Impressive compact "bullet" video cameras for bikes etc.

Taff

Taff

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I know that over the years quite a few people on here have asked about recording their impressive bike rides etc for uploading to Youtube, storing on DVD etc so this could be of interest to you.

While we were at the NEC yesterday, we spotted a small stand for Action Cameras.

They had a couple of screens showing clips from off road rides, track races, mountain passes etc and I must admit the picture quality was impressive, especially considering that the camera cost £175 to £300 including the mounts etc. I think he said that one card would hold 12 hours of video, but don't hold me to that.

Not surprisingly, the most impressive video came from the GoPro High Definition Helmet Hero camera, but the X170 didn't seem far behind it.

If you're thinking of planning an impressive trip, and you're up at the NEC over the next 4 days, you could do a lot worse than visiting their stand. I've got no connection with the the company - just trying help out fellow Tossers. :thumb
 
Taff said:
I know that over the years quite a few people on here have asked about recording their impressive bike rides etc for uploading to Youtube, storing on DVD etc so this could be of interest to you.

While we were at the NEC yesterday, we spotted a small stand for Action Cameras.

They had a couple of screens showing clips from off road rides, track races, mountain passes etc and I must admit the picture quality was impressive, especially considering that the camera cost £175 to £300 including the mounts etc. I think he said that one card would hold 12 hours of video, but don't hold me to that.

Not surprisingly, the most impressive video came from the GoPro High Definition Helmet Hero camera, but the X170 didn't seem far behind it.

If you're thinking of planning an impressive trip, and you're up at the NEC over the next 4 days, you could do a lot worse than visiting their stand. I've got no connection with the the company - just trying help out fellow Tossers. :thumb
Click to expand...

I've had a few bullet cameras over the years (started when I used to race cars). I have recently changed from a GoPro helmet hero wide to a VIO POV 1.5. It might not be HD, but the quality (in terms of exposure, colour correctness, ability to deal with crap light and picture smoothness) beats all of the others (including the HD ones) into a cocked hat. It also has an external mic which is very useful - the helmet mounted ones tend to suffer very badly from wind noise. The downside of the POV is that it is hella expensive.

The GoPro that I had was excellent so long as you were using it in ideal conditions, as soon as the light was not perfect it would tend to be massively over or under exposed which was very dissapointing. I hear the HD one is excellent though, just a shame that there's no external mic solution yet (although they claim to be producing a wireless one, but when I emailed to ask when it would be out, they wouldn't commit to it).

ETA : I have bought my last 2 helmet cams from Action Cameras and their service has been second to none :thumb
 
Yeah www.actioncameras.co.uk seem to be a good outfit, bought a POV1.5 & now moved to a ContourHD1080p kit. See my youtube acc, only a few videos because i'm still testing.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GunZenBomZ

Unfortunaltey the contourhd cameras do not fair well in rain/showers on the motorway @80+. So avoid doing the same or you need to remove the front lens & dry it out for a few hours. ;)

See www.VholdR.com(this is contourhd community website) for contourhd videos, the software you get with the camera is shite but works. I'd recommend people get class(6) speed memory cards if thinking of buying a ContourHD unit. You need fast memory for good images.
:smokeboun

Transcend 16gb microSDHC Class(6)
 
SamD said:
I hear the HD one is excellent though, just a shame that there's no external mic solution yet (although they claim to be producing a wireless one, but when I emailed to ask when it would be out, they wouldn't commit to it).
Click to expand...

There is in my webby links a guy who has modded an external mic connector to his ContourHD1080p. So it can be done & i will also be changing the mic at some point, as that's the downside with the unit.

My boss is grabbing a Go-pro unit for his next trip to Nordschleife ring.
 
GunZenBomZ said:
There is in my webby links a guy who has modded an external mic connector to his ContourHD1080p. So it can be done & i will also be changing the mic at some point, as that's the downside with the unit.

My boss is grabbing a Go-pro unit for his next trip to Nordschleife ring.
Click to expand...

I had an original Go Pro and the sound was poor but you could improve it by removing the rubber seal on the case. This meant the sound was massively improved and it was still completely water resistant for bike / car use so long as it wasn't submerged . They've totally fixed the sound now though on the HD version . They are awesome :bow
 
Rushy said:
I had an original Go Pro and the sound was poor but you could improve it by removing the rubber seal on the case. This meant the sound was massively improved and it was still completely water resistant for bike / car use so long as it wasn't submerged . They've totally fixed the sound now though on the HD version . They are awesome :bow
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In what sense, it's still findamentally in a sealed plastic box, so the sound is not ever going to be great. If they do come out with the RF external mic then I really do think it will be the complete article though :thumb
 
GunZenBomZ said:
There is in my webby links a guy who has modded an external mic connector to his ContourHD1080p. So it can be done & i will also be changing the mic at some point, as that's the downside with the unit.

My boss is grabbing a Go-pro unit for his next trip to Nordschleife ring.
Click to expand...


Yeah I saw the external mic mod, but I was somewhat wary about taking apart such an expensive device and soldering new wires in, and drilling through the (waterproof) casing....
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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