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Was wondering if any of you has ever mounted a camcorder on his/her bike? I found some mounting solutions for camcorders but also noticed there are HelmetCams.. I don't totally understand how these last ones work.. Do they require to already have a camcorder?. Any suggestions on brands?..
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Re: Camcorder/Mount or HelmetCam?
About the helmet cams, I know that there are two common versions. There are helmet cams that are self contained and there are cams in which you need a camcorder to plug into. From what I have heard, the latter of the two is preferred among helmet cammers. However, most prefer the tank mounts, as they come with mounts that allow for vibration from body movement/engine/chassis vibrations. Also, the helmet cams, allegedly, have poorer video quality. Lastly, I believe that helmet cams are more expensive as well. I hope that helps with some questions you might have.
Good Luck,
Sharky/Whizzer -
Re: Camcorder/Mount or HelmetCam?
Thanks! So far I have two vendors I like
For mounts: www.sportbikecam.com
For HelmetCam: http://cycle.hoyttech.com/
Then in both cases I need to find a steady shot type camcorder..Comment
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Re: Camcorder/Mount or HelmetCam?
OK I gathered all the answers I got. So if anyone else ever wonders what system to pick to tape his ride, just read this...
Sharky (Vampires Forum)
I'm glad I could help with the camera buying efforts. One more thing to consider, maybe you can get a camera to mount in a hole in the nose of the bike and have a wire to the camera mounted inside the tail section. Many racers do this, it gives the most realistic point of view, as the bike is moving in the actual direction. A helmet-mounted camera would move with your head (which is looking into the next turn or two) and not the actual road/track. Also, the camera will be out of the way for when you want to get low. Plus, the protection of the camera is better in regard to crashing/weather. The only drawback is that you might have to make a hole for the camera lense to peek through.
Radvas (BARF)
I've got a helmet cam. I was thinking about getting a sportbikecam mount (and may still get one), but I purposely went with the helmet cam so I could take it snowboarding, dirtbiking, as well as street riding. I have the helmetcamera.com one. I bought it from another barfer.
Overall it works pretty good. The CCD is a fairly wide angle CCD, so it is easy to get a decent field of vision. It doesnt' react to lighting changes as good as the camcorder camera, and produces some video artifacts if you aim it into strong direct sunlight. Even so, it is much better than the 8mm I had before the DV camera. You can aim the camera wherever you want to, and there is no reason you couldn't mount it somewhere on your bike if you wanted.
The helmetcam worked fine with my camcorder, a sharp viewcam vlz7u, but the dude I bought it from siad he had a hard time getting camcorder to work with it, and actually tried several without success.
I've had lots of fun with the camera so far, and captured a lot of things I never would have on video without it. It does offer much more versatility than just a mount, but it is bulkier and costs more. If you want something you can use outside of sportbiling, the helmetcam might be the ticket. If you only want riding video, the mount is probably a better choice.
Quasi888 (BARF)
You could always start out with the SportbikeCam mount + camcorder, and see how that works for you.
If you decide you want to add the flexibility of a helmet-cam, you could just build your own by getting a "bullet cam" or "lipstick cam" on Ebay for $100, and get a battery pack and microphone at Radio Shack for under $20. (The "helmet cams" that you see advertised for $300+ are nothing more than what I just mentioned, thrown together as a package -- possibly with a few different mounting attachments -- and marked-up in price.)
Jerry Scoggins (Top of the Hill M/C Club)
Yep to the first question. Don't know on the others. I own a
lipstick camera, basically a CCD in a very small tube, attached to a
control box via a long cable. I then record the video on a separate
camera that sits in a tank bag with the control box. I got the unit
from Doug Polen who used it for on board footage for ESPN, etc. I
once used it to record a 1000 mile race to Cabo San Lucas from San
Ysidro. Some of the footage turned out well, other was crap.
However I learned a lot from the experience. Unfortunately, I'm up
to my eye balls in work today, so I can't go on for too long.
However, I will say. You will never attach a camera to my helmet, as
I like the way my head is attached to my shoulders. At 150 mph+, the
duck tape holding the lipstick camera mount was peeling back, so be
sure to mount things well. I think the best systems are probably the
mounts over the tank, behind the wind screen. You get to see the
gauges in the video, the camera doesn't interfere with critical
components(mine was mounted under the fairing over the front wheel),
they're pretty easy to setup and most importantly, it keeps the bugs
and rocks off the lens. I ruined a several hundred dollar lens with
Mexican gravel and dust. It was literally sand blasted after 1000
miles.
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