My first day on the job at Continental Camera / Astrovision (March 1987), I boarded a Learjet and flew to Renton Field in Seattle, Washington for a commercial shoot. Clay Lacy Aviation, located across the street from Continental Camera / Astrovision, modified three of their Learjets to accommodate the Astrovision System. Astrovision is a specialized camera system with a relay, pitching lens that can be installed into an upper or lower port (or both simultaneously) in a specially modified Learjet.

Each camera rotates a full 360 degrees and the pitching lens can be tilted 180 degrees. An operator sits at a console with a joystick and works in cooperation with the pilot, who moves or positions the Learjet like a moving camera platform. Beautiful, smooth, air to air shots of passenger and military jets are achieved. Astrovision was an exclusive system used extensively by the airlines for their commercials and the Air Force for filming their secret black projects. Once I had the privilege of installing the Astrovision system into a NASA owned Learjet at Edwards Air Force Base, which was used to film the stealth bomber and stealth fighter (still black projects at that time).

Helicopter Camera Mounts

Continental Camera Systems rented out several types of helicopter mounts, including a belly-mount for forward views and a side-mount where the operator sits and operates an Arri-III camera.

The side-mount is counter-balanced to match the weight of the camera and the base of the mount has shock absorbers to smooth out the ride. At the time this was the best system to use with helicopters, but in years past, has been replaced by gyro-stabilized mounts that provide 360 degree panning and tilting and are rock-steady.

I loved my job, working on these systems and installing them into helicopters and Learjets.

PogoCam System

The PogoCam System was developed by D.P./Stunt Coordinator, Fred Waugh and is essentially a light-weight, specially modified 35mm Elmo camera, mounted on a hand-held, adjustable "T" bar with batteries acting as counter-balancing weights at the bottom. The small size of the PogoCam makes it ideal for moving in spaces too confined for a Steadicam. The operator's arm acts like a shock absorber and the results are amazingly smooth, similar to a Steadicam shot.

DoggyCam

In 1980 I invented the "DoggyCam" which consisted of a few parts I bought at my local hardware store and part of an old tripod which had two telescoping sections. Rubber bands attached to each section effectively reduced the shock of running and walking. My arm acted like a shock absorber and the results were amazingly smooth. The DoggyCam was very similar to the PogoCam except that it was limited to low angle shooting. My dog was my test subject, hence the name "DoggyCam." There was no monitor for viewing so you had to use maximum wide angle, point and shoot and hope for the best!