Hi all,
I need to purchase a Helmet Camera for skiing in Jan 2009. We have 20 people skiing so would like to be able to capture the hilarious moments without having to continually reach into my back pack to get the camera and start recording. I was thinking of on all-in-one helmet cam and camera kit with mount etc.
I have a budget of about £200.
I am VERY new to the whole world of cameras so would not know where to begin, so any help input is much appreciated.
Please help!!!!!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
How steady is your head when skiing? I found mine wasn't so footage of others is patchy at best.
If you are thinking of standing still and filming by looking that seems like a better idea to me. the techno geeks will have all the answers but there are bullet cams available for about £100 IIRC e.g. the Tony Hawk one.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
moglione1, Welcome to , Decathlon have one for €69 iirc ..
I found http://helmetcameracentral.com/ very useful in my recent purchase. I would have a look through the reviews on that and the helmet camera reviews on www.tetongravity.com/forums before setting your mind on one model or another. The twenty20 Vholdr they recommend seems to offer better quality than the OS one but costs a chunk more.
Having not yet used a helmet camera I'm open to correction on this one but they seem not to do zoom. Filming/snapping other people skiing without zoom is not easy. Just something to bear in mind.
Best of luck and post the results for the rest of us.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
The Oregon Scientific ones are rubbish, heavy, slow frame rate, have to much vibration noise and don't mount very well.
After all it is free
After all it is free
I've got a 4kam camera recording to an archos 404 mp3 player. Better quality than the all in one things but it doesn't avoid the problem of having to faff around in your bag to start and stop it. Archos do their own camera with external controls so that solves one prolbme but it does mean that you need to keep the player running in your bag and i'm not sure how the battery would cope. Here's a sample of the footage (watch it in high quality, still a bit worse than it actually is due to compression): http://youtube.com/v/J4TQlhTXjac
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
What el nombre said about faffing. Mine goes in my bag so it means either a) leaving it running and having to edit out hours of lift footage and inane conversation or b) getting off lift, removing bag and gloves, pressing buttons, putting on gloves and bag, skiing, getting on lift, removing bag and gloves, pressing buttons, putting on gloves and bag, repeat until beer o'clock.
I'd recommend starting out with an all-in-one package, something like this (Kit 1, scroll down the page):
But if you want you can choose the separate components (recorder/camera/power). An external cam needs 12v power. I reckon it's worthwhile getting a 12v rechargeable battery pack for lightness and convenience, rather than using the pack that comes with the cam (which takes 8 x AA batteries).
There are pros and cons to each type of recorder (mini DV camcorder, solid state or SD card camcorder, mp4 player) but I reckon that something light and cheap like an Aiptek SD card camcorder is fine and you can always upgrade and give it to the kids if you want to move on to something better. Whatever recorder you use you need to make sure it has AV-in. There's a list of compatible camcorders on the actioncameras and sport-cam websites.
The biggest downside to a helmet cam is that unless you can persuade someone else to wear it occasionally you'll end up without any screentime </egomania>
The no footage of yourself isn't necessarily true. If you're willing to look like a bit of a spaz and do some DIY you can make one of those boom things that sticks out from your helmet and points at you. this is a pretty crap example but its an example all the same http://youtube.com/v/HgUKizvKaek Basically the pulling things in and out of a bag isn't a massive deal if you're with other people. Just get them to turn it on and off and you don't have to take the bag on and off. A lot of the time you're not going to be wanting to film anyway. In my opinion i'd try and avoid the all-in-one cams that record directly to their own sd card as they seem to be a bit crap but i've not tried one so i can't really say.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
the problem with a DIY boom cam is you have to be seriously good to detract from looking like a tool
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I had a setup with a seperate camcorder and bullet camera. I found it too much of a faff turning things on and off and keeping everything charged up. It's worth bearing in mind that cold conditions can play havoc with the batteries.
I've switched over to one of the Samsung models (VP-X300L) with integrated bullet camera. You could probably get better quality, but for ease of use it's brilliant. I can put the camera inside my jacket in the warm and turn it on and off using a button outside the jacket, with the bullet camera on my head. That way a 2 meg SD card and a single battery can usually cover a days filming. If you are stopped it is pretty easy to pull the camera out and film that way. There are some drawbacks, the user interface for playing back is pretty poor, for example, but it generally works pretty well.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
http://www.evilc.com/files/movies/list.html has some fairly good examples of what Lager's on about. Looks pretty good even on full screen. I'd say that was worth looking into. About the same as mine quality wise but the colours are brighter on those vids. I get the added bonus of an mp4 player though which is half the reason i got the archos.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I wanted to record my favourite runs to help pass the summer evenings. I didn't think the quality of the all in one jobs like Tony Hawks or Oregon gave good enough clarity (as view on U-tube) so I got a quality bullet camera, helmet fixing, rechargeable battery pack and PVR. Quality was good by too much messing about switching things on and off and batteries don't like the cold + all the different chargers to pack. Then got a cheapo PVR with head camera on offer from Maplins. Alkaline batteries in head camera performed well in cold & lasted several days. PVR rechargeable battery gave about 2 hours in the warmth of my jacket. Much less faff and results remarkably good. I does spoil the skiing experience as one is intent on getting good 'footage' + you get so much footage I soon got bored of editing it - so will go back to taking pictures & clips on my digital camera.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
v hold r is the one I have tried a few different types in order to sell in my shop for mountain biking and the v hold r is defiitely the best I have found, easy to use, geat battery life and great picture quality.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
torico wrote:
v hold r is the one I have tried a few different types in order to sell in my shop for mountain biking and the v hold r is defiitely the best I have found, easy to use, geat battery life and great picture quality.
are you selling them yet? how much?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
You could also rent a professional head camera system with Snowcam, the head cam rental specialists. You can choose from a daily rental or 3 day, weekly rental in over 5 major resorts in the French/Swiss alps. Visit www.snowcam.co.uk for more info.
Would any of these be suitable for strapping to the side of a vintage car and recording trials hills, races, etc., or would the vibrations (especially with trialling) kill them ?
Gives an idea of what it is capable of. If you are considering one then I would wait until a 20 per cent coupon gets posted on TGR for Backcountry.com and then do it that way.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Hi,
My mate brought his new helmet camera on our trip to Innsbruck. It was the proper deal with fisheye lens, head straps and wateproof case for the great outdoors including scuba diving. It cost about £120.
The two drawbacks we had, was we could not play back the action as it had no built in screen, and when it got cold it stopped working. (A bit of a drawback on a skiing holiday)
So if you get one stick it in the freezer for a bit to see if it still works.
After all it is free
After all it is free
£120 for everything doesn't sound like the "proper deal" to me. Unless he found some awesome offer or got it 2nd hand. My 4kam is nothing fancy but it didn't have any problems in the cold. That was £200 and a fair way off what i would call the proper deal.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
, Decathlon have one for €69 iirc ..
</egomania>
