duffers guide for bike cam

ymh
ymh Posts: 45
edited November 2007 in Commuting chat
so that i can view my near death encounters, I would like to invest in a camera to record my commute, alas I know nothing, so would anyone be kind enough to suggest a good camera, best way to mount on the bike, and how do you actually download/view the film

Comments

  • Gambatte
    Gambatte Posts: 1,453
    Best bloke I know to ask would probably be 'Magnatom' over on cyclechat. You can see his vids on youtube (same username, just search for magnatom)
  • tardington
    tardington Posts: 1,379
    Just try and activate the video function on your camera-phone while cycling along - I GUARANTEE you'll have interesting footage to shoot when you start looking at the road again!
  • A - W
    A - W Posts: 253
    I have enough trouble remembering to pack my bag properly, never mind recording my commute! :lol:

    Good luck though and looking forward to more footage.
    FCN 10
  • dirk_van_gently
    dirk_van_gently Posts: 826
    There are a couple of ways of doiing this.
    If you have a vid camera, some are ridiculously small, find some way a attaching it to the handlebars, pretty straight forward then, downloadvid to computer, edit and upload to web.

    The other more complex way is to use a helmet camera.
    something like this:
    http://www.helmetcamera.com/

    Your vid cam will need an AV input for it to work, this basically takes the vid from the pencil camera that you either mount on your helmet (don't go there) or on the bike. You can also use an iPod to record the vid with the right adaptor.

    Or you could just strap your camera phone to the handlebars.
    If you see the candle as flame, the meal is already cooked.
    Photography, Google Earth, Route 30
  • PrettyBoyTim
    PrettyBoyTim Posts: 163
    If you mount your phone to your handlebars, I would suggest attaching a wriststrap to the phone and looping that over your handlebars before mounting. This means that if it comes free of your bars over a hump, you won't have lost your phone :wink:

    The other ( but more expensive ) way of getting bike cam footage is to get an Oregon Scientific ATC2000 (Also known as the ATC2K). It's pretty cheap as these things go - you can get them from about £80 online, or a bit less than that on eBay. You will also need an SD card to record the video.

    The nice thing about the ATC2K is that it's rugged, is well designed for this kind of thing, and has mountings for both handlebars and helmets.

    I have a secondhand one that I won in a raffle over at CycleChat :D , and it's a nice bit of kit. Spending more will get you better image quality, and maybe a screen you can preview your clips on, but for lowish-cost it-just-works, the ATC2K is great.
  • dirk_van_gently
    dirk_van_gently Posts: 826
    That is just so cool.

    Damn you PrettyBoyTim, now I want one!
    If you see the candle as flame, the meal is already cooked.
    Photography, Google Earth, Route 30
  • PrettyBoyTim
    PrettyBoyTim Posts: 163
    Oh, I recently put up a bit of footage I took with it:

    Commute in to work
    Footage from the child trailer as I took my son to nursery

    It takes footage at up to 640x480 @ 30fps, but both those examples have been shrunk, deshaken and sped up.
  • dirk_van_gently
    dirk_van_gently Posts: 826
    Well if anyone is interested I have one of these

    http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360024794&N=Action%20Cameras%20ActionCam%20480%20Hemet%20Camera

    And it's for SALE if anyone is interested?

    It's the full kit, you just need a vid cam with AV input, and 8 * AA batteries.
    If you see the candle as flame, the meal is already cooked.
    Photography, Google Earth, Route 30

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