To make a camera mount for your head first you have to have a camera that is suited for the job. I chose the Sony PC5 after talking with Pete Fagerlin who makes similar video's on the web. The sony is small, has shake reduction, night vision, good video and sound, is Mini DV (digital video - works well with editing on a PC), and it allows for a wide angle lens to better capture the action. Fortunately for people besides me the camera is now the PC9 and is $799 (was $1500) the last time I checked Regency Camera.

Now that you have a camera you need a mount. Of course you could buy one but that isn't my style. So I bought a $20 bike helmet and used epoxy to create a flat vertical mount that the camera and case could bolt to. On the other side I bolted on a water bottle cage for a counterweight. I chose to mount low on the side which in my opinion reduces torque on your neck, shaking of the camera, and the chance of landing on the thing with your full weight (your shouldsers should be this wide too right?).

Now, to hold the camera there is only one correct way and that is by the tripod screw at the bottom. So I found a piece of 90 degree angled steel and drilled a hole for the tripod screw. I added some thin rubber padding between camera and plate to help reduce the horizontal twist factor. The vertical portion of the bracket is drilled to accomodate a bolt that will pin the protective case, camera, and helmet together. Between the bracket and epoxy plate on the helmet I added some hook velcro on both sides to reduce the vertical twist factor. I used hook for both sides because it is most rigid and adds friction whereas hook against loop will allow for some slack before the materials lock. I epoxyed a t-nut into the helmet to recieve the bolt from the camera side.

For the case you have a couple options. The first, most expensive, and time consuming case I made was from fiberglass. I had to first make a negative mold, set the fiberglass with impact resin (for crash resiliance), sand, attach hinges, a closure device etc etc. Then I decided there is a really cheap way to get good impact resistant plastic in preformed cases: tupperware. You see the case's only job is to transfer the impact of a crash to the helmet instead of the camera. It has nothing to do with what holds the camera. Thus any container will work just fine so long as it fits your camera, is light, semi-rigid but flexible enough to take a hit, cheap, and able to be mounted to your helmet. The advantage of tupperware is with a little modification you can make it water and dust resistant.

If you're really gonna make one of these things start here and then e-mail me if you need better details.