Best Cam Set-up??

[flamegrape]

I'm looking to purchase a Bike Cam but I'm confused as to what's the best one to get.

I've seen all in one set-ups, multi-part set-ups (separate camera/mile/DVR etc.) and more...

Primarily, I'm looking for something with a decent battery life and decent AV quality. Ideally an all in one unit as I was thinking about mounting it on the indicator stalk. I don't really want to spend a fortune but obviously want the best value for money.

I was wondering if anybody has any advice or a Bike Cam - and - what they use and if they have any you-tube footage of their rides? So you can help persuade me to buy...

[BlackBetty]

I would be wary of mounting on indicator stalk, you need a solid mount for decent video quality.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blackbettycam&aq=f

examples of my videos taken with a gum cam, (except Pagham with was taken on a handycam) search for that on ebay, cost around £8. I have modified the cam to run of bikes electrics (simple voltage regulator made with an LM317), as the built in battery is pants. I also made a switch and LED to mount on the handlebars for easy control.

This is a really cheap option and the compromise is that video files are very large, 8GB gives around 2 hours but an 8GB Micro SDHC card costs around £12 ( I have several and can record for over 10 hours ) and you need to be good with a small soldering iron to make the mods I have.

I looked into using a hand held camcorder but mounting this large item securely was a problem. You could pick up a cheap camcorder 2nd hand ( ensure it will record AV in ) and get a bullet cam ( around £25 and up ) camcorder in a tank bag then easy options for attaching the bullet cam. Vibration on the bike could be a problem for the camcorder digital 8 or HDD camcorders have delicate drive mechanics. Thats why the best options seem to be solid state recorders.

These guys seem to know their stuff https://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/
and have some cool kit for sale, I've never used them but people seem happy with them.

Same as everything really decide how much your willing to invest, if youve got £200 plus look at Dog Cam Sport, £100 camcorder and bullet cam, less than £50 Gum Cam and some time making things.

Hope that is opf some help.
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2 wheels good, 4 wheels bad

[longdog67]

I use a GoPro hero cam. seems to work well enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXDtP8THTC4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqbHdYT8pwk
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'04 ZX10R

[Seb]

Many regular camcorders suffer from horrible CMOS wobble when stuck on a bike so be wary of that.

If you can stretch to 200 quid go get a GoPro Hero HD, the quality is absolutely unbeatable for that sort of money, plus it's respectably flexible and convenient. It still suffers from a small amount of sensor wobble under certain conditions (The first clip below demonstrates it at it's worst) and the laser sighting from the newest contour HD would have been handy too, but that's about it really.

Some examples from my GoPro HD

720p @60fps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlvQrAd8ZG0&hd=1

720p @30 fps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8PYB3czmm0&hd=1

1080p @30fps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVvstbT0lgg&fmt=37
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2010 Triumph 1050 Sprint ST