My camera setup (pics included)

[onearmedbandit]

After seeing so much bike footage on the net, and the curiousity factor, I decided to properly install a camera on my bike. I didn't want to go with the 'handycam on a mount on the tank' setup, rather I wanted a small camera feeding to a remote storage system. However this looked to prove expensive, so with the help of i'mdying (KB member :2thumbsup ) we set about installing a handycam in the tail unit of my bike, with a remote camera mounted up front.

It all finally came together yesterday, so last night we spent about 4hrs planning, sketching, and then installing the system. It's not fully completed yet, need to tidy up a couple bits and pieces, but I tested it on the way home last night in the rain and it worked a treat.

Pic #1 is the persplex caddy for the handycam. I'mdying measured, cut, and heated it to shape. Looks and works like a factory unit!

Pic #2 is the foam insulator for the handycam. This will be tidied up and have a matching 'top' made to sit over the cam.

Pic #3 is most of the wiring! In there you will see a weatherproof cig lighter, a voltage regulator (for the remote cam), AV and power leads, and a remote stereo mic.

Pic #4 is the colour bullet cam, this gives excellent (for TV) resolution, it's about 320 Horizontal lines. Only cost $124, so cheap enough to see if it works with the ability to upgrade if I need later. It's mounted on doublesided foam tape with liberal wrappings of insulation tape!! Yet it doesn't move nor vibrate.


All up it cost me about $850. If you're considering one, go for it. In the position I have the bullet cam I get clear view through the blade and full vision of the clocks, from 0-300km/h and 0 rpm through to redline. Of course I'll only be using it on the track (honest officer), once I organise some web-space I'll post a link to some vid's for those interested.

[Devil]

Nice work, now where's the footage? :D

[SimJen]

Nice work man, very tidy. Be sure to post some vids from it too, on a closed road of course ;)

[skelstar]

Looks cool mate. Very tidy...its so easy to do something like this, hack it till it works, then lose interest in the mod and end up with a hacked up looking bike.

[bugjuice]

bloody hell.. you don't do things by 'alf, ay?
well 'kin done! Can't wait to see what you get up to ;)

[sAsLEX]

Love the mount for the bullet cam!

saw some action of you at Rua on K14s tape and you can sure ride that thing pretty well for a one armed man

[curious george]

Hey! Seriously thinking of one for these too. Where did you get your camera?
Got linkage?

[onearmedbandit]

Thanks for the comments guys! CG, I got the camera off trademe for a steal. I went to helmetcam.com.au, got their list of recommended cameras (inc Lanc operation) and went hunting.

[Slingshot]

Great looking set-up, I'd be really keen to see some uncompressed footage to get a real idea of what the quality is like, even if it's just a few seconds worth.

What's the model name of the bullet cam?

Well done!

[onearmedbandit]

Slingshot, the camera a Swann security colour camer, SW-P-BCC. Once I've worked out what I'm doing re. recording formats, web-space etc I'll try to hook you up with some footage.

sAsLEX, thanks for the comments. Only my 2nd time on a track so I'd like to think I could up the ante a bit more, like a whole lot more. But I enjoy myself none-the-less, and that's what biking is all about.

[Sniper]

Well done OAB, looks bloody flash.

[Zapf]

After seeing so much bike footage on the net, and the curiousity factor, I decided to properly install a camera on my bike. I didn't want to go with the 'handycam on a mount on the tank' setup, rather I wanted a small camera feeding to a remote storage system. However this looked to prove expensive, so with the help of i'mdying (KB member :2thumbsup ) we set about installing a handycam in the tail unit of my bike, with a remote camera mounted up front.

It all finally came together yesterday, so last night we spent about 4hrs planning, sketching, and then installing the system. It's not fully completed yet, need to tidy up a couple bits and pieces, but I tested it on the way home last night in the rain and it worked a treat.

Pic #1 is the persplex caddy for the handycam. I'mdying measured, cut, and heated it to shape. Looks and works like a factory unit!

Pic #2 is the foam insulator for the handycam. This will be tidied up and have a matching 'top' made to sit over the cam.

Pic #3 is most of the wiring! In there you will see a weatherproof cig lighter, a voltage regulator (for the remote cam), AV and power leads, and a remote stereo mic.

Pic #4 is the colour bullet cam, this gives excellent (for TV) resolution, it's about 320 Horizontal lines. Only cost $124, so cheap enough to see if it works with the ability to upgrade if I need later. It's mounted on doublesided foam tape with liberal wrappings of insulation tape!! Yet it doesn't move nor vibrate.


All up it cost me about $850. If you're considering one, go for it. In the position I have the bullet cam I get clear view through the blade and full vision of the clocks, from 0-300km/h and 0 rpm through to redline. Of course I'll only be using it on the track (honest officer), once I organise some web-space I'll post a link to some vid's for those interested.

what size are your footages? compressed?

[Swoop]

Nice mount!
Has anyone tried mounting a rear-right looking camera to try and get some evidence of cops ramming bikes off the road?

