Video and Helmet Cameras

Deano747

Deano747

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Aug 24, 2008
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I have this camera. It transitions from sun to shade well, the quality is quite good for me, but as this is my 1st proper camera that isn't one of the little 'Spy' camera's that Mastamax mentions in the previous post, I cannot really make a quality comparison. I like the way it is fully self contained, but I did have a problem with the SD cards. I bought 3 X 32 Gig SD cards from China on e-bay, and while they all worked at home before my trip, they didn't handle the vibration once mounted to the bike proper. They would make the camera 'lock up', and the only way to stop the recording was to turn off the camera. That then wiped the movie from the SD card. The 32 Gig SD card that came with the camera worked fine, I guess that what I am trying to say is use smaller capacity 'proper' SD cards.

 
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jethro69

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Dec 15, 2010
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Did you get it here in Thailand, or abroad???
How about making photos via the remote control, does that work well? That would be the main reason for go for this one.
In fact I killed one microSD in my Nokia97, just by trying loading data beyond capacity of the card??? Does it use the normal size SD's
 
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Fatlad

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Nov 27, 2010
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No not seen here, been looking for the HD170 for the last month with no look. Amazon 280USD plus shipping then what ever this end in tax, let me know if you find here would like one very soon.
 
Deano747

Deano747

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Internet order from the USA. Forget how much, but a bit more than the $US 280 that you have quoted.

Haven't used the photo mode so can't comment on that. One difficulty with the remote is that you still need to be able to see the screen and the red 'record' light when you turn it on to make sure it has gone into the record mode. I had a few occasions where I thought that I was turning it on when I was actually stopping it and vice versa. I have quite a lot of video scenery out the front of the bike when it was parked. And if you then mount it so you can see the record light, then it is just as easy to use the buttons on the unit itself rather than the remote.

Normal sized SD cards, but I would recommend not going above the 8 Gig card size (relatively cheap) and just get a lot of them if you are travelling a lot. That should give you 1 hours record time per SD card, and buy good quality ones.

I couldn't find a good mounting spot on my helmet, so got some RAM stuff and mounted it to the handlebars. You get the occasional 'skip' if the road is rough though doing it that way.
 
TonyBKK

TonyBKK

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Dec 27, 2007
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Deano747;264723 wrote: I bought 3 X 32 Gig SD cards from China on e-bay, and while they all worked at home before my trip, they didn't handle the vibration once mounted to the bike proper. They would make the camera 'lock up', and the only way to stop the recording was to turn off the camera. That then wiped the movie from the SD card. The 32 Gig SD card that came with the camera worked fine, I guess that what I am trying to say is use smaller capacity 'proper' SD cards.
Click to expand...

The cheap SD cards from China and Hong Kong that you find on eBay are often low quality factory rejects. If I remember correctly GoPro specifies the use of SD cards of Class 6 or higher. Older slower SD and SDHC cards often fail in HD devices. You can read more about SD memory standards and class ratings here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital#Speed_Class_Rating

Ride On!

Tony
 
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mastamax

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Sep 20, 2010
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What about cheap solutions, did anyone see something around chiang mai? I went to pantip cnx and looked around for an hour but without success...
 
bung

bung

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Feb 6, 2006
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Well, a lot can happen in the tech world in a year....

I was checking out buying a gopro 2 but came across this:

Udon E-San Bike Week 20-21 January 2012

Seems a good alternative as I already have the phone, it saves carrying something else, protects your phone while on the road, has built in storage capacity, image stabilization, editing, viewing, 2 cameras......I'm sold. I find it hard to justify spending $300 on something I will only use once in a while, this is $90.

Check their website out, they show some good clips about how tough it is (very!) It seems a pretty new product as not everything is available yet accessory wise.

Oh, they are making a cool app as well which will allow you to overlay gps, speed and g force info.

Obviously not for everyone but those with an iphone 4 seems to be a great idea.

The other option for me is finding a mount for my panasonic point and shoot, it is a ruggedised version, water proof so would work well also but not coming up with much, seems to be helmet mounting is the way to go especially offroad.

