Bike cameras

benws1

Hello all.

Can anyone recommend a good camera setup for cycling?

I'm after something that films in good quality, lasts a few hours and is obviously weatherproof. Ideally it'll be light, easy to mount and if possible, should be able to cover forward and rear facing. I'll be attaching it to my road and hybrid bikes, so if I can avoid having battery packs hanging everywhere, that would be a bonus.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Oh yes, budget is a few hundred pounds.

bendertherobot

At that budget you have a lot of choice.

I'd either save money and get this:

http://www.handtec.co.uk/garmin-virb-el ... 1-noh.html

Or, go for something a bit different, which is very well reviewed:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/YI-Sports-Acti ... ion+camera

bendertherobot

Obvs Go Pro do know what they're doing so another option is find a used bundle on ebay.

benws1

Thanks. The Garmin looks good.

Will look at ebay for the Go Pro stuff.

bendertherobot

Might be worth finding a 0% deal on a Hero5 Session to be honest. Might as well get the best. That said, if you're spending £300 the Garmin Ultra seems unbeatable (other than, you know, being a Garmin

mr_eddy

Why not look at other brands other than GP - I use a Polaroid XS100 which brand new cost me £100 which obviously meant a warranty (which you probably won't get with a 2nd hand GP), Every possible mount inc helmet/bar/chest and tripod - Again I believe you would have to pay extra for this stuff with a GP. It records in Full HD and is 10M waterproof out the box (not stupid cases), It has a simple glove friendly button with haptic feedback and will easily record for 2 hours (I have had it on for nearly 3 in the summer) - Again GP won't get this battery life.

Personally I am a bit tired of the GP argument , I have used them before and the quality is no better than many cheaper alternatives, They offer invariably less battery life and most of the time come with hardly any bundles accessories and yet they still think its ok to charge upwards of £250 ! Also I have had people say to me "they are better than that Chinese made rubbish" well news flash Go Pro's are made in China same as the others (in fact most 'high end' stuff is made in china - take iPhone for example also made in China).

Sorry to rant but have a look around there are lots of alternatives that on a spec for spec basis especially when price is taken into account wipe the floor with GP.

mr_eddy

P.s Sorry for rant in my last post but defo check out the Polaroid - I have also had good results with Sport DV stuff as well - Again they are rain proof out the box and have good build quality with lots of accessories included.

benws1

mr_eddy wrote:

P.s Sorry for rant in my last post but defo check out the Polaroid - I have also had good results with Sport DV stuff as well - Again they are rain proof out the box and have good build quality with lots of accessories included.

No worries.

I've just been thinking similar about Garmin with bike computers.

I'll gladly look at other brands and I'm all for the cheaper stuff that you seem to get more with. I do this with other stuff, i.e. phones.

bendertherobot

There are alternatives. My review of the Apeman is a fair one. But there's just not enough detail to pick out numberplates and dusk contrast is poor. My old Silver Hero was better, but only a little better. It was also 4 times the price.

The Session 4 (now the session) was panned.

jgsi

I've done the cheaper end of the sport camera market .. including the ultra annoying SportDV with its blasted firmware reload... reload... reload..................
I may have wasted my £140 on a Session4 apparently, but it'll do.... small enough to avoid commissaires' eyes as well.
https://youtu.be/IIgsU_3uuuQ

bendertherobot

JGSI wrote:

I've done the cheaper end of the sport camera market .. including the ultra annoying SportDV with its blasted firmware reload... reload... reload..................
I may have wasted my £140 on a Session4 apparently, but it'll do.... small enough to avoid commissaires' eyes as well.
https://youtu.be/IIgsU_3uuuQ

Session4 or Session? The Session is a revamped Session4. I can't honestly see what the fuss was about with the Session4 from the videos to be honest

cookeeemonster

Fly12? 10 hour battery life if you don't use the inbuilt light...6 hours with a flashing light

jgsi

bendertherobot wrote:

JGSI wrote:

I've done the cheaper end of the sport camera market .. including the ultra annoying SportDV with its blasted firmware reload... reload... reload..................
I may have wasted my £140 on a Session4 apparently, but it'll do.... small enough to avoid commissaires' eyes as well.
https://youtu.be/IIgsU_3uuuQ

Session4 or Session? The Session is a revamped Session4. I can't honestly see what the fuss was about with the Session4 from the videos to be honest

I have zilch idea now... thats why I just went to Argos and bought it.
The more I read about cameras... the more confusing it gets.... it is this one thoough
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/09/gop ... eview.html

I've just thrown in the bin as it's so rubbish.

bendertherobot

JGSI wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

JGSI wrote:

I've done the cheaper end of the sport camera market .. including the ultra annoying SportDV with its blasted firmware reload... reload... reload..................
I may have wasted my £140 on a Session4 apparently, but it'll do.... small enough to avoid commissaires' eyes as well.
https://youtu.be/IIgsU_3uuuQ

Session4 or Session? The Session is a revamped Session4. I can't honestly see what the fuss was about with the Session4 from the videos to be honest

I have zilch idea now... thats why I just went to Argos and bought it.
The more I read about cameras... the more confusing it gets.... it is this one thoough
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/09/gop ... eview.html

I've just thrown in the bin as it's so rubbish.

