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.
jonm, horizon's got one. There's some footage in Swirlys Nendaz thread. I was impressed by the quality of the footage.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I've got the ContourHD. Smashing pictures but wind noise and helmet fitting noise can be an issue. No problem though if you are going to add music. 2 downsides, no preview, so you have got to find the best position by trial and error or taking a laptop with you to check your first efforts on - otherwise you could spend a whole day taking pictures of your skis, and that it records in mov format - which requires Quicktime or a QT add on if you use a PC. Best edited on a Mac. Files are huge, e.g. 15 mins in mov is about a Gb, the same converted into Mpeg is 1.6Gb before compression. Quality before compression is great though, and it is widescreen. I only use mine in 720p as the 1080p files are twice a large and most computers can't handled the processing. PM me if you need to know anymore.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
I have a 1080. Unfortunately it suffered from the "blurry centre" problem so went back to the states...which meant I didn't get to take it skiing last week
I've been unimpressed with the various mounts for a bike - none really hold the camera securely. So not only do you have vibration from the trail but also movement from where the camera mounts the mount (so to speak)
Re the trial and error bit above, the lasers will help here, though I've had a couple of occasions where even using the laser it looks like I was staring at the front wheel all the time (partly due no doubt to the (non sticky) vented helmet mount I was using slipping forward slightly.
On the MOV file front, it is a pain - particularly if you want to stream it through an XBOX! You have to transcode or convert your video.
The field of view on anything other that full 1080p or 60FPS is too wide (115deg IIRC). If you use the other modes there's a very pronounced fisheye feeect. You can correct it with software but it's a faff - and why bother.
For the wind noise, there are some DIY fixes on the forum (some pretty clever). There's also a new waterproof case that's just been launched that will probably help with this.
On the 1080 you get the option of 60FPS for slo-mo as well. I haven't tried it yet but I've seen some impressive stuff on the website using it.
Have a look at the vids on vholdr and a trawl of the support forum as well.
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.
I have the 720. As said above, mostly great pictures but sound is a bit iffy. There has been a recent software update that allows you to configure brightness, contrast and volume - from the PC interface only. On the default volume setting conversations didn't really work, as you could really only hear yourself or someone standing very close. I've upped the volume to max and can now just about get normal ski conversations, but at the expense of pretty high wind noise - although that does make things quite dramatic when you're moving.
The worst aspect of the picture is brightness setting on clear days - it really does saturate unless you set it to the darkest possible setting. I've had a couple of days when I've looked out the window in the morning and chosen a setting, only for the weather to change during the day (or be completely different at high altitude) and you then have no way of adjusting it during the day. Would be good if they could do a better job with adaptive exposure control.
I really like the laser alignment. The first day I used the camera I spent a lot of time taking footage of the snow just in front of me as I tend to look down quite a bit when skiing, so I now set the lasers to be about centre of FOV when looking through the top of my goggles, and it comes out pretty much right every time. Stabilisation is pretty good, except when I hit heavy moguls. Ther problem thenis that the goggle mount sits half on my helmet (Giro G10) and half on the earpad, so it's not very stable. And I've not even tried it with the earpad removed. I'm thinking of trying to set up some kind of plate/flange to stick onto the side of the helmet to give it a bit of a firmer base.
Crell, I think the 115deg FOV is a pretty good compromise. One reason I didn't want the GoPro was that the 150(ish - can't remember the exact value now) deg FOV was too wide, and the footage I saw was horribly fisheyed. Running at 60fps (which I've not done yet) gives 90 deg.
Vid (edited by norris - must get my finger out on this and do some myself) from our trip to La Plagne here:
Northface of the Bellecotte - Couloir Cairn from Nick Morrish
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
Have one and love it.
It is so small and light, extra rechargable batteries are cheap to buy as they are just nokia mobile batteries. Huge record time on a 8gb card and some really good mounting options. They have just relases a full waterproof case for £34 just incase you miss that last turn and end up 10m down in the lake
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Just a note about previewing - if you have a video camera such as a Kodak Zi8 which takes a card (the Kodak uses SD) you can try a bit of video for a few minutes and then take the Micro SD card out and puting it in a microSD adapter, insert it in the Kodak and play the video back to check it out. I realise this is a bit of a pain, and needs to be done somewhere controlled so you don't lose the card, but it is a work round, as it is quite easy to record a whole day of your ski tips otherwise!
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Have one and I am swithering over sending it back for a refund... Any sort of sunlight and the whole thing is burnt out...
The other option I am looking at is the filter ring and experimenting with polarising or ND filters. Quite dissapointing given the price and the fact that it is aimed at 'extreme'/outdoor sports etc... My old AV lipstick cam for a 3rd of the price was 100 times better, and coped with changes in lighting and everything up to full on blazing sun on a south-facing slope.
re Coping with changes in light conditions however, if you have several microSD cards you can set them up individually with different settings (just go to the .txt file and you can edit ..), so if you go out set for a sunny day & its cloudy you can swap out cards & voila... new settings..
http://vimeo.com/11677176
This was shot on a North-facing slope (ie low angle of incidence of sun).. with exposure at -3 (only goes down to -4), and has been 'darkened' in Final Cut ...
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
DixieDean, cracking idea - I have an old camera I oculd use for doing that.
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?
swithering on buying one of these myself. gopro's seem to bulky, any other suggestions?
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Getting acceptable results now out of the Contour with a circular polarising filter on the front of it - seemed to cope with high luminosity at the weekend much better than earlier trials without filter in the spring...
After all it is free
After all it is free
offpisteskiing, where did you get the polarising filter?
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.
the wonders of amazon...
from memory its a hama filter - you also need the lens adapter kit for the contour... think it came to about 7/8£ for the filter & 25-odd for the adapter kit... bit of a sting, but has transformed the results in bright light for me...
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
offpisteskiing, do you know if other ContourHD users have complained of similar high-contrast problems? I've recently bought a ContourHD and I'm wondering if I'm likely to suffer similar issues.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
rob@rar, yes it seems to be a general problem with the cams... have a look at the vholdr website and you'll find plenty of threads along similar lines...
Have to say it's is quite dissapointing performance 'out of the box', but it looks like a bit of careful filter choice will do the job.
If its sunny drop the exposure down to -3 at least, but be aware that if you head into the shade it will all get quite dark - haven't tried adjusting this during edit, but I reckon it'll be easier to lighten an under-exposed shot than try & regain contrast & texture from an over-exposed/burnt-out bit of footage...
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.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
)
