The new wave of helmet cameras

[ta-rider]

Originally Posted by Alexlebrit

I'm wondering what it is people want, do you sit and watch your videos after on the TV, or are they just for sticking on YouTube or wherever?

Hi,

I usuarly dont take videos but fotos while riding. Therefore im using a normal camera (it can make videos as well) wich is atached to my helmet directly:





Have fun, Tobi

[grumpy]

No one has mentioned 'Muvi' cameras, tiny, and there are even cheaper ones direct from Hong Kong for about £13, they need a class 6 8gb memory card, I have one and I use a bit of double side sticky tape (number plate stuff) to stick it to the top of my helmet visor, it does'nt interfere with vision.

[stephen.stallebrass]

Originally Posted by mrg46

I've had a look at these recently - its actually called a POV.1 by a company called V.I.O.

V.I.O. -- The Leader in Wearable Video Technology, Digital Helmet Cameras and Cam Accessories

In my opinion the quality is better than any other dedicated solution and the widescreen lense gives so much more than the other units.

That price at actioncameras seems pretty steep, you can get them for about half that in the states so might even be worth paying import duties for (or smuggling it). Its still not cheap compared to other solutions but is small, has a great mic, and best of all a remote control that you can mount on your bars to start/stop recording or to tag the video.

Oh and it's also waterproof and shockproof.

I use one of these and they are awesome! Totally bullet proof and they take 4x AA batteries, which are easy to recharge on the go. And if you install the latest free firmware you can use an 8GB SD card. Selling mine on Ebay if anyone is interested as I'm raising cash for my North American Adventure. They do come up now and then used on ebay, which is not a big deal because they are so well made... and apparently the customer service is very good too. But its not HD, although the picture quality is very good. The only difference between POV 1 & POV 2 is the bullet cam is orange and teathered in the latest version but the specs are exactly the same.

Originally Posted by billy_b57

http://VholdR.com

I bought this outfit for $300.00 at Seattle Bike show.
No wires and a nice set up.
I used it on my recent trip to Death valley and it works great.
Indoors not so good but you can upload to yours and VHOLDR site to shre with friends.

Yeah, these seem quite a good bit of kit. The lack of wires is quite appealing and will probably be the one I go for next. And I hear you can use a 16GB miniSD card, which is vital for the HD... IMHO the downside is the video format: .mov compared to the VIO, which is .avi but this can be overcome. The other thing is that there is no external mic if you want to narrate. Although I have seen a chap on YouTube mod it.

I plan on going down the VHOLD 1080p route and if I want to narrate... (for the vlogs) then I'll use the Iphone voice recorder via a Cardo Scala Rider Q2 headset, then sync it up in Sony Vegas.

xXx

[barraman]

Great thread guys and lots of good info. Hats off to theose who contribute.

I have a VIO 1.5 POV.
It does everything I want it to do with 1 exception. The focal length of the lens is too short. In order for me to get some decent footage of a bike in fromt of me I need to be way closer than what is ideally a safe following distance. if i drop back to a good distance the subject looks as if he is being viewed from the wrong end of a set of binoculars. Unfortunately VIO have been repeating the same line over and over the years regarding the lens length and say that something is in development etc etc..??

Someone here menioned an Archos device acting as a recorder. I dont undrestand these things but If I wanted to go down this route I just neeed to get a sony lipstick cam or similar and plug it into the archos thing and thats it? or is therre more to it than that.?

anyway here are a couple of vids from my list.

YouTube - daytona 675




YouTube - Cbr1100xx currumbin

[KevOK]

for all your mounting needs,

RAM Mounting Systems, Inc.

[peekay]

There is now an HD version of the VIO POV available for pre-order: V.I.O.

The POV.HD shoots 1080p at 24, 25 and 30 fps as well as 720p at 60 fps. It uses H.264 instead of the DivX codec used in POV 1.5. Published bitrate is 15 mbps.

The "bullet" style camera is wired to a remote unit (unlike the ContourHD which is self-contained). On the plus side, the remote unit has a 2" LCD and is powered using standard AA batteries, both are nice attributes in the field.

The POV.HD has a very wide 1080p field-of-view at 142°. The 720p view is "cropped" narrower at 95°.

As a reference the POV 1.5 has a field-of-view of 110°. The ContourHD shoots at 110° (1080p) and 135° (720p). The GoPro HD is at 127° (1080p) and 170° (720p).

[khjphoto]

Take a look at the DRIFT HD170.

Waterproof, Shockproof (dropped it while riding). Shoots in 720 or 1080.
Only flaw I see is the remote, there is NO indication if you are reording.
The On/Off switch needs to be more positive and impossible to use while wearing gloves.

[Rob Hall]

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

I recently bought Video Sunglasses, the name is above. Cost $A150 with 8gb T-card.

