The new wave of helmet cameras

[nx650]

I'm having a nightmare trying to work out which helmet cam to take with me on my next year long trip. There is of course the old seperate video cam with endless leads and stuff but there also seem to be a new wave of self contained cameras recording onto sd cards. Would really appriciate any feed back from anyone who has used one

cheers Rich

[Flyingdoctor]

I've just got a Panasonic SDR-S10, £180 on Amazon. This is water resistant and shockproofed and records in three quality settings giving 25min/50min/1hr40min on a 2GB SD card. It also has image stabalisation. I've only used it mounted onto the bike but I'm looking to mount it on my helmet next as it only weighs 204 grams ready to go (31mmx63mmx114mm). This is my first attempt with it on my XT.
YouTube - Serow on the hardknot

The vibration is the way I mounted it rather than the camera. On my helmet it should be fine. The mic is right at the front and although there is an anti-wind noise setting it's quite bad at speed. I've made a foam cover for it.

Once the weather gets a bit more friendly I'll try "take two"

[Redboots]

Originally Posted by Flyingdoctor

The vibration is the way I mounted it rather than the camera. On my helmet it should be fine.

I find helmet mounted footage to be not that great... your head is never still when riding a bike... look at some of the crap footage from "long Way Down" for examples...

Try masking tape or a breathable bandaid over the mic... on my bullet cam, I kept the mic in the tank bag and that gave much better results.

Cheers,
John

[samson]

i just have got e secondhand actioncam for 90 euro
it just works with sd cards and 2 aa batteries
i have treyd it 2 times, its ok but not verry high qualety
i first mounted it on the bike but the vibrations are to much
on the helmet its ok

[nx650]

Hey I really like the look of that little thing seems like a great compromise between a helmet cam and something you can use as a normal video camera. My only concern is how to mount it to the bike and helmet what are your idea? Does it have any thing on it you could strap too?

[Flyingdoctor]

I've only tried it on my XT250 at the moment and just strapped it onto my tankbag with it on my "monster pod". On my Tiger it'll be behind the screen and mounted on a small tripod which does make for smoother and quieter video. There are also camera brackets by people like SW-Motech and I may invest in one as I'm shooting more and more video. It's nice on wet Sundays to watch your rides on sunnier days.

[nx650]

Thats looks like a great set up I suppose you could attach that monster pad thing to the side or top of your helmet could you?? how does it work is it by suction or velcrow? I hear it comes with a hand strap would it be possible to strap that around your arm? Sorry for all the questions but i'm in New Zealand until I leave for south america and with many of the specialised products you can only order them on line as they are never brought into the country very annoying at times.

[Flyingdoctor]

You really need to see their website, just google monster pod. It's got this sticky goo that is supposed to stick to trees and rocks too but I haven't tried it on those surfaces. I wouldn't rely on just the stickness with a £200 camera, which is why I added a strap. It didn't move from where I put it on my tankbag though. I'm sure if I mounted it on a more solid surface, like directly to the tank, it would make a very stable platform. I've had some success using a "gorilla pod" tripod on my other bike. I'm still experimenting.

[Land Sailor]

One suggestion to manage road noise: Many cameras today have a mic input usually a 1/8 inch jack for an external mic. If you purchase a 1/8 blank jack and insert it into the mic jack it disengauges the internal mic and you will not capture any audio. I often do this and then add voice over when editing the video. You can also connect the camera into your audio com or other system in this fashion.

[Flyingdoctor]

I'll have a look. I've got a few old carphone mics knocking about somewhere I'll try one of those.

[Redboots]

Originally Posted by nx650

Thats looks like a great set up I suppose you could attach that monster pad thing to the side or top of your helmet could you?? how does it work is it by suction or velcrow?

I was going to get one of these until I read this bit on their web page:

Can it fall off?
MonsterPod™ was developed to provide a temporary mounting device for compact digital cameras.
It is designed to hold a 10 oz or less camera for a period of time long enough to set the automated timer and take a picture.
It will begin to ooze (stretch) from its location after several minutes.


John

[Flyingdoctor]

This has been my experience so far but it's been very cold, on a vertical surface it will fall off after a few minutes. What it's like in the summer I can't say. However it seems very good a staying where you put it on a flat horizontal surface with a secondary way of applying downward pressure. I got a good deal, £25 for the pod and the extra travel case so I thought I'd give it a go. I'm going to try it on the dash in the car un-supported and see what happens. I'm betting it'll be ideal in this situation.

[SeniGreg]

I have done well with the ELMO which is a self contained unit recording onto an SD card

Micro video camera system SUV-Cam

Some samples - I did not connect a mike -

[Bjorn]

Hi Gxdoyle,

The suv cam looks neat. How much did you pay? Can it record sound in its most basic setup, or do I need an Elmo brand microphone?
How do you mount it on your helmet?
Have you tried mounting it elsewhere, i.e. near the foot-pegs... for more dramatic shots?

Cheers
Bjorn

[SeniGreg]

Originally Posted by Bjorn

Hi Gxdoyle,

The suv cam looks neat. How much did you pay? Can it record sound in its most basic setup, or do I need an Elmo brand microphone?
How do you mount it on your helmet?
Have you tried mounting it elsewhere, i.e. near the foot-pegs... for more dramatic shots?

Cheers
Bjorn

Hey Bjorn,

I believe I paid about AUD 1,000 for the whole setup - this included a velcro patch that sticks to the helmet that you connect the head unit to. You can buy extras of these patches so that you can have different mounts all over the place - I never tried it on the footpegs but that sounds like an interesting idea. If you look at my first vid it gets very dramatic near the end when I fall off (about 5.5 mins in)!

Any kind of microphone will work - I am connecting it up to the microphone I have in my helmet for phone & UHF sine that is windproofed.

The only thinf I did not like about it was that I could not get a 12 v charger for it - however since I have a small inverter I was able to keep a spare battery on charge. The other thing I didn't like was that it only too a max 2 gig card so I had to carry a few different cards with me.