Helmet cameras at night time

Jamey

Ok so there's a massive thread over in the MTB forum about how you can get an 'unbranded' Veho Muvi (called the MD80) from Hong Kong for about £12.

Great, if it were true, but I've been looking at some low light / night time videos on eBay and the MD80 looks to be terrible in low light compared to the videos shot with a proper, branded Muvi.

Regard:

MD80 (the cheap one from HK):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3qYDmsG-fo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsGKfL1vPUE

Veho Muvi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSlidb_vk9M (Comparison vid Vs ATC 2K)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hetKv8sxxm0

As you can see the real Muvi is much smoother at night, according to those videos. Can any of the MD80 users on this forum confirm this?

I want to buy a helmet cam that's decent (fluid video and bright enough) at night time but I don't want to spend the silly money required to get a ContourHD, although admittedly they do give good pictures, even in low light. See here for examples:

http://www.youtube.com/user/gaz545#p/u/4/4_SU5zHfhyA
http://www.youtube.com/user/gaz545#p/u/2/U8vA8_JvDQw
http://www.youtube.com/user/gaz545#p/u/21/XFPOPyM34uM

gaz545

Well it's clear what my stance will be on it around £300 for a full working contourHD set up with helmet mount, waterproof case and 16gb card.

Jamey

Waterproof case? All that money and it's not even waterproof without additional bits of kit? Bloody nora.

gaz545

It's water resistant, in a heavy downpour water gets in between the lens and the lens cover, you don't get much footage after that.

Jamey

So can anyone with an MD80 confirm or deny that the low light performance is actually worse than the Muvi?

Wallace1492

I have said cheap camera, and find that it is quite good for day work. Have tried it at night, and it is not the best, nothing to compare it with however. For the cheapness I think it is fine.

Jamey

Looking into it more it seems like the MD91 is substantially better at night. Anyone got one? Sample night video links? All the ones I can find on YouTube are Japanese.

The HQR2 Downfader uses looks amazing, even at night, but it's £500 and it's a two-piece as well.

jairaj

the 1st MD80 clip is with a class2 memory card. These are slow and result in poor image quality which is why the 1st clip is so bad.

Jamey

No, the light trails in the clip indicate a slow shutter speed, the camera is struggling because it doesn't have a large enough aperture or a sensitive enough chip so its last resort is to decrease shutter speed. It's basic photography/exposure theory.

wyadvd

surely if you have a decent headlight on your bike then its not a problem is it? Exposure maxx d is like an fing studio light

spen666

Jamey, if there is a lengthy discussion about this on MTB forum would that be the place to get answers to this question?

Jamey

The lengthy discussion is about the MD80 which, in my opinion, is rubbish at night time and not a lot better in daylight.

Believe it or not, I did actually search through every helmet camera thread I could find on Bikeradar before posting this

If the HQR 2 system was an all-in-one solution I'd even consider shelling out the money but I don't really want a two-piece.

wyadvd

ill be doing my ten miles for a night shift at eight pm. Ill have the cheapo hk cam on my head strapped to the side of my single shot plus with my maxx daddy on the handle bars. Ill post the footage on wednesday morning.

wyadvd

Jamey wrote:

The lengthy discussion is about the MD80 which, in my opinion, is rubbish at night time and not a lot better in daylight.

Believe it or not, I did actually search through every helmet camera thread I could find on Bikeradar before posting this

If the HQR 2 system was an all-in-one solution I'd even consider shelling out the money but I don't really want a two-piece.

jamey heres my setup:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/ ... directlink

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/ ... directlink

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/ ... directlink

wyadvd

just saw the nes item with the iraq veteran see ing with his tongue with a camera mounted on some glasses and had a brainwave:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/ ... directlink

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/ ... directlink

tarquin_foxglove

wyadvd wrote:

just saw the nes item with the iraq veteran see ing with his tongue with a camera mounted on some glasses and had a brainwave:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/ ... directlink

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/ ... directlink

Reminds me of the Opti-grab...

wyadvd

LMAO

wyadvd

LMAO


http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-New ... New_Device

wyadvd

hell be on a bike in no time.

tarquin_foxglove

wyadvd wrote:

LMAO


http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-New ... New_Device

Wow. That is amazing. I hope it can be developed.

It also reminds me of Star Trek...

tarquin_foxglove

wyadvd wrote:

hell be on a bike in no time.

Sorry mate, I didn't taste you.

wyadvd

nice jersey

wyadvd

tarquin_foxglove wrote:

wyadvd wrote:

hell be on a bike in no time.

Sorry mate, I didn't taste you.

not really meant in bad taste. its amazing, and Im sure he may well end up on a bike at some stage.

wyadvd

watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/user/craigsblog# ... Z5tvGuSRuk

that was before the tongue thing

now tell me he wont be riding a bike before too long

?!!

wyadvd

watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/user/craigsblog# ... Z5tvGuSRuk

that was before the tongue thing

now tell me he wont be riding a bike before too long

?!!

wyadvd

actually the more I watch the more of an absolute gent he is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-bV0RP4 ... r_embedded

wyadvd

just googling around....something amazing popped up on Wikipaedia:

under Human Echolocation:

Dr. Lawrence Scadden

Dr. Scadden has written of his experiences with blindness[18]. He was not born blind, but lost his sight due to illness. As a child, he learned to use facial vision well enough to ride a bicycle in traffic. (His parents thought that he still had some sight remaining.) He later participated in experiments in facial vision (White, et al. 1970). About 1998, he visited the Auditory Neuroethology Laboratory at the University of Maryland and was interviewed about his experience with facial vision. The researchers in the lab study bat echolocation and were aware of the Wiederorientierung phenomenon described by Griffin (1959), where bats, despite continuing to emit echolocation calls, use dead reckoning in familiar acoustic space. Dr. Scadden indicated that he found echolocation effortful, and would not use it to navigate in familiar areas unless he were alert for obstacles, thus providing insight into the bat behavior, and incidentally challenging Nagel's thesis[19].

now thats amazing!

wyadvd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uobuBc2GO0o

wyadvd

FAST FORWARD TO AROUND 6.30 FOR FOOTAGE OF TWO BLIND TEENAGERS CYCLING SAFELY IN LIGHT TRAFFIC AND ALSO MOUNTAIN BIKING FAST OFF ROAD!

wyadvd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UloENKE148


theres my night time vid with the md80 on my glasses opti-grab stylie

Jamey

wyadvd wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UloENKE148


theres my night time vid with the md80 on my glasses opti-grab stylie

Thanks for posting but I'm afraid that just confirms my thoughts - it's too jerky for me.

I'm going to bite the bullet and get a ContourHD 1080p then use it in 720p60 as the extra frame rate is more important with a helmet cam IMO.

Cheers all, I'll post some sample videos once it arrives and I've recorded a couple of commutes.