I like the Optrix option, it will allow me to protect my phone while on a trip from rain and shocks, you can take it out to make calls, can view what you shot, can see what you are about to shoot, has a gps already, 32 gb of storage and easy uploading, editing and backing up in the cloud later.
 
TonyBKK

TonyBKK

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Dec 27, 2007
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bung;275881 wrote: Well, a lot can happen in the tech world in a year....

I was checking out buying a gopro 2 but came across this:

Udon E-San Bike Week 20-21 January 2012

Seems a good alternative as I already have the phone, it saves carrying something else, protects your phone while on the road, has built in storage capacity, image stabilization, editing, viewing, 2 cameras......I'm sold. I find it hard to justify spending $300 on something I will only use once in a while, this is $90.

Check their website out, they show some good clips about how tough it is (very!) It seems a pretty new product as not everything is available yet accessory wise.

Oh, they are making a cool app as well which will allow you to overlay gps, speed and g force info.

Obviously not for everyone but those with an iphone 4 seems to be a great idea.

The other option for me is finding a mount for my panasonic point and shoot, it is a ruggedised version, water proof so would work well also but not coming up with much, seems to be helmet mounting is the way to go especially offroad.

I like the Optrix option, it will allow me to protect my phone while on a trip from rain and shocks, you can take it out to make calls, can view what you shot, can see what you are about to shoot, has a gps already, 32 gb of storage and easy uploading, editing and backing up in the cloud later.
Click to expand...

That is very cool! Thanks for sharing the link!
Only annoyance I can think of is the iPhone's lack of removable storage...
Video take up a LOT of memory and my iphone memory is already nearly full...
Apple really needs to add removable memory... and flash support... and proper bluetooth... etc ;)
Oh, and when in the case it's not possible to charge the phone... The iPhone 4 eats battery really fast... I wonder how long the battery will last while recording video. I'd guess a few hours at most?
Still, a very cool piece of kit- might have to give it a try!
 
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Changnoi1

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Nov 21, 2010
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bung;275881 wrote: Well, a lot can happen in the tech world in a year....

I was checking out buying a gopro 2 but came across this:

Udon E-San Bike Week 20-21 January 2012

Seems a good alternative as I already have the phone, it saves carrying something else, protects your phone while on the road, has built in storage capacity, image stabilization, editing, viewing, 2 cameras......I'm sold. I find it hard to justify spending $300 on something I will only use once in a while, this is $90.

Check their website out, they show some good clips about how tough it is (very!) It seems a pretty new product as not everything is available yet accessory wise.

Oh, they are making a cool app as well which will allow you to overlay gps, speed and g force info.

Obviously not for everyone but those with an iphone 4 seems to be a great idea.

The other option for me is finding a mount for my panasonic point and shoot, it is a ruggedised version, water proof so would work well also but not coming up with much, seems to be helmet mounting is the way to go especially offroad.

I like the Optrix option, it will allow me to protect my phone while on a trip from rain and shocks, you can take it out to make calls, can view what you shot, can see what you are about to shoot, has a gps already, 32 gb of storage and easy uploading, editing and backing up in the cloud later.
Click to expand...

Wow that looks really good, too bad sending it to LOS is a bit expensive. Would be great for my IP4.

Chang Noi
 
bung

bung

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Feb 6, 2006
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Yes, I checked the shipping and it's ridiculous. $83.....Where do they get off? It's not like it's something fragile is it? Even to the US it's $33.....I think it's a British company. It took a while to find a local vendor but have, luckily I am in the USa at present.
 
TonyBKK

TonyBKK

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Dec 27, 2007
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bung;275894 wrote: Yes, all good points Tony. you would not want to leave it running too long, I woder if it is possible to control the video on and off while riding with gloves on....?

One other gadget I am getting for my Iphone is this:

http://www.mophie.com/mophie-juice-pack-plus-iPhone-4-battery-case-p/1160_jpp-ip4-blk.htm

Which will double the battery life of the Iphone.

You could always clear some of the stuff on your phone to free up storage space.
Click to expand...
Yes- I definitely need to clean some of the junk off my phone! Videos are what really take up a lot of space.

