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I have a pc1000 with a rawa helmet for skydiving. It works great except it doesn't have night shot, and I doubt I will be dayblazing anything short of bridge day. I was looking to buy a cheap camera to top mount to a skysystems helmet I have. Looking into the Sony HC30, which I can get used from around 80-100. I just wanted to see if anyone was using that model or if had any suggestions on a better/cheaper model. My understanding was top mount is the way to go.
Thanks!

I did see this thread, but it's older (2004)
http://www.basejumper.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1388045;search_string=hc30;#1388045

The HC30 is a decent enough camera to get it done but if you break it, cheap enough you dont care so much. use night shot if there is some other light small light source. if there is no light other than moon, your video will suck. u might try the super night shot in the menu to get something salvagable. bottom line the night shot is pretty bad video generally. definately top mount. I use the hc40. i dont know if the 20's models have the Super night shot.

skydiving helmets tend to be poor choices for BASE.

if you pursue that path, realize that the helmet itself is a fancy camera mount, NOT viable protection.

I went from a pc1000 in an ff2 to a cx7 top mounted on a cookie rok. best move ever, but is costly. Gets good video though, night shot, no tape to skip, etc.....

top mount is much nicer.

WWarped had a good point though, These helmets offer the most minimum, i.e. non existant protection.

So A lot of time, I jump a good old protec, Or a full face into narly landing areas and hand a buddy my camera to shoot the footage, base has the benefit of being able to have footage shot by anyone..... Also, unless you are doing a lot of 2ways, or terrain flying, 1st person base footage gets boring fast.....

Though I would like to adapt a flat lock plate to the top of my protec, then my rok would get set back to only terminal base camera duties.....

_justin

I have a cookie helmet with a Sony HC-36 topmount. Its a camera that you can pick up on craigslist for about 100bucks and if you break it you wont be crying. it has nightshot but as with most cameras its weak and the IR light gets blocked with a wideangle lens. So to fix that I monted a secondary IR cluster to my helmet that gives about a 60-70 foot range. Anything close is like daylight. You can pick up a SIMA cluster on ebay for about 30 bucks. get the big one you and the people you tape will appreciate it

There are currently 4 Sony DCR PC105 up for auction on e-bay, all located in the US.

Item number: 270331403768
Item number: 290290309174
Item number: 150321956750
Item number: 110340337820

Excellent camera and very robust. Good nightshot mode as long as where your jumping isn't too rural.
I have used an IR torch with mine which works fairly well and overcomes the problem of the wide angle lens covering the inbuilt IR.