PaulRivers

I find that there is a certain class of people for whom once they realize they're being recorded, suddenly start behaving a lot better.

I think personally that a highly visible camera might gain you some additional protection causing them to think twice before acting like a jerk. Plenty of situations it wouldn't help in but it's been my experience in non-biking situations that some of these people suddenly calm down and start acting more rationally the moment you pull out a camera and start recording.

Lemond1985

And the safety value of having a camera running, around those kind of people? Priceless.

I-Like-To-Bike

The same might be said for open carrying of a weapon while in public.

Personally I think whipping out a smartphone when faced with hostile people might have the same efect on people who might be deterred. Then there may be some of "those people" who be enraged at the use of a bicyclist's camera and feel provoked enough to ignore it and be stimulated to escalate hostile action.

Lemond1985

... and then change their minds when they remember they're being recorded and might face actual consequences if they do anything stupid. Scumbags will be scumbags, I have no control over that. I don't see how leaving my camera home changes that fact or makes me safer in any way.

I-Like-To-Bike

Or not change their minds and get even more provoked and hostile and slap the camera out of your hands or off your head when you (to the scumbags' irrational mind) stick it in his face.

Notso_fastLane

1) Forward and rear facing,
2) Designed for motorcycles, so it's weather proof
3) Battery powered, doesn't need extra power like most automotive versions
4) only about $130

https://americanlegendrider.com/prod...RoCPZgQAvD_BwE

I think you can get this model a little cheaper on Amazon. When I get my velomobile, this is what is going on it. (I'm also going to install a motorcycle anti-theft device).

Notso_fastLane

Agreed. That's why I mount my GoPro on the top of helmet (full dork effect!). I notice a I get a lot more passing room, and cars are better behaved. Any more, if I forget to charge the battery or just don't feel like dealing with it, I'll just throw the case on top of my helmet and it still has that effect.
Yes and no. If you upload video clips to the close call database (most police probably won't know about this, but you could be nice and point it out to them https://closecalldatabase.com/ ), they can search it. Or you can search it and find out if that license plate yourself.

Skipjacks

That's the downside of working for drug dealers....



Back to being serious....

If you are capable of a little rigging you might look into the cheaper off brand car dash cams. Some are really small and have surprisingly good resolution.

The down side is that they are usually meant to be plugged into a USB port. So you'd have to rig a USB battery to power it. That does work, but it's an extra thing strapped to the bike. You'd also have to figure out how to mount it as the windshield suction cup won't work. And they likely aren't rated for being waterproof since they are meant to be used inside the car.

But you can get them for $20-$30.

Lemond1985

Yes, your boss Mr. Sosa may feel the need to make an example of you.

Shimagnolo

Every dashcam needs either a small battery or a supercapacitor just big enough to provide a few minutes power, so it can cleanly shutdown when the vehicle is shut off, else the last file will be corrupted. Most likely that unit won't run more than several minutes on battery alone.

dragoonO1

I own and use a Sony HDR-AS100V for the purpose of capturing plates in case of traffic incidents, and this camera can and has captured legible plates of a motor vehicle traveling ~35 mph(24 mph speed differential; I'm slow) at night, in urban streetlights environment.* The Sony cameras have high bitrate(50 Mbps @ 1080p 60 fps for this model) and proprietary encoding(XAVC S).

I don't believe any camera will be able to capture an oncoming vehicle plate with the headlights on, or at least I am not aware of any practical solution for that high of a lighting intensity contrast.

I think that this camera may be one of the best or the one to beat for night and/or low light capture, but it's also US $800.00. It's pretty amazing tech.

https://www.sionyx.com/get-to-know-the-aurora.html

I have brought in video footage of 2 right hook lane swipes, where parallel motor vehicles changed lanes while I was beside them in the bike lane. In both cases, the officers gave the drivers a call after viewing the video footage, informing those registered drivers that they had been recorded executing a dangerous traffic violation that endangered another road user(me).

I also had a camera recording when I was struck in a hit-and-run by a truck, and the responding officer noted in the police report that the motor vehicle operator was fully at fault for the collision(He drove through a stop sign, and struck me from behind, while my camera demonstrated that I was obeying all traffic laws.). This crash video was also invaluable in the insurance claims for my own auto insurance policies.

*Low light plate capture with the Sony may be seen here.

Rick

There was an interesting video of two men riding there bicycles and being sideswiped by someone at or around Berkley CA. The police were able to read the license plate from the video and when they went to the residence the parolee had a large amount of weapons and ammunition at the location. There are several videos were the person being videoed becomes in ragged and starts to pound on the bicyclist and attempts to steel the camera. I believe most of these occurred in England or there a bouts. In fact if you like to watch You Tube videos of people loosing there cookies on a bicyclist. Search on You Tube for road rage on bicyclists in England.

PK_

What about the Sena Prism Tube? Doesn't appear to be popular but seems nice.

ussprinceton

any GoPro

Shimagnolo

I've only seen the Prism Tube when a motorcycle shop attached one to a used bike they let me try out.
A huge plus to me is the big, instant-on switch that can be operated easily, even with heavy gloves on.
In the past I used Contour cameras which had a comparable switch, and I loved that feature!

base2 

I own 2 Garmin Virb cameras. I just took the last mount off of the last bike.

There is 2 competing forces at work. 1 being frame rate, & the other being resolution.

I found that unless the speed difference was less than 10-15 mph, the resolution just wasn't high enough to reliably determine a license plate number of a passing car in any situation. The further or faster the car, the harder it was to read. Nearing impossible for cars that were actually at a safe distance or traveling at the speed limit.

The only situation I think it would help with would be a slow speed run-down within the first 90 minutes of a ride. Pretty unlikely in my opinion.

I tried all the aspect ratios, resolutions, etc...A high framerate really only gave more lower resolution samples to choose from. A low frame rate only offered 2 or 3 "maybe" identifiable images...maybe,, depending on speed, distance, & vector.

At 90 minutes per battery, it just didn't work as well as I hoped.

Maybe when 4k cameras get acceptable battery life (read: 3 hours or more), I'll try again.

Leisesturm

The good times never last forever, but if cyclists think that they will always be able to submit their ride videos showing them being cut-off and collecting damage awards then think again. There are few things that happen in our public spaces that aren't being observed by recording devices. As they proliferate you can expect defense counsels everywhere to demand more objective (3rd party) evidence of their clients culpability in an accident. Personally, I think that is as it should be. Drivers use dash cams to protect themselves legally against another persons claim and NOT to bolster a claim made against someone else. Cyclists might be the only class of road user attempting to use video documentation offensively. I suspect it works as well as it does because the stakes aren't high enough for the defense to go all out in ruling the evidence inadmissible. So consider me Agnostic on the worth of camera equipment. I can tell you that drivers don't notice your camera and that is NOT what is making them behave. Get over yourself if you think that. My carbon fork road racer didn't cost $800.00 and I am NOT paying that for a camera to possibly win enough in an insurance claim to replace it. Half of the accidents cyclists get into they caused. Work on that?

Leisesturm

You may be onto something. I mean, I get it. Yeah, having a camera keeps the cyclist honest. I'd never be able to keep riding as recklessly as I do now if I had a $%#^& camera recording it all!

robertorolfo

Um, what? Using them offensively? If someone puts you in danger because they are driving like a moron, there is absolutely nothing "offensive" on the rider's part. Are you seriously complaining about people using cameras to capture the nonsense that some drivers