Helmet Cameras

hoathy

Hi
It seems in loads of threads people are on about helmet cams, how great they are, or they have some footage, and it all seems like a pretty good idea to me. I had never considered this use for a helmet cam (mainly thought of them as something that would be cool for mtb footage). So, basically, I was thinking of getting one. But I don't want it to cast an arm and a leg, and to be honest i don't even know where to get one! I used to work in a Maplin, and we sold one but most of the stuff we sold was sh*t, and i think it was pretty expensive too. So, does anyone know where I can get a decent one for a decent price??
Cheers.

hoathy

ok, so now after making an idiot out of myself i find the massive range of helmet cams on crc! doh!

hoathy

But seriously, can I get one for less than £100? i don't see why they should cost that much...

prj45

Hoathy wrote:

But seriously, can I get one for less than £100? i don't see why they should cost that much...

The AT2K.

Slightly bulky, but fun, a good place to start.

http://www.aceselectronics.co.uk/produc ... 1Qod6BilnQ

hoathy

yeah, i was looking at that one - has anyone got on/tried one out? are they any good? or am I going to be stuck with useless footage because of the frame rate etc.?

Mr_Cellophane

Hoathy wrote:

yeah, i was looking at that one - has anyone got on/tried one out? are they any good? or am I going to be stuck with useless footage because of the frame rate etc.?

I have one and it is adequate for simple recording of my trips. Sound is the really poor part. On the bike it picks up a rumble from the road and helmet mounted, it hardly picks up anything. Do a search on youtube for ATC2000. Look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRhrMDf7fCQ it gives a good comparison between a "proper" video at the beginning, the ATC200 when it is moved quickly and the ATC200 when it is fairly steady. My vids are at http://www.youtube.com/user/mrcellophane99. Look at some of magnaton's. He started with a ATC200 and has moved up in the world. He also posts on http://www.cyclechat.co.uk where there is some good discussion on helmet cameras (if it ever comes back up :roll: )

hoathy

So, after looking at that video, and your advice, it seems to be OK but not great? I think i might see if i can save up a bit more cash and get something better; i really want something fairly hassle free.

Gambatte

The cheapest I 've found the atc is at Decathlon. Its rebadged as the X'Snipe300, but still carries oregon scientific ID.

Mr_Cellophane

Gambatte wrote:

The cheapest I 've found the atc is at Decathlon. Its rebadged as the X'Snipe300, but still carries oregon scientific ID.

I was lucky and got mine while they were £69. They have upped the price to £89 now. I should have bought a few and sold them on ebay with a load of Aldi jerseys

Gambatte

Mr_Cellophane wrote:

Gambatte wrote:

The cheapest I 've found the atc is at Decathlon. Its rebadged as the X'Snipe300, but still carries oregon scientific ID.

I was lucky and got mine while they were £69. They have upped the price to £89 now. I should have bought a few and sold them on ebay with a load of Aldi jerseys

Oh well, they've just lost a sale then. My future £70 stays in my pocket

Anonymouslemming

prj45 wrote:

Hoathy wrote:

But seriously, can I get one for less than £100? i don't see why they should cost that much...

The AT2K.

Slightly bulky, but fun, a good place to start.

http://www.aceselectronics.co.uk/produc ... 1Qod6BilnQ

Hmm - sounds like you know about this kind of thing. If this is a good place to start, where is a good place to move up to?

I'm looking for a relatively decent quality setup that I can easily edit from on my mac. I looked at the VholdR but because of the Xvid format, I've got nothing that can actually cut and edit footage.

redvee

[quote="Anonymouslemming"

I'm looking for a relatively decent quality setup that I can easily edit from on my mac. I looked at the VholdR but because of the Xvid format, I've got nothing that can actually cut and edit footage.[/quote]

My understanding of Macs can be written on a grain of rice! but I use Virtualdubmod to edit videoclips and when you add the xvid codec you can use it to chop/edit xvid clips. At least you can with Windoze. Virtualdubmod is opensource software.

Anonymouslemming

redvee wrote:

My understanding of Macs can be written on a grain of rice! but I use Virtualdubmod to edit videoclips and when you add the xvid codec you can use it to chop/edit xvid clips. At least you can with Windoze. Virtualdubmod is opensource software.

Thanks for that. Sadly it looks like Virtualdubmod is Windows only, and I don't have any Windows boxes at home. I'm looking at Linux stuff at the moment too

I found this setup that looks quite nice, if a little pricey:
http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/single-bike-camera-kit.htm