Helmet camera for mountain biking

Corey

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
I have seen a few advertised in my mountain bike magazines.
The one I see the most is the HeroWide from GoPro.
http://www.goprocamera.com/index.php?area=2&productid=1

683_large_herowide01.jpg


A few reviews I read somewhere said the sound was not the best, and that most interject music into their YouTube videos.
But I also want something that can pic up decent audio.
In the sample videos there it seems the audio is pretty decent.

Here is the other camera I saw advertised, the Vholdr ContourHD.
http://www.vholdr.com/

featuresHeader.jpg


There is an opening video if you click on it of some mountain biking.
It says it is a wide angle lens like the HeroWide one, but I think the video is easier on the eyes with the Vholdr ContourHD camera.
It records in two formats.
HD 1280x720 @ 30 FPS
SD 848x480 @ 60 FPS.

They have tons of sample and member submitted videos there to view.

Does anyone have experience with any of these two cameras?
My main purpose with it is to record mountain biking on trails, but it can also record 4wheeling too.
You can view their sample HD video here too, and also download the 1280x720 one.
http://www.vholdr.com/contourhd/videos

Looks like this camera also has alignment lasers.
http://www.vholdr.com/contourhd/features

It looks like the second camera may be the winner with all the features it has and the 8 hour video capacity?

REI has the HeroWide for $190.

Amazon has the Vholdr ContourHD camera for $299.
http://www.amazon.com/VHoldR-1200-VholdR-ContourHD-Camera/dp/B0026P4H6K
 
Corey

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Upon reading more, the more expensive camera is out.
It saves the movies files in Mac format, MOV which is not compatible with Windows XP and Vista Movie Maker which I use to edit all movies before uploading to YouTube.

That there is a deal breaker, as Movie Maker is free software and very easy to use.
To bad, as the camera looks nice.

The cheaper camera saves files in an AVI format which is compatible with Windows Movie Maker.
However on their site it says the USB cable to play back vids from the camera to the PC is a combo USB/RCA cable.
I will have to call them, as I do not want to have to plug extra cables into the PC to get audio.
An AVI file played from the camera should be able to play video and sound directly from a USB cable with no RCA cables needed.
If this is not the case, this also is to bad, I would have to skip over both cameras.
 
BIGdaddy

BIGdaddy

Expedition Leader
Corey said:
Upon reading more, the more expensive camera is out.
It saves the movies files in Mac format, MOV which is not compatible with Windows XP and Vista Movie Maker which I use to edit all movies before uploading to YouTube.

That there is a deal breaker, as Movie Maker is free software and very easy to use.
To bad, as the camera looks nice.

The cheaper camera saves files in an AVI format which is compatible with Windows Movie Maker.
However on their site it says the USB cable to play back vids from the camera to the PC is a combo USB/RCA cable.
I will have to call them, as I do not want to have to plug extra cables into the PC to get audio.
An AVI file played from the camera should be able to play video and sound directly from a USB cable with no RCA cables needed.
If this is not the case, this also is to bad, I would have to skip over both cameras.
Click to expand...


I have a pentax optio that records in .mov format.

I've made many video's in .avi format on windows movie maker, run on XP.

All you need is a free downloadable .mov to .avi converter. there's a lot of different choices.

I go to Twocows.com for most of my shareware/freeware, (IRfanView is another good program) though I don't know if they currently have a
converter.

I've done this for about 5 years. Another way to do it is to upload .mov files directly to photobucket. You can edit, adjust, add music, photo's, etc. to your movie. Then you can link it to a site like this one.

just some choices for you. :)
 
BIGdaddy

BIGdaddy

Expedition Leader
here's a quick video I put together in photobucket as a trial run. It's probably not the best quality, but that might have more to do with the fact that my camera is older and not primarily a movie camera. Its a point and shoot, underwater still camera, with video function.

 
adventureduo

adventureduo

Dave Druck [KI6LBB]
hahahhaha! Pre-Yosh and Pre-Dixie!

Speaking of Dixie i need to make her a harness or something so she can go :D
 
Corey

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
If I can get decent software to convert the .mov over to a .avi or .mpg, I may go for the Vholdr ContourHD camera still.

I will look around what is out there, in fact I may have one that I used many years ago if I have the app setup app backed up somewhere.
I forget the name of it, but it was freeware from Tucows and it did a good job on other conversions.

I can get Windows Media Player to play .mov files, so you would think that Movie Maker would work with them too, but of course PC and Mac do not always get along.
 
Corey

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Thanks, been reading up on it.

GoPro is a member over at www.mtbr.com and posted up some info on it.
http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=5977267&postcount=10

I think this is the camera to own when it comes out.
I messaged him about the movie format, as I mentioned I use Windows Movie Maker to edit all of my current vids I upload to YouTube.

I may have to get a converter as mentioned earlier in this thread.

He mentions in the thread above that the new camera will have much better sound quality.

Original full thread.
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=539939
 
Christophe Noel

Christophe Noel

Expedition Leader
I have filmed several hours of mountain biking with a few different cameras. I currently use a VIO POV. They run about $650+ but it really is the best I've used. Scott used my camera on his big cross country moto epic. With the remote record button on his bars, he was able to get great footage. I keep that remone on my bar next to my thumb. It's easy to turn on and off and it has a feature that lets you "tag" cool sections. You can have the system record a loop of action, say 10 minutes long. Say your friend piles it into a tree in front of you. Hit the tag button and it saves that 10 minute loop and the loops adjacent to it. Very slick.

It also has a screen on the recording device so you can field edit. VERY NICE.

So here are the drawbacks: Footage from almost any helmet cam gets ridiculously boring to watch. It's always bumpy, fuzzy and even $800 cameras lack the ability to achieve perfect color saturation, focus, etc. It's also very hard to record with a helmet cam. You have to be VERY aware of your movements. You don't just go ride, come home and view the action. If you want good video, you have to work for it. This means you ride to get the good video. You have to hold your head steady, not jerk your noggin' around like a chicken and no, you don't ride like you normally do. It actually isn't always the most fun way to ride.

I've put together some fun videos, but we've found the mix of helmet cam to stationary cam needs to be around 35/65. We also put the helmet cam on a little pulley system to create a poh'man's cable cam that gets great shots in an extremely smooth pan.

Fun stuff. Harder than you think. For every 1 minute of really excellent (or even good) helmet footage, there are thousands of hours of crap footage.
 
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