[sAsLEX]

Nice mount!
Has anyone tried mounting a rear-right looking camera to try and get some evidence of cops ramming bikes off the road?

ghost rider has it a bit, see alot of the tarmac instead of backwards though

[In The Breeze]

Extremely impressive man!:yes:
"tis on the to-do list. Very helpful to see it done here first,good ideas
Looking forward to seeing the results

[Sketchy_Racer]

onearmedbadit- have you only got one arm (i know dumb question but i never new) how do you use a cluch etc with only one arm?? and good on ya for sticking it to the 'man' and proving you cna still ride

im an idiot

glenn

[erik]

Slingshot, the camera a Swann security colour camer, SW-P-BCC. Once I've worked out what I'm doing re. recording formats, web-space etc I'll try to hook you up with some footage.

Nice work. I'd like to give that a go one day too.

Re: recording formats, may I suggest .avi container/filetype with XviD compression and mp3 audio?

Can be done with Virtualdub ( http://www.virtualdub.org ), the LAME mp3 codec (info: http://lame.sourceforge.net/ download: http://mitiok.maresweb.org/ ) and XviD codec (info: http://www.xvid.org download: http://www.koepi.org/xvid.shtml).

Should give you about the best quality for a given filesize you can get, as far as I know. And it's all free :)

[Squiggles]

i've found xvid to be the best codec to compress vid's to, good quality yet small files :)

[SPORK]

onearmedbadit- have you only got one arm (i know dumb question but i never new) how do you use a cluch etc with only one arm?? and good on ya for sticking it to the 'man' and proving you cna still ride

im an idiot

glenn
I believe he has the clutch lever cut down and mounted on the front of his right grip?

Look at his old threads, it's in there somewhere.

[imdying]

Yeah, we'll probably capture at DVD quality using raw AVI, then encode with either DIVX or XVID. We have a slight teething problem however... need to figure out how to make a 2kohm impedence mic functions correctly with the 47kohm input on the audio part of the AV feed (in other words, make an externally mounted handycam mic signal strong enough to feed an audio source that would normally be fed by a video player, or some other similar device),

[Slingshot]

Yeah, we'll probably capture at DVD quality using raw AVI, then encode with either DIVX or XVID. We have a slight teething problem however... need to figure out how to make a 2kohm impedence mic functions correctly with the 47kohm input on the audio part of the AV feed (in other words, make an externally mounted handycam mic signal strong enough to feed an audio source that would normally be fed by a video player, or some other similar device),

Could you build a simple amp and amplify the signal?

[Hitcher]

Requests for footage once you get it going:

Little River to Akaroa
Arthurs Pass to Porters Pass
Springs Junction to Reefton

Please.

[onearmedbandit]

No problem Hitcher.

I have sorted a proper mount for the bullet cam now, adjustable in most directions. Once we've sorted the mic issues I'll get some vid's up.

[imdying]

No idea if a small amp will work, but I think we decided last night to give one of those 0.5w amp kits from DSE a go. It's cheap (<$9), and worth a shot :)

The bulletcam mount (*cough* gate latch *cough*) is perfect, excellent find by the man. You should definitely post a pic of that oab, perhaps after a little black spray paint :yes:

Anyone have some free webspace bandwitdh? Good quality video in the format we're looking at (DVD res DivX) is about 10-15MB a minute :shifty:

[TonyB]

Looks the shit OAB! Your gonna get some bloody impressive footage of the wall outside your work with that setup:lol:

Serimousely tho- looks kewl. Just be careful what you post on here...

[sAsLEX]

Anyone have some free webspace bandwitdh? Good quality video in the format we're looking at (DVD res DivX) is about 10-15MB a minute :shifty:
what about one of the online video sites like putfile.com or watever it is

from putfile.com :


free account

* Unlimited File Uploads, 25MB per file.
* 100% Free
* Manage your file collection
* Your own homepage (example)
o http://putfile.com/yourname
* Private file cabinet "My Files"
* And much much more....



so you could always drop the quality a little to get some length in to the clips

[raster]

Great to see OAB, looking forwared to some footage.:banana:

[onearmedbandit]

Looks the shit OAB! Your gonna get some bloody impressive footage of the wall outside your work with that setup:lol:

Serimousely tho- looks kewl. Just be careful what you post on here...

Who's a funny c*#t then aye Tony? Fair call though. Still keen for that ride to the Hilltop, I haven't forgotten. Oh yeah, I'll definitley be careful with what I'm posting. With the camera on the bike I'm well aware I could be building my own case against myself, no need to help the police with that now is there.

[TonyB]

Who's a funny c*#t then aye Tony? Fair call though. Still keen for that ride to the Hilltop, I haven't forgotten. Oh yeah, I'll definitely be careful with what I'm posting. With the camera on the bike I'm well aware I could be building my own case against myself, no need to help the police with that now is there.
Who? Me?:innocent: :laugh: Yeh I'm still keen for that ride. Just make sure you don't loose your keys :whistle: Maybe mid week in the evening?

