Tyler Middle Mount

POINT-OF-VIEW: MOVEMENT: STABILISATION:

SIDE (LEFT OR RIGHT) PAN, TILT &ROLL (100degrees) FREE-FLOATING

FOCAL RANGE: MAX. CM. WT.:

WIDE TO TIGHT 60 LBS.

The Tyler Middle Mount is a Side Mount or Door Mount and does exactly as it is described.  It is physically mounted in the door of a helicopter and is operated manually in pan, tilt and roll.

The name Side Mount is a slight misnomer as it would denote that the camera can only point at 90° to the aircraft fuselage. In fact it can pan 100° and tilt down to within 85°.

It is an extremely successful piece of equipment as it is very reliable and if set up correctly, extremely stable.

Many do not understand the principles that make this mount so successful.  If asked how these mounts work in helicopters, the unknowing will simply answer through counter weight, springs and isolation rubber for the vibration.

There are two elements to stability, one directional stability, the second is vibration stability.

To properly understand these mounts is straight forward, if one was to take a 10 kilo sledge hammer and hit a child's seesaw exactly at the point of balance, the laws of physics would mean it was impossible for the seesaw to move.

By adjusting the pivot points of the pitch, pan and roll axis of the camera to pass through exactly the same point, the Newtonian concept that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, is negligable as there is no lever arm to allow movement.

Thus the helicopter moves independantly of this pivot point without transferring its movement to the camera, which is very clever and very efficient.

We have undertaken much photography requiring vertical lookdown and the only difficulty is not to photograph the operators feet, all Directors have always been initially skeptical but delighted with the end results.

We have both British and American installation approvals for Bell Jetrangers and Squirrel (A Star) helicopters but subject to acceptance by local authorities these mounts can be fitted to any flat floor helicopter providing there are enough suitable tie down points.

These pictures show the mount strapping in various helicopters.

One of the strong points of these mounts is that you can shoot with many formats of camera ie all video types and standards, and all the formats of 16mm, and 35mm.

Frequently we use the seat base as a comfortable and secure method of carrying stills photographers without them having to twist round in a normal seat. They also benefit from the wind deflector.