Which video camera for dirtbiking?

[cheese]

the Oregon ones are not that great. the cheap go pro is better for general mucking about. If you are going to bother, get a good one like what Keith is selling. The advantage of the smaller one like Keith is doing is that the camera is small and mounts out of the way. My ATC5K was too bulky and would hit things.

[oldskool]

well unless Retro Asian comes up with the test camera for me - Im going to get the Go Pro http://www.goprocamera.com/index.php...2&productid=29
watch the demo video and you will
be sold!

I'd look at that footage with a bit of sceptism. They use high end video equipment and know their compression system inside out. Most average users won't get those results...if they are at all recorded with the same consumer product.

I posted a recent bit of footage captured using my gopro wide here
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...=114126&page=3
it should give you an idea of the visual coverage and video quality (for web) of the average user.

[Keithf]

The video quality looks really good. I think I need to buy you a beer and get some editing tips.

The mounting point is a bit of an issue-it was like looking downhill...:-)

I'd look at that footage with a bit of sceptism. They use high end video equipment and know their compression system inside out. Most average users won't get those results...if they are at all recorded with the same consumer product.

I posted a recent bit of footage captured using my gopro wide here
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...=114126&page=3
it should give you an idea of the visual coverage and video quality (for web) of the average user.

[gonzo_akl]

Has anyone had any experience with Flip Video camera.

http://www.theflip.com/en-au/Products/mino.aspx#/home

[oldskool]

The video quality looks really good. I think I need to buy you a beer and get some editing tips.

The mounting point is a bit of an issue-it was like looking downhill...:-)

If I had edited that at work with CS4 it would have come out at the full frame of the Gopro capture. As it was I edited it at home and CS3 defaulted the frame size to 720x540 so consequently I got a black frame around it. And CS4 does have a good media encoder with it too so you don't have to use a 3rd party like River Past to encode the result.

As for the downhill bit, can't win on that...I tried tummy cam and *someone* squawked that I should be standing and not sitting...american easy rider style...he actually thought the view was from my helmut!!!!! haha that was funny.
GoPro do have a chest mount strap. I'd like to try that as I reckon the video would be more immersive if you saw hands and bar action along with the go forward motion...you appreciate the difficult terrain more that way.

[cave weta]

I havent heard Tachyon mentioned yet..
Its bulky but clear vid and waterproof- $270 on trade me

your thoughts?

[cave weta]

Has anyone had any experience with Flip Video camera.

http://www.theflip.com/en-au/Products/mino.aspx#/home

Cant get the site to load- hope their device is better- it 'sounds' like the kind of thing that 14year old grls would take to a slumber party...
Is it any good in your opinion?

[Keithf]

I'm one of the people selling the Tachyon on trademe-if you bid buy one from me! It's an ok camera but you get what you pay for. This camera is ok if you want to simply watch video of your own riding. It is not the kind of camera that you would buy for instance to produce raw video of a days riding for your customers.

I havent heard Tachyon mentioned yet..
Its bulky but clear vid and waterproof- $270 on trade me

your thoughts?

[IIIRII]

We have a VholdR HD and tbh , If I had known about the new hd go pro I dont think I would have bought the holdr.
Its actual footage is outstanding ....very very clear , but shoots to .mov
Im still trying to work out a system that doesnt loose quality when editing them.
The mount system is dodgy to say the least and I ended up making my own mounts.
The holdr is also quite fragile for a bike cam , Ive had a few indescressions and needed to go to my spare parts camera to reinstate it.

So ....Go Pro HD ...small bullet proof good format / and the wide angle makes it a lot less sensitive to where its pointing ...the first ones (we had one) were quite tricky to get pointin in the right direction as the fov was quite narrow.

[kezzafish]

another thing to keep in mind cave weta... sound... Generally the mic for the cam is in the cam which means that when your cam hits a bush it makes a god awful, loud noise and misses most of the bike noise. The better cams have the mic on a seperate wire so you can position it to miss the wind noise and the bush bashing noise and just collect that sweet bwaaaarrrp.

The POV has a seperate mic.... don't think the gopro does???

[FlangMasterJ]

The POV has a seperate mic.... don't think the gopro does???

From GoPro:

Audio Excellence

We’ve invested more in the HD HERO camera's sound system than most companies spend on their entire camera development. You’ll only be hearing the sounds of your sport, not the howl of the wind. How? Obsessive audio engineering and an understanding that good sound is as important as good video.

[steve_t]

Right, so who in NZ sells the GoPro HD the cheapest and can supply a chest strap mount? Probably look to get the "naked" cam and chest strap

[FlangMasterJ]

Right, so who in NZ sells the GoPro HD the cheapest and can supply a chest strap mount? Probably look to get the "naked" cam and chest strap

Racetech.co.nz and buygopro.co.nz both retail theirs for $550.

I may get mine off ebay. Will save me $70 odd buckaroos.

[IIIRII]

If you are not worries about the waterproof feature, run the camera in the lexan case but drill a few small holes in the back of it.
This was common to get around the lack of quality sound on the early ones.
Also, the early ones had 2 settings for audio, as we discovered after filming an entire day of one of the rally sprint rounds, the sound was complete crap.
Lots of info on their forums.

[kezzafish]

From GoPro:

Audio Excellence

We’ve invested more in the HD HERO camera's sound system than most companies spend on their entire camera development. You’ll only be hearing the sounds of your sport, not the howl of the wind. How? Obsessive audio engineering and an understanding that good sound is as important as good video.

Go pro are probably gonna say good things about their own product and there's no denying it's an awesome cam. I'd say it's the second best cam out there (that i know of) the sound IS really good.

but my point is illustrated at about 5mins20 on this video. So make sure you watch it from about 4mins50, turn it up nice and loud so you can hear the sweet Kato brmmmm and watch till about 5mins30. Cheers for the use of your vid Evan, it's a beauty

http://www.facebook.com/video/video....6169790&ref=nf

if you can't be arsed waiting for it to buffer you can hear the noises bumping it will make in the first 25seconds of the vid

PS. Oldschool, could you possibly embed that video here for those that have drama with viewing it on facebook? (re: login and who is who's friend etc)