 Poster: A snowHead
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I really want to get some video on this year's holiday and I want to get the most appropriate set up for under £500. Does anyone have any recommendations for a camcorder and a helmet cam that together would be within my budget?
I'm not interested in good stills quality as I am happy to use my existing digital camera for that but I do want to go for miniDV as a format. Key functionality on the camera (other than a suitable connection for the helmet cam) is likely to be good image stabilisation, but I would also like a reasonable optical zoom if possible.
Any suggestions for models and suppliers would be most welcome, I am leaving on the 8th Feb so would like to get something ordered relatively soon.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Big Dave Next Door has just got a solid state set up using a camera from RF Concepts and a recording device from EBay. I think his total outlay was about £170, but it requires SD memory cards. The quality is pretty good. If you could go for a miniDV camera (which are excellent, BTW) with SVideo-IN and the helmet camera you'd be cooking on gas. Starting the recording mode is another matter, though.
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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?
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Controlling it all can be quite easy, just use a wired remote control. I thread mine down the sleeve of my jacket (camcorder in internal pocket for warmth/protection) and it has all the standard start/stop/zoom controls on it. The downside is that you can't see the camera screen so it makes framing shots a bit hit and miss. The bullet cam sits in a headband and the whole setup, once fitted into my jacket is quite easy to use.
If I starting from scratch now though I'd go with a solid state recorder and take a good look at wireless camera, don't know how far down that road you'd get with £500 though.
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FenlandSkier, I am pretty much set upon miniDV as a format because it is cheaper but I was hoping to be able to get a reasonable camera and a bullet cam within budget. The remote sounds useful though, is that something that came with the camera or did you get it elsewhere? Would you have a recommendation amongst the current crop of miniDV cameras? There seem to be so many models out there that it is almost impossible to make a decision!
hyweljenkins, I have been looking at RF Concepts already for bullet cams, but I thought someone posted a link on these forums a few weeks back that was a UK based site selling all manner of helmet cams for skiing. Unfortunately I didn't make a note of the address and can't find the thread now 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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solarfish, the remote is a standard LANC one, bought from Keene but you'd need to check that the camera can take one, most Sony and Canons do. There are plenty of them around now ranging widely in price but the single button one
My camcorder model is now discontinued and I've not kept on top of the current market but I suppose key points for this use would be LANC port, record from AV-in and a good battery life (or cheap supply of spare batteries). I'm lucky in that my camcorder takes the same batteries as my digi SLR so spares were readily available.
Another option would be to use a separate battery pack, you might even be able to use it to power the helmet cam as well, ultimately it will be a trade off between weight and recording time though.
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solarfish, try dogcam as well. They sell bullet cams for helmet mounting and also provide a list of camcorders that that takes an analogue in signal. Me- I've just bought all the bits including a bullet cam and secondhand Canon mini dv Camcorder (with analogue in) for about £140 on ebay. If I figure out how to wire all the bits together, I'll post some clips. .....next trip: heli-skiing in Canada?
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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.
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I would suggest u to go for Sony HDR-SR10E HD digital Camcorder.. Recently my girlfriend gifted me the same.. she bought it from
http://www.checkcost.co.uk/camcorders/c/4354/
It has Excellent quality video, Facial recognition works very well, Decent shooting capacity, Can shoot to HDD or Memory Stick.. its got good image stabilization and
has got good quality 37x optical zoom and it falls within ur budget.. Read the reviews provided in the above link to have a better idea..
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georg12, welcome to snowHeads.
The Sony SR10 won't work with a helmetcam as it doesn't have video or audio inputs.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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What camcorder is good for snowboarding? My friends and i like to snowboard and we always wanted to take videos of each other snowboarding. We were always reluctant to buy a camcorder cause they always seemed fragile andnot able to handle the cold temperatures. Is there a camcorder that is durable enough for these conditions?
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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.
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I've just used a Sanyo Xacti handheld solid state cam for the last couple of years. Was only about £140, and I prefer using a handheld rather than head mounted as I want to be able to move my head to see where I'm going whilst keeping the camera on whatever it is I am filming (friends, usually). I don't tend to use it for conditions that would be challenging for me so I don't need to worry about having hands free for poles etc.
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I don't know much about helmet cams etc, but i know that when I was looking at the possibility of getting one myself, I was tempted by the Gopro HD (helmet hero?). It makes you look like a bit of a muppet, but at 299 (u$d) seems pretty cheap for a full setup?
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You know it makes sense.