Only problem with the Mophie Juice Pack is that your iPhone will no longer fit into the Optrix case...

I power my iPhone via powerlet cord. If a Mophie Juice pack were added the iPhone would no longer fit into the Ram Mount cradle I use that looks like this:

275903=8246-ramb149ap6.jpg


Actually, now that I think of it, I bet I could take video with my iPhone with the current RAM Mount setup. The optrixhd case offers amazing protection, but isn't really required to record movies.

I'll give it a try today and will post the result here so you can judge the quality.

Happy Trails!

Tony :)
 
TonyBKK

TonyBKK

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Dec 27, 2007
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bung;275900 wrote: Yes, I checked the shipping and it's ridiculous. $83.....Where do they get off? It's not like it's something fragile is it? Even to the US it's $33.....I think it's a British company. It took a while to find a local vendor but have, luckily I am in the USa at present.
Click to expand...

I think you must have chosen USPS Express Mail to get that shipping cost?

Choose USPS Priority Mail and the shipping cost is only $5.90 within the US and $34.25 to Thailand.

$34.25 is a bit steep for such a small and light package, but it's certainly better than the $83 they want for USPS Express Mail!
 
TonyBKK

TonyBKK

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Dec 27, 2007
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bung;275932 wrote: On their website it is the only option they give which is annoying as it is not a fragile or overly important package. I may email them to see if it is a mistake on their site or they are just being stupid. It seems like it has just been released. i did find a vendor here in the US which is about $5 shipping. Maybe better to TH.
Click to expand...

There must be something wrong with your browser as I've just reconfirmed that USPS Priority Mail shipping to California 94941 is $5.90:

275942=8322-OptrixUSShip.jpg


USPS Priority Mail Shipping to Thailand is $34.25:

275942=8323-OptrixThaiShip.jpg
 
TonyBKK

TonyBKK

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Dec 27, 2007
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As promised I tested out the iPhone for taking video on the bike, and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised by how it came out :)


Bit of vibration from having the RAM Mount attached to the handlebar... Would probably be better if I mounted the camera to the screen or fairing.
 
bung

bung

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Feb 6, 2006
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Is there any way to play with changing it from portrait? Not very nice to watch like that. But good results, thanks for showing us. I like that the iphone has a front and rear camera so you can change it around for a bit of interest. I checked, I had chosen the wrong shipping option, it is $6.30 to Florida. Cool! I will be ordering one up then!

Lucky that I didn't email them to complain about the shipping then eh?
 
Joelthailand

Joelthailand

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Aug 29, 2011
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ray23;296417 wrote: Is there any place you can buy a helmet camera in Thailand?
Click to expand...
A lot of scuba diving shops are selling this Intova sport HD cameras. They are pretty much identical in operation & quality as a GoPro but half the price, they also have a range of accessories that a way cheaper than GoPro as well. If you can get someone with an account to help you, the trade price will be even cheaper!

http://www.divesupply.com/38/CamerasAccessories/IntovaTovatec/SportProINTOVATOVATEC.aspx

sp1_detail_access_b.jpg


 
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Gforcejunkypkt

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Apr 17, 2014
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I'm quite happy with my Sony Action Cam. There are 2 newer SAC models since I got mine about a year ago. SAC doesn't have as much as GoPro in the way of mounts and accessories but there's enough and the SAC seems to be easier to use overall (less post-editing required) than GoPros (which overall is a better camera if you're a pro or into post-editing processes with good software). SAC are bit cheaper as well generally but still going to cost about 10,000-15,000 Thb by the time you get some accessories. Of course you can get cheaper Chinese stuff at Panthip or wherever but like everything else you basically get what you pay for. For a couple of example SAC moto-vids (as I put in another post) plz check out and (make sure to click on HD setting).
 
CraigBKK

CraigBKK

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Jan 4, 2014
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jsbkk;300092 wrote: What next? The ultimate camera to capture all the action , check it out -
Click to expand...
I had to check out the Airdog website to satisfy myself it wasn't a hoax as much as to my satisfy my curiosity...
 
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