Hence 'I can't see what the fuss was about.' I confess I should have clarified (in some places) on my panned post mind

jgsi

bendertherobot wrote:

JGSI wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

JGSI wrote:

I've done the cheaper end of the sport camera market .. including the ultra annoying SportDV with its blasted firmware reload... reload... reload..................
I may have wasted my £140 on a Session4 apparently, but it'll do.... small enough to avoid commissaires' eyes as well.
https://youtu.be/IIgsU_3uuuQ

Session4 or Session? The Session is a revamped Session4. I can't honestly see what the fuss was about with the Session4 from the videos to be honest

I have zilch idea now... thats why I just went to Argos and bought it.
The more I read about cameras... the more confusing it gets.... it is this one thoough
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/09/gop ... eview.html

I've just thrown in the bin as it's so rubbish.

Hence 'I can't see what the fuss was about.'

It's best to have mates who are essentially hard road biking simpletons.. they were quite impressed by my reliability ride footage from last Sunday.

bendertherobot

Yours seems considerably better than my old Hero3 Silver.

Any footage of how it deals with number plates? That was an area in which the cheap ones really don't pick out enough.

awavey

mr_eddy wrote:

Why not look at other brands other than GP - I use a Polaroid XS100 which brand new cost me £100 which obviously meant a warranty (which you probably won't get with a 2nd hand GP), Every possible mount inc helmet/bar/chest and tripod - Again I believe you would have to pay extra for this stuff with a GP. It records in Full HD and is 10M waterproof out the box (not stupid cases), It has a simple glove friendly button with haptic feedback and will easily record for 2 hours (I have had it on for nearly 3 in the summer) - Again GP won't get this battery life.

Personally I am a bit tired of the GP argument , I have used them before and the quality is no better than many cheaper alternatives, They offer invariably less battery life and most of the time come with hardly any bundles accessories and yet they still think its ok to charge upwards of £250 ! Also I have had people say to me "they are better than that Chinese made rubbish" well news flash Go Pro's are made in China same as the others (in fact most 'high end' stuff is made in china - take iPhone for example also made in China).

yes the iPhone is made in China, but would you buy a Huawei phone as a replacement for it instead...there are definitely Chinese made rubbish video cameras out there, they generally end up as too good to be true offers at Lidl or Aldi, so you have to watch that the sensor in the camera is up to the specs its being quoted for. and the price is often a dead giveaway it doesnt, but ymmv.

GoPro, or at least my one does (its a Hero+ if you are asking), uses Sonys image sensor as you can tell because the photo filenames defaults to DSC, and Sony produce good digital image sensors...so far no complaints on quality of image or battery life, havent tried it in the dark or low light yet.

my biggest problem has really been settling on a mounting point so that the camera view isnt obstructed by cables, and framing the view to still give a reference point to where the bike is on the road, as otherwise you lose completely the scale and distances of things around you

bendertherobot

This is a generic gopro out front mount

https://youtu.be/DSH6muKQljE

No cables but not sure if it's suitable as frame of reference

jgsi

bendertherobot wrote:

Yours seems considerably better than my old Hero3 Silver.

Any footage of how it deals with number plates? That was an area in which the cheap ones really don't pick out enough.

This where I am still experimenting - footage quality versus battery life..
1060 super wide at 25fps but Youtube is 720 25 fps. The original is super clear.
Apparently if you try the ProTune option ... I should be switching this option on

bendertherobot

BTW, what software are you using to create the overlay?

ben@31

I bought a GoPro Hero 4 Session, for mountain biking.

Dont like it. I would giver it 0 stars

2 hour battery life (runs out before Ive finished for the day), editing software not user friendly and file sizes are so big you cant do anything with them (a 1 minute video clip is too big to email). Biggest waste of £180 Ive ever spent.

fenix

You can do a bit of basic editing with Youtube. the go pro suite is huge for old computers.

But what did you expect from a tiny camera - its for exciting bits - nobodys arsed watching 2 hours of riding. Save it for the good bits. Or bits where you think you'll see a crash.

bernithebiker

The new Garmin VIRB Ultra 30 knocks the crap out of the GoPro 5's for cyclists.

Because you can overlay ride data so easily, and customise it. Every other spec is the same as or better than the GoPro, the only downside is it's not waterproof out of it's case (no biggy for me).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sr2EHDE8Oo

skeetam

I use a SJCAM 4000 and it's been fine. It looks very similar to an old GoPro, shoots full HD, comes with a large amount of adaptors and mounts. The only issue I have is that the battery only last 2-3 hours.

Can't argue with the footage for a £50 camera though. YouTube post-processing does spoil it a bit mind.

El Teide, Tenerife Descent https://youtu.be/03YAAcwATQ4
Roque de Jama https://youtu.be/WFBfdPz778k

To do the editing and add the metric overlays, I use the free Garmin Virb software.

bendertherobot

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Waterproof-Wid ... =apeman+4k

The Apeman 4k is now £79.99. A good price. I found the cheaper version a little wanting. You get two batteries.