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I just bought a ContourHD for £200 from the states, mem card, battery everything in a small bullet sized cam. I got the one that does 720p but there's a more expensive one that does 1080p. Having ridden with a helmet cam with cables off to a cam in a backpack I wouldn't recommend it (it's a real PITA). Check out http://www.vholdr.com/ I know it's not MiniDV but if you really had to get footage on to that you could copy it from your PC. 720p or 1080p at 30fps in a self contained unit for this kind of money is top banana.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I have got the POV 1 which is really good, although not the cheapest. The best thing about it is that there is a tag feature which helps avoid editing hours and hours of lift 'action'.
It is amazing how much of the day is spent doing next to nothing, which is very relaxing but very dull to watch! The tag feature on the POV works really, really well and I found myself using the camera a lot more as a consequence. Picture quality isn't HD but is very good and looks excellent on a TV.
Have a look at http://www.actioncameras.co.uk/Activity/Snow as they have got all sorts of options on there. I got mine from Action Cameras and they are a very helpful bunch.
Joe
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I got myself a PVR 806 from action cameras i have a 12volt bullet camera running off a wired remote. It takes sd cards and has internal 60 gig memory so should have plenty of footage time.
The recorder is small in size so can go in a internal pocket, also comes with 2 batteries so you wont run out while up the mountain.
The only down side i can see with this is the date and time stamp cant be turned off but it might be good for a refference as to where you were at times of the day.
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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?
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I've got a Sony miniDV camcorder with the necessary AVin and LANC ports for use with a helmet cam and remote switch. But many newer camcorders don't have either AVin or LANC ports and are therefore useless for this application. If I was starting again now I'd just buy a POV1
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The best helmet cam are the GoPro Camera. The HD version which shoots 1080p is 300 pounds.
They are also bomb-proof, the only one that comes anywhere near to the value for money is the countour HD.
As your budget is under 500 pounds, I really REALLY suggest you get the GoPro HD camera.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| uktrailmonster wrote: |
| But many newer camcorders don't have either AVin or LANC ports and are therefore useless for this application. |
with a little research on older models with the "LANC/AV in" ebay will probably get you a bargain.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Timmaah wrote: |
The best helmet cam are the GoPro Camera. The HD version which shoots 1080p is 300 pounds.
They are also bomb-proof, the only one that comes anywhere near to the value for money is the countour HD.
As your budget is under 500 pounds, I really REALLY suggest you get the GoPro HD camera. |
I've also been researching this for the same type of budget. In the end I went for the ContourHD 1080p with a larger memory card and a spare battery for £419 from actioncameras.co.uk (the standard camera package is £349) - I think this gives me 3hours of HD, or 6 hours of normal quality footage. It's a bit more expensive than the GoProHD, but after watching numerous clips I felt the quality of the footage was better and it is alot smaller than the GoPro. However the GoPro does have advantages, it's alot sturdier and you can take stills from the footage.
I was hoping by now that I would be able to comment on the quality, but the camera didn't arrive in time before I left for my holiday. I would have imported it from the US as they are alot cheaper, but chose Actioncameras.co.uk as they were the only company that even with the snow promised that they would deliver in time for Christmas (I was leaving on boxing day), however it didn't arrived until 2nd Jan which was over a week late and the last day of my holiday! If it wasn't for the fact that the weather was so bad over the week and that i wouldn't have been able to shoot much footage anyway, i would have kicked right off!!  To be fair to Actioncameras.co.uk they were incredibly helpful when i phoned up to buy the camera and I think it was more down to the delivery company who were apparently very apologetic to my Mum when she received the delivery 9 days late.
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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.
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Timmaah, the problem with the GoPro offering is that you look like a spaz while wearing it.
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I bought the ContourHD 720p before Xmas, and like scooby hoped to have lots of lovely footage to show you by now. Unfortunately I only saw the sun for about 10 mins in total over my 2 week Xmas/NY trip so could never be bothered even to play with it. Hope to have something after this weekend.
Bought it from Fawkes' Cycles, and it came next day delivery. £70 cheaper than what the main dealer was offering up until now (he was trying to charge £299 when I last looked - extortionate since it's been selling in the US for $279 for the last 6 months), and included a extra battery - but it looks like he's now driven the price down across the board.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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hyweljenkins, if you're worried about the look of the camera, you're not its target market anyhow.
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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.
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by our old freind Lee Lau I see.
Using the contour HD seems pretty easy. Please with mine so far. Need to try it on snow though. Mounting it on a MTB helmet was a challenge but drilling the fitting and using cable-ties and superglueseems to work pretty well. Wind noise is high at speed.
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You know it makes sense.
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| hyweljenkins wrote: |
| Timmaah, the problem with the GoPro offering is that you look like a spaz while wearing it. |
Yeah it is a bit of a monstrosity compared to a bullet cam setup. I saw a guy wearing one recently on top of his head and he did indeed look like a spaz.
edit: after seeing those vids I have to say the chest mounted position looks cool. Gives a better first person shot than the head cam.
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