Tell me about helmet cams...

[Ian]

Quite fancying a helmet cam to record some bivvy trips and such like. What are people using, what features am i likely to need/ use, mounting option, where to go for the best price etc?

Basically, I know very little about them

[Pyro]

GoPro are pretty much de rigeur. Lots of mounts, both prop and aftermarket, available for them, multiple frame rates, etc. Contour cameras are the nearest competitor, less variety in mounting options but supposedly better at the actual video options.

NB: Wearing a head-mounted GoPro, especially with full winter kayaking kit, does tend to make you look like some kind of extreme TellyTubby...

[d45yth]

I'd say go for a GoPro too...if only for it lending itself well to mounting on your chest. In my own opinion (and plently of other folks') that provides the best angle and most stable POV footage. Of course you will still need to film a few other angles and some off the bike footage to make a good film.
When filming off the bike, a small Gorilla pod (a cheap copy will do) and a bit of duct tape will suffice for most things...the duct tape is just to stop the pod moving when wrapped round branches or suchlike (maybe a loop of elastic would work as a re-usable option?).

[99percentchimp]

Go Pro here too.
MYOG - You can make a lighter weight chest mount from the base mount in the packaging (if they haven't changed it), using a dremel and some old straps to connect to your existing rucksack straps (might not suit you Ian ) rather than the Chesty straps.
It will also take time lapse sequences as you can shoot one frame every 5 seconds - nice for setting up/taking down camp/sunsets etc. Just need to add a small tripod - and glue a quick release mount to the top to save faffing between shots with the Go Pro tripod mount (which is fine but more time consuming).
The handle bar mount seems pretty stable when you are running some front suspension - not sure what you'd get on a rigid fork as there might be too much viration and you'd be better chest mounted in that case.
Seem to be a pretty bomb proof bit of kit.

[Chew]

I've got a GoPro. Very easy bit of kit to use and very robust. Downsides are the batteries will only last about 2 hours, they're quite bulky and the fisheye lens on them flattens everything out.

The issue I have with video is its a real pain to edit it down into something worth watching. With a camera you could take 100 pics on a trip and within an evening you can easily edit these down to 10 keepers and do abit of post production. For video you could take an hour of footage and then it could easily take you a week to edit that down to a couple of mins that's watchable.

If you have the time you can come up with something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4wYAVNQ ... E7&index=1

[ScotRoutes]

I made a "chest" strap for my old Go Pro from a standard mount.


P1010512 by ScotRoutes, on Flickr


P1010513 by ScotRoutes, on Flickr


P1010510 by ScotRoutes, on Flickr

FWIW - many of the newer cameras also use GoPro-compatible mounts now.

[Ian]

Ok, thanks chaps. I presume you're all using a Hero 2, or does anyone have the 3 yet?
Reviews I've read suggest that battery on the 3 isn't very good, and it suffers from a few firmware issues.
The 3 has the advantage of being able to shoot full HD, but the 2 will be cheaper as the outgoing model. Needs some more thought.

Chew - agree on the time it takes to edit movies vs stills. Part if the motivation for one is also to get some videos up on wildcatgear.co.uk showing gear in action :)

[royAB]

If you're up for a little work/ a little learning ; #16HD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSg-8ktRq4U

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1556994

Low cost, low weight, brilliant camera

... and apparently the 'new' #18 is out now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HyJLGbwKf4

[ScotRoutes]

The 3 has the advantage of being able to shoot full HD,

I think you have to consider how the video will be viewed. If it's over an internet connection via youtube, vimeo etc it makes little difference that it's Full HD.

[d45yth]

Ian - If you're wanting some video to show off your gear in action, surely the footage will be best taken off the bike so the viewers can see it? If so, I'd film with a standard camera, that way you won't have the strange wide-angle view of a helmet cam. Any newish P&S camera should be able to do fairly decent video these days. I do realise a GoPro or suchlike is still a nice toy to have though.

[Ian]

Fair point :)

I've also realised that its probably not so much the quality of the camera, as the quality of the editing...

I've also now had a proper look of the Contour cameras too. The size/ bulk of the GoPro is slightly off-putting, as is the price of the newer models to a certain extent. The Contour Roam2 looks good value, and with things like better battery life, instant on/record and being waterproof without a plastic case, it seems a tidy package.

@royAB - thanks for that. Perhaps not for me in this instance, but a neat piece of kit nonetheless.

[Zippy]

I think most of the points have been covered in this thread, but my ten penneth worth is that rumour has it that the GoPro is the dogs danglies one to get (and even if not completely true, rumours rarely come out of nowhere).

I've also seen up front through much footage that the GoPro really is pretty bomb proof, I've seen them survive some pretty gnarly motorsport crashes

[Shalarim]

I've also seen up front through much footage that the GoPro really is pretty bomb proof, I've seen them survive some pretty gnarly motorsport crashes

Saw one vid, where the guy dropped it out of the case just after jumping out of a plane, Survived the fall intact and operational.