ATC2K battery life question

cntl

Tomorrow I will be recording my commute for the 1st time on my new camera!
However, I read somewhere that alkaline batteries provide only around 2h of footage. :shock: Is that so?

If that's the case, that will be a pretty expensive business as I'd have to replace the batteries daily or get rechargables. How good are rechargables, anyway? :?

Cheers

DavidTQ

Rechargeables are available in different capacities for the same size battery dont know the differences or how long they last in this camera though, but to give you an idea cheap rechargeables can be as low as 600mah capacity for aaa or 1300 mah for aa and good quality rechargeables can be as high as 1000mah for aaa and 2700mah for aa. As far as I know a 2000mah battery lasts twice as long as a 1000mah battery in the same device.

cntl

Thanks David. I've just bought these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0005636808

should do the job

BentMikey

I use 2700mAh rechargeables, and I tend to get one day's commuting out of them. That's nearly 3 hours of footage, mind. It'll be less in this cold weather, NiMH don't like performing in the cold mind.

cntl

Thanks BentMikey. All I need is 2 hours a day, so hopefully they will be ok even in the cold.

cntl

Hehe, tomorrow I will be able to post the Chertsey->Shepperton part of my commute Anyway, has anybody seen the "cyclepath" ON the Chertsey Bridge on that route??? IMHO it is one of the most dangerous I have EVER seen. (I mean the one ON the bridge itself)

ChrisLS

...just a question...why film your commute...are you always expecting trouble? Do you watch them nightly with the family!? I wouldn't mind filming the ocassional commute...but everyday! Do you date, file and keep them?

DavidTQ

ChrisLS Im hoping to be grabing a helmet cam myself to film my commute daily, Id erase them at the end of the day if there was nothing I wanted to keep, theres several reasons contributing to the desire to do so.

Firstly review of noteable events on the commute, if youve had any "close calls" that day you can look again at the film to see if there was something you could have done to avoid it. If theres a section of your commute where you arent entirely comfortable looking at the film for that section can give you ideas on how to change what you are doing.

Secondly Funny events, "you had to be there" well if youve got your helmet cam on, then you can share the experience far better. Did you see a squirrel fall out of a tree onto jammed cars then run down the whole line jumping from car to car? far better caught on camera than described

Third Potential evidence in case of accident, theres been enough topics on here where people have been in a smash and the motorist gives a different account of what happened than the cyclist, and the motorist gets away scot free whilst the cyclist is left with a broken bike \ hospital time. Witnesses can be hard to find, why not carry an independant one with you at all times...

Fourth Number plate recording in the event of a hit and run, how many people say "didnt have a chance to catch the numberplate" well, the helmet cam stands a good chance of doing that for you.

Maybe you wont have any incedents where the camera came in usefull on a daily basis, but you only stand a chance of the above happeneing if you use it daily, Lets face it if you do get involved in a smash and the helmet cam helps you claim your bike damage expenses back the helmet cam will have paid for itself.

It only takes catching a couple of idiots on film to make it all seem worthwhile

BentMikey

In addition to David't excellent points, it's great when you have an angry cager shouting at you, and you show that you're filming them. It means the end of any further incident or road rage because almost nobody is prepared to behave badly whilst being filmed. Incidents prevented are better than ones avoided!

Like most, I rarely keep any footage, deleting it at the end of each ride.

DavidTQ

BentMikey wrote:

In addition to David't excellent points, it's great when you have an angry cager shouting at you, and you show that you're filming them. It means the end of any further incident or road rage because almost nobody is prepared to behave badly whilst being filmed. Incidents prevented are better than ones avoided!

Like most, I rarely keep any footage, deleting it at the end of each ride.

I can think of a few situations where that affect could have been VERY handy

cntl

I filmed my commute for the 1st time today on the ATC2K.

What I noticed is that the video tends to get "wavy" in the vertical plane. Any tips to prevent that? :?

The video also tends to get quite dark at times (at daylight).
I am thinking of buying a proper hi-res camera early next year and using this to point at the back.

EDIT: the mic is rather poor, so if someone shouts abouse at me from a car the cam will be no good (not that I am expecting any abuse)

misterben

cntl wrote:

What I noticed is that the video tends to get "wavy" in the vertical plane. Any tips to prevent that?

Don't move your head so much

If you mount it on the handlebars, it'll probably be steadier in the long run, but can be a bit more "juddery" than on the head, and you'll have to consciously move the handlebars to see some things. On your head is likely to be more wavery overall, but less juddery, and you just need to turn your head to something for it to be seen.