Oh, sure we usually bring you the best in DSLRs and Point & Shoots, but our big end of year giveaway is a more unique offering this year.

The GoPro HD Helmet HERO Camera
first came on our radar last year at CES, and the concept of a quality, tiny, mountable camera that shot HD and 5mp Stills got out attention. This tiny block of imaging capturing goodness was displayed on a helmut and being worn on a chest mount.
Our first thoughts went not to sports, but to Walker Evans, who shot on the NYC subways in the late 1930′ using a small somewhat hidden camera.
The idea of a wide angle camera with sound being able to be easily mounted anywhere got our eye.
And the time lapse photography we have been getting has been very cool.

The design is simple and utilitarian. The shooting setting menus are easy to follow. The mounts are well-built and stay where you put them.
The clear housing it comes with is waterproof and can also cut down wind noise as well as. Battery life is over 2 hours as advertised. We haev been adding to our tool kit with additional mounts, and special housings that allow us to add a monitor, since there is no way to see what you are shooting other that relying on your experience.
The lens is wide enough to be forgiving, though.
The angle of view can be either 170º or 127º.
Full specs are listed at the end of this post.

Here is a primer on shooting time lapse with the GoPro HD HERO
:

“GoPro’s HD Helmet HERO is the world’s highest performance wearable 1080p HD video and still photo camera. Professional quality 1080p / 960p / 720p HD resolutions record at 30 and 60 frames per second (60 fps in 720p). Record up to 2.5 hours on a single charge and up to 9 hours total on a 32GB SD card (not included).

The camera can also shoot automatic 5MP photos at 2/5/10/30 and 60 second intervals during your activity, hands free. Press the shutter button once at the start of your activity and record up to 2.5 hours of poster-print quality photos of you and your friends, living it up.

Included are mounts for attaching the camera to three helmets and two pieces of gear or vehicles, as well as a head strap allowing you to wear the camera like a headlamp. You can also pull this strap over helmets for easy camera sharing between friends. One of the above mentioned helmet mounts is a lace-through strap-mount designed for vented helmets.”

We’d like to thanks the folks at GoPro for offering this very cool set-up to one of our readers.
You should take a look at all of the goods on the site and if you go for a purchase, make sure the included bits do what you need.

The way we’ll do this awesome year end giveaway is this:
• be signed up for the free weekly Newsletter. (very important step. without this, not eligible for giveaway)
• Watch for the December 29th edition
• Answer the question included in in that Newsletter and follow the directions to enter
• All correct entries will be sent to random.org where a winner will be picked at…random.

The package we are giving away is the GoPro Helmut Hero HD

What’s Included:
1 HD HERO Camera (5 megapixel)
1 Rechargeable 1100 mAh Lithium-Ion Battery
1 Waterproof Quick-Release Housing (180’/60 m)
1 Headlamp-Style Head Strap
1 Vented Helmet Strap
2 Curved, 3Mâ„¢ Adhesive Mounts
2 Flat, 3M Adhesive Mounts
1 Three-Way Pivoting Side Arm Assembly
2 Quick-Release Buckles
1 USB Cable
1 Component Video (HDTV) Cable
1 Composite Video + Audio Out Cable
Warranty: One Year

And now, the tech specs:

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 9th, 2010 at 2:21 pm and is filed under Photo News, Weekly Giveaway. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.