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.

[Paul Spreadbury]

Hi guys & girls out there!
Right I'm brand new to this site, I have completed 3 trips around europe.

Last year I purchased a ARCHOS 504, I purchased the bullet cam which connects to it.
I bought this last year at PIXMANIA.COM, the complete package cost me £280. I did notice that everytime I wenty on the website it cost a different price, I guess due to the price they buy it in at.
Anyway this little device has 80 GB, you can get one with 160 GB.

It takes about (don't quote me, this is what I have been told) 1 hr recording per 1GB. This in effect will record 80 hours. However the actual real size of the recorder is about 76 GB, so you are looking at 70 hours recording I recon.
Try not to get bogged down with too many accessories, that's all I have to say. Buy the device, but when you buy the bullet cam, (purchased seperatley it costs around £109 from ARCHOS site) the cam comes with a travel adapter, don't buy one seperately as they cost £40 or so.

Quality - can record in 3 different types, high is very good.

I attached camera to top of my helmet, I bought some material, sewed it and attached the cam to helmet via velcro. Worked a treat even at 100 mph (autobaan for all those getting concerned)

Bad points 1 - right, this device is not waterproof, the device does come with a pouch and sat comfortably in my inside pocket. I used the device coming down the STELVIO pass, it was heaving with rain, however it carried on recording and did not break, obviously at some points the specs of the water on the lense blurred its vision occassionally but would blow off.
I am not sure if this is usual or whether I just got lucky. It was raining consatntly and so hard that my jacket leaked, device was moist (not wet) only due to the pouch it came in.

Bad point 2 - Battery life, lasts for about 1 hour on record - utter rubbish. Charge time can be done through USB on computer. This takes hours.
I am going on europe tour in August 2008, I am taking this device again, as it really is good. This time I am going to purchase a cigarette socket power for it and attach to the bike battery, it states that it can be used for charging and power, so I will give it a go. Batteries are expensive so refuse to buy them.

This device is also DVD player, music player etc. It really is a mini computer. DVD's can be copied onto it, it has a built in decoder to copy all DVD's ARCHOS I am told got all rights given for this by all DVD manufacturers.

I made a disc of my last trip and passed to friends, they were impressed with quality.

I have also become aware of DOGCAM, looks good DOGCAM.COM. recorders and bullett cameras for all sports including bike!!
Standard cam costs £325 includes recorder device, camera and holder to suck it on bike or helmet. Uses SD card (comes seperately of course) 16GB SD card costs £50.

Feel free to e-mail me paulspreadbury@vodafoneemail.co.uk

[biggles0449]

hi guys

i have used a varety of bullet cameras in the past, through teaching / filming kitesurfing. and have found many to be seriously lacking. with either naff DVR recorders or sub standard camera manucfaturing. i am currently researching my next purchase which looks to be:

Actioncameras.co.uk

this seems to be a very robust bit of kit, but not entirely cheap...can handle up to 8gb [45 mins video per gb at best resolution] for a cost of complete package at £580.

i guess it all depends on what you want and how much abuse its going to get. i will be going to demo this camera next week..will keep you all updated.

i am also in the process of producing a custom built bullet cam, which is of commercial diving quality [machined aluminium billet body], and reasonably cost effective..this would just require a DVR recorder of your choice to handle the data..and would be 100% dirt, water and anything else proof! [way more depth capacity than a human can handle-as the guy im working with designs them for remote operated vehicles]

if youre interested let me know and we can talk more.

normanbp31 [aatt} HoTT M-a-i-l dot c.o-m

[Alexlebrit]

Originally Posted by biggles0449

...i guess it all depends on what you want ...

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? If it's the latter does it matter what quality your camera is given the relatively poor quality of .flv videos?

I'd have thought once you get past a certain quality it all becomes immaterial if all you're doing is loading on any of the video sharing sites. It's a pity that they don't seem to say the maximum quality you need for playback.

Of course if you're watching on the TV it's different.

[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.

[mrg46]

Originally Posted by biggles0449

Actioncameras.co.uk

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.

[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

[jenros]

hi there,
a few of us purchased the "drift x170" this comes with all the bits n bobs.
you get a helmet mount,bike bar mount,which will fit on your push bike,you get a velcro strap mount that fits through your vented push bike helmet,a remote on/off switch which is on a velcro strap which you can wear around your wrist,onr on your handlebars.
we had a 4gig card with it as well,the camera lens rotates to line up your footage however your position your mount is in.
You can also review what you have recorded on the built in screen,also delete the bits you dont want.
we use it mainly for off roading,the picture quality is very good with no vibrations,the kit also includes accessories to put straight in to a tv to watch as you come back from a ride with your mates,also the leads to fit straight into your pc.
THE DOWN SIDE!--it eats aa batteries!dont use rechargables,they dont last no where as long as lithiumn,typical running time,although we have not run them from a start to finish ride,due to the fact that it is mixed riding,ie,road sections in between off road parts,they would proberly last about 1 hour,tops!
That is the only down side we have found,they are curently on sale from action cameras at around £200.00.,we paid £150.00 which included the 4 gig card.
if you look on you tube,my mate put a small clip of us out on the first ride with it,,,youtube,put in drift x170 off road,its only a few minutes long but it will give you a taster,oh two more things---the remotes,if a few of you are using them,either turn them on and off manually,on the camera its self,or just one of you use the remote,,,,ha ha,hense only one clip of our days riding,because as each of us was turning the camera on and off at different times it was activating ALL of our cameras,when one had switch on,the next was switching off.
As you will see that because i was last to start off,they were in front of me,and so mine worked ok!the remotes work up to 5 meters.
hope this is helpful.we have had great fun with these,even on my road bike,fitted behind a screen its excellent bit of kit a i think good value compared to other cameras.

[AndyWx]

Ladies and Gentlemen!

I wanted to make one thing clear here. When it comes to Video there are two formats: PAL and NTSC. PAL means that you're recording with 25 frames per second and is used in all of Europe. NTSC is an American format and means that you're recording 30 frames per second. This makes a great difference for me (UK Based). I bought a Canon HF100 full HD camcorder for my walking around and video diaries for our trip RTW. It is a PAL camera since I bought it in Europe. Now I want to buy a helmet camera which will be able to take good quality footage from onboard the bike. When I say good footage I mean HD quality. This is another thing that I would like to make clear. The main thing that reflects on the quality of your video is the resolution that you're recording in (not to mention the sensor size, lense type and quality etc.). Most of the cameras here mentioned by people is a poor 480p, 520p - these are resolutions that you get on older TVs 640x480, youtube quality etc. - for me not good enough! next step up is the 720p which I'd be happy with as this represents the first step into HD quality - internet HD is mostly 1270x720 (720p), but what I'm really looking for is a camera that will be able to record to a Full HD quality 1920x1080 (1080p). There are cameras out there that do this - the problem is that they're all NTSC format (30 frames per second) - good for the US but not for Europe.

If you're in the US I would recommend either ContourHD or GoPro cameras as they in my opinion give you the best quality of footage and seem to be reasonably priced when compared to the 4Kam garbage!

When in Europe there isn't really much to play with and that's where I'm at now I've got no idea what to buy as there are no HD cameras available in PAL format. I phoned around and there is a chance that there will be Drift X170 Full HD camera available in July 2010.

Will keep my eye out but really am thinking of getting and american based NTSC full HD cmacorder + helmet camera after selling my PAL one.

Any comments,

Give me a shout!
Andy