Using dark cloth when balanced by deep drop

[Steve Bell]

I'm been away using my Toyo 45A on some narrow paths with deep drops below. I've been finding that with the dark cloth over my head I've had some uncomfortable feelings as if I might lose my balance. Just usimg the pop out GG shield no problem, and no problem using the dark cloth in a safer environment. Is this common, and is there any way around the problem? I'm normally not scared of heights.

[Bill_1856]

You're probably stuck with it. Although the vestibular system of the inner ear provides us with our primary sense of balance, (including what is horizontal and what is vertical), there is also a strong visual component to the determination. Obviously this is stronger in some people than in others, and probably changes with age. The lack of visual cues (as well as decreased blood flow to the inner ear) is a major factor in why so many elderly folks fall when trying to navigate to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Looking at the ground glass image UPSIDE DOWN must also be a factor in having a little sense of vertigo.

[Jim Rice]

If you feel that you are in actual danger then a climbing harness is available from your local industirial supplier can be purchchased for around $100 US. You will need something on site to clip it off to that will hold you (considering that you have gained some momentum at the start of the fall, taking the shrub down with you will make you feel really silly for those few seconds ;=)). This is obviously geared toward worst case scenarios.

[Richard Schlesinger]

And here I thought it was all the cheap wine doing that to me in the middle of the night. Now I know; I'm just old!

[Bill_1856]

It's that cheap wine which is getting you up in the middle of the night, Richard. What happens then is your antiquity.

[Richard Schlesinger]

Along with the antiquity comes the enlargement (I think that's a photographic term) of a certain part of the gentleman's anatomy, or so I've been told, that has something to do with thewhole business of myriad arisings during the nightime.

[Ralph Barker]

Due to a childhood disease, I also suffer from a diminished sense of balance, Steve. But, I haven't experienced an exageration of that sensation under the darkcloth - perhaps because I stay well back from "The Edge". ;-) If you're shooting in solitary, precarious locations, Jim's advice of roping yourself to a sturdy support (big rock, tree, whatever) is sound. A harness and a length of climbing-quality rope is far less expensive than a funeral.

Richard - forget the wine. Go straight for the single malt! The floor is both a safe place and affords a unique camera angle. ;-)

[darter]

Toyo makes a nifty monocular ground glass viewer, that may eliminate your need for a darkcloth under many circumstances. It could save your life! as I know someone who's camera took the plunge, almost taking him in the process.

[Alan Davenport]

Yer a wuss!!! (Welcome to the club!)

[Donald Qualls]

Remember the drinker's rule, Ralph: you're not *really* drunk if you can lie on the floor without hanging on...

...but if you can operate a 4x5 in that condition and position, my hat's off to you!

[CXC]

I would try raising the sides of the dark cloth up, so you can see a little of the world, but most of the light is blocked, hopefully enough to compose and focus. Or wear a hooded windbreaker, and just pull the hood up over the top of the camera.

[Calamity Jane]

Use some kind of harness and tether to keep you steady.

I just installed a Web-Cam on the roof of a 17 story building last week, right on the edge of a roof with no parapet. I am not afraid of heights and it is the first time I have used workplace approved fall arrest gear and it made me feel a lot better. Well, at least I felt better knowing the Fire Department had the gear to do a "high angle rescue" 200 feet about ground. (Yea, yea, I know this isn't LF related!)

Even a simple rope tied around a tree and around your waist short enough to keep you from getting to the edge is better than nothing.

[Ed Pierce]

The same thing happens to me. I'm fine until I go under the dark cloth...if the camera is pointing over the edge so that I'm looking into the gorge on the ground glass, wow...very dizzy. The only thing I've found that helps is to keep one hand on the tripod and look away frequently.