Actually, a camera setup like that could be a bloody useful training tool. For you you'll be able to asses your lines without the rush of blood etc that accompanies hard riding. And if your following someone else, they'll be able to critique their lines and body position etc from the comfort of a sofa.

[Zed]

Looks like you did a good job setting it all up OAB! Looking forward to seeing some good road or track footage from the new system real soon!! :blip:

[onearmedbandit]

Went out last night with a guy on a R1, we were trying to sort the front end problem with his bike. So after gaining access to our hidden secret race track I set about trailing him with the vid rolling. Seems that once his bike gets to a certain speed (that would almost lose you your licence if we were on public roads) the fron wheel floats above the ground. This is eventually sorted once the bike reaches speeds that most people will never see in their lives. Got a lot of it on film, but after getting home and viewing it we discovered a problem with the set-up.

The remote camera hasn't got an automatic iris, so doesn't adjust to light. So of my 60mins of tape, only about 20mins is worth anything. So off to trademe with the remote camera to sell, and now to spend about 3 times as much to buy a camera with an iris. Where will it end. Oh well, it does look fucking wicked when the light is right. I should also mention this ride was done after 7pm, so maybe the low sun played a part in it. Anyway, I'm not happy so I'll sort it.

Disclaimer. None of the above actually happened. Honest.

[Zed]

So off to trademe with the remote camera to sell, and now to spend about 3 times as much to buy a camera with an iris. Where will it end. Oh darn shame dude...you live and learn I suppose! On the brighter side, cos it was all *fictitious* there's no real problem eh!!

[onearmedbandit]

Exactly. I only paid $123 for the current remote camera, my handycam is up to the task, just this camera really isn't. I've done some research this morning and if worse comes to worse I can buy a bullet cam with electronic iris from America for about $280 NZ. **R1** works for an electrical company (commercial I think) so he's going to look into it for me tomorrow.

[curious george]

LEt me know what you end up with if you have decided.
I've yet to decide..(and find the cash to afford it)

[onearmedbandit]

CG - i'mdying showed me his thread on that computer forum where he posted about the setup and you replied! He posted it sounding like it was on his bike, I can see why it confused you! But you'll notice that he's posted in the thread as well.

[onearmedbandit]

Oh yeah, just went out for my first daytime ride with it and it performed really well, minimal lighting issues. But I'll still sort it out though.

[**R1**]

Went out last night with a guy on a R1, we were trying to sort the front end problem with his bike. So after gaining access to our hidden secret race track I set about trailing him with the vid rolling. Seems that once his bike gets to a certain speed (that would almost lose you your licence if we were on public roads) the fron wheel floats above the ground. This is eventually sorted once the bike reaches speeds that most people will never see in their lives. Got a lot of it on film, but after getting home and viewing it we discovered a problem with the set-up.

The remote camera hasn't got an automatic iris, so doesn't adjust to light. So of my 60mins of tape, only about 20mins is worth anything. So off to trademe with the remote camera to sell, and now to spend about 3 times as much to buy a camera with an iris. Where will it end. Oh well, it does look fucking wicked when the light is right. I should also mention this ride was done after 7pm, so maybe the low sun played a part in it. Anyway, I'm not happy so I'll sort it.

Disclaimer. None of the above actually happened. Honest.I swear the more I ride it the worse it gets!!!!

A guy at work is going to get us a few to try, it should be before the weekend.

I just saw your disclaimer, there aint nuthin wrong with my bike...Honest:whistle:

[imdying]

Gotta let the helium outta your front wheel ;)

[texmo]

Man thats one wicked setup,,, still waiting on footage...

[Sniper]

Who? Me?:innocent: :laugh: Yeh I'm still keen for that ride. Just make sure you don't loose your keys :whistle: Maybe mid week in the evening?


Ide be dead keen to join the ride if I may.

[danb]

If you need some web space let me know as I may be able to help you out. Plenty of space out download is a bit slow.

[Keeper]

Dick Smiths Sells a small camera that worked great mounted on the bumper of my skyline, I imagine it would be good on bikes too, manual focus adjustmenmt tho, only $100

http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/439bc2e300b59d662740c0a87f99077f/Product/View/L5912

I'm going to mount it in the ram duct of my bike soon and try a feed...

[texmo]

*bump* hows the set up coming along?

[Fryin Finn]

I bought a Hel cam from Australia last year it cost $500 (video camera seperate cost) and has 480 lines of resolution. I've had a hell of a lot of fun with it though. It reacts well to changing light conditions too. Having the instruments on display might be cool but beware of the plod spotting it and even worse you trying to show off for the camera and coming unstuck.:mega:

[figjam]

I bought a Hel cam from Australia last year...
From here http://www.helmetcamera.com.au by any chance? I've had my eye on this site for a while I try and find a recording unit that will suit my needs.