meduus

This is one of the main issues to me also, but one thing i thought about is that usually you can flip the screen 180 degrees and then close it, the logic says that this way the camera shouldn't go into standby, but someone needs to confirm this.

Hi Guys, Anyone else besides me been looking into the possibility of using Sanyo HD1 as a skydiving camera? http://www.sanyo.com/entertainment/cameracorder/index.cfm?productID=1239 It records in 720p HD mode and can also do 60fps at 640x480. I've seen the test footage and 720p looks pretty impressive in good lighting conditions. But the best thing is that it is very compact and you can get it for less than $800 I currently own a Sony PC-101 and want something new, but it seems that Sony HC1 and HC3 are besides being quite expensive also quite heavy and large.

CDergins, did you use autofocusing and automatic exposure when you did the filming? I mean, that could be the reason for dark video. What camera you previously jumped? I was thinking of buying a bulletcam when i remembered this Samsung Sports Cam. I don't care about the low battery life and also i have my laptop always with me at the dropzone so it's quite ok if i can record only 22 minutes onto 1GB (There's a SCX110L model also that has 1GB integrated + if I put in an additional 1GB I can record about 44 minutes) The most important is the image quality the second is the size. The problem with regular bulletcams is that they require an external battery pack to operate. If I keep my current PC101 camera and buy additional bulletcam I know I will get a good quality, but this setup takes a lot of space and is not very comfortable to wear ( on the belly ). Can you check what's the resolution of the included bulletcam? and is it a wide angle?

http://gear.ign.com/articles/578/578312p1.html?fromint=1 Pretty nice new little toy from samsung. I'm thinking of trading my good old PC101 for this baby. The idea of having a water resistant camera plus bulletcam in one extremly small package and for a price below $800 starts to appeal me more and more :)

The Quality of MicroMV is the same only if yo look at the numbers ( 1Mpixel CCD, 520 horiz. lines etc), but remember that MicroMV is a MPEG-2 packed format and any compression means quality loss. I haven't tested the IP55 myself, but I know a lot about video formats and editing and MPEG-2 will reveal a certain amount of blockiness, especially on larger darker areas of the frame.

I understand your concern AndyMan, but the rear theflector is pretty tight. (on the pic#2 it's too dark to see it clearly) There's only one 1cm area in the mittle of the deflector where the gap is about half a millimeter. I did spend quite a time shaping the deflector. I knew that otherwise it could be a potential line snagger It's attached to the helmet with a rivet. Even now there's no way a line could get under the deflector, but I will fill the even the tiniest gaps with silicone and I'll be covering the connection areas with tuct tape. If I'm ready with the final tweaking, I will post the final pics here :)

Yeah, the first one did stick out too much, I realised that after i had put it together :/ But on the new version it's about 2cm closer and i can't get it closer anymore without using a screwdriver and knife on my PC101 ( have to remove the hanstrap somehow then), but this is something I don't want to do, cause it won't be always attached to the helmet. No cutaway system yet, but I plan to build one, when I get my chin cup.

The bottom plate sticks out almost the same as the battery, actually the bottom plate sticks 2 mm less out. Do you think it's still too wide? It would be possible to make it 8mm narrower and no more, but what difference that would make (the battery will stick out the same as now ), besides i will loose the hole in the bottom plate for the strap and have to find another way to connect the strap?

Ok here is the new version. And as MrHixxx recommended I'm planning to fill the gaps with silicone. Waht do you guys think now?

ATM I'm thinking of even losing the frame and connecting the L directly to helmet like some ppl here have done it ( have to build new L anyway to make it 15mm narrower ) I will lose the ability to adjust the camera up and down, but the whole thing would stick out 8mm less or so. Is it a good I idea? I've noticed that if I connect L directy then still remains a possbility that the lines may get stuck between the L and the helmet.

Thanks all guys for the concernes. I'm now going to modyify/rebuilt it a little bit. Here's a little quick idea that I had ( attatched pic ). I want to make the L a little bit narrower and lift it up about 1.5 cm and then an additional connection to the helmet wich comes from the sidemount. The red line on the first JPG is the new L braket and I also made a second JPG with photoshop where a scaled and moved the whole thing and drew the current position with a blue line. And the third images is the same as second one without the blue lines ( i thought they might be distracting a little bit ) What do you guys think about this idea, does it solve the snag problem?

The frist design i made I tried to connect the L bracket directly to the helment, but then I ran into various attatchment problems because of the two piece adjustable design ( the bolds and nuts required free space between the bracket and the helmet ) so i decided to clear it a little bit from the helmet. After I put it together I did notice the channel there between the helment mound and the L bracket, so I think I have to move the L bracket a half a centimeter up and front. That way that channel should dissapear. or what you think?

Well here's my sidemount i've just finished today for PC101 camera. It's missing few softpads, but today it was a lil late to go to the store to buy necessary material :) I'm thinking on adding a fiber based cover to it. On thing that bothers me a little bit that the camera is maybe too far away form the helmet, but I can rebuild the L-braket to get it 1cm closer. What do you think is it worth it?

Thanks iam for pics and drawings. I made my own design drawings last weekend and I've already started to gather neccesary material for my sidemount. When it's ready I'll post pics here :)

I was wondering how many of you have built their own sidemounts/L-brackets? I'm starting to built my own for PC-101,Mindwrap combination. So if maybe somone here has built one before, maybe can share his/her experience, photos and techical drawings. I have looked few designs in my own dropzone and have a general idea, but maybe you quys now any good tips ;)