (Score:2, Funny)
Definitely causes much more widespread destruction than a rifle. Expect a prohibition against these things at any major event, except for licensed professionals of course.
Old concept (Score:2, Informative)
Old idea (Score:2)
This isn't exactly a revolutionary idea (no pun intended)
http://www.bushhawk.com/ [bushhawk.com]
of course, being designed for the purpose this will probably work better.
When assault cameras are outlawed... (Score:2)
...probably don't need to finish it...
Re: (Score:2)
... only cameras will assault?
what else can we mount on gun handles? (Score:2)
cell phone? look like your contemplating suicide all the time
laser pointer? really give your presentation that extra POW
pencil or pen? is it really mightier than the sword now?
the point is, there's many things you could put a gun handle on, and announce to the world "i lack the social skills to understand what makes people uncomfortable around me or i am an antisocial loner is actively trying to chase people away from me"
all at the same time making yourself 100x more vulnerable to getting shot by the police
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I've never understood your antigun bigotry anyway, but in this case your just being silly.
People have been using stocks on cameras for somewhere around a century now, they aren't useless they are actually quite useful.
One area where they shine is if you are trying to do any sort of photography where you need to be able to take a steady shot of a subject that only holds still for a moment.
Best use for an SKS stock yet... (Score:2)
Although the combination of the SKS stock and the AR15 handgrip is odd, and wouldn't have been my first choice.
Of course, I'm not a particular fan of the SKS in general. Mine was accurate enough for power-plinking, but the stock just sucked.
20 Minutes Into the Future (Score:2)
Max Headroom did it. Season 1, episode 5: "War" [imdb.com] had new staff reporter Janie Crane using an RR-7 camera gun. Camera lens was plugged into an interface at the end of the barrel, used for long-distance surveillance.
"What do you get?" (Score:4, Funny)
Shot.
kulakovich
Offtopic, but ... (Score:2)
... some years ago, I was talking to one of those New York model types. She kept referring to 'head shots'. So I told her that the odds were better aiming for the center of mass.
BFD... (Score:2)
...I have one of those that I ordered from one of the New York camera dealers thirty-odd years ago. It's a nice way of holding a long lens steady. Unfortunately, these days it tends to scream "I'M A TERRORIST!!!", so I haven't used it in quite a while.
rj
More likely to go the other way (Score:2)
All our main battle rifles have optical scopes on them, and many other nations are using optics or red-dots like the Aimpoint sights.
It is only a matter of time before someone integrates a cheap digital camera into those scopes that takes a picture every time the weapon is fired.
DG
Should have used.... (Score:4, Funny)
a Canon instead.
Re: (Score:2)
I remember rifle stock style camera mounts from the late 70s for use with telephotos. This is the first time I've seen an actual rifle stock used; the ones from back then were made from pine and had a simple cable release "trigger". This one looks nicer, and a lot heavier.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's not just field-strippable, it's field-scriptable [wikia.com].