It came with a very awkward Manglish CD and instruction card. Still have not managed to get the (very annoying) time/date overlay corrected or deleted altogether.

On the road, yes it does OK for what it is. Because it is mounted on my face and not my bike, there is a lot less vibration.
But the final effect is not good. There is still a fair degree of ride vibration transmitted.

Also: do you realise how paranoid we bikers are? The head keeps swivelling around - and very quickly. It's a matter of staying alive!!!!
But it is not good video.

Audio; yes at low speed I enjoy the sound of my Harley growl. But at anything over about 80kph, wind howl takes over, and must be overidden by (appropriate) soundtracks in the computer.

The earpieces must be jammed between the helmet and the human head and this is very uncomfortable. The card should record for 2 hrs, but half that is too much agony. Last time it cut out after 43 minutes. Problem is; you don't know when it cuts out, and there is no review available without a computer.

Can I recommend it? Not yet.

Rob

Update: Having just watched some good videos on this thread, in particular Barraman's Queensland videos, I think that we are overselling this whole video concept to ourselves.
For instance: I have just watched some footage of riders fanging towards a volcano in Iceland. Not to offend the rider/videographers, but the volcano never became the centrepiece, nor could it be. Instead we saw a lot of water, tundra, gravel, puddles etc. Not too interesting, even to bikers, or vulcanologists.
I can still hear my sister-in-law's plea; "Do you have anything with people in them?" A reality check for me....
So: New Rules!: I will persevere with video, but savage editing is mandatory.

[mikesfweb]

Great pics thanks for sharing the informative post. Keep it up.

[DAVSATO]

you dont need anything fancy, i took this on my nokia mobile phone

davsato's Channel - YouTube

sorry it goes on a bit, it was just a trial run, i was too busy to stop recording and it filled the memory card!

[Little Dom]

Originally Posted by edteamslr

Helmet cameras are a nice addition to your filming setup but don't confuse the ease of being able to 'hoover up' the scenery with a helmet cam with the real challenge of creating engaging, meaningful stories. To put it another way, you could spend 1000AUD on a helmet cam and bore everyone senseless or spend 200AUD on a standard def camcorder to film a couple of drive-past's and a bit of well-researched 'talk-to-cam' that leaves the viewers feeling interested and engaged. Sadly that all sounds a bit more challenging and people just don't take the time. No wonder people just smile politely when we show them our motorbike 'shorts'.

Top comment!
I went to Vegas, hired a Softail for a week and rode around Arizona back in 2010 - I took a camera with me and decided to film the event with the idea of making it interesting for other people to watch because I was alone (I had no one to reminisce with after). It took me and a friend 1 year to complete the editing but the resulting DVD was fantastic and many people even wanted me to make copies for them! (how often does that happen with a holiday vid?)

In contrast to that a friend and I went to France for a short break on the bikes, we both filmed the trip and did just a little editing, the result is so crap neither one of us have bothered to watch it since! (and if someone tries to watch it you can watch them glaze over in about 4mins 38 seconds!)

I think it was Grant Johnson that told me "the difference between a pro photographer and an amateur photographer is the size of their rubbish bins" - With the Vegas trip I filmed hours and hours of footage, 90% never made it to the final cut.

With having said all that, for my big trip im looking at this -

VIO POV HD Camera | DogCam Sport

Main reasons are 1080p HD in Pal and the tagging system =
"New tagging and pre-record modes have been included. When you press the tag button on the remote controller, the unit goes back up to 10 mins and starts recording in the past."

So you don't need to take hours and hours of rubbish footage "just encase" something cool happens!

Only problem with this system - ITS FLAMING EXPENSIVE!!!!

Dom

[Xander]

Originally Posted by khjphoto

Take a look at the DRIFT HD170.

Waterproof, Shockproof (dropped it while riding). Shoots in 720 or 1080.
Only flaw I see is the remote, there is NO indication if you are reording.
The On/Off switch needs to be more positive and impossible to use while wearing gloves.

Also the new Drift HD Ghost Action Camera

Cameras - Drift Innovation




it has a 5 minute back record... priceless unless you want to record everything and have to edit 6 months of video!

[ozranger]

Originally Posted by Xander

Also the new Drift HD Ghost Action Camera

Cameras - Drift Innovation




it has a 5 minute back record... priceless unless you want to record everything and have to edit 6 months of video!

that settles it! i already thought drift was the best only lacking the loop function, now it has everything! and you don't have a brick strapped to the top of you head! i used the drift HD 170 for my africa trip. great camera and great customer support. the ability to speak into a mic is great too.
here is a taste
Ride For Rangers: Part 1 starting off... - YouTube
i'm so excited by the ghost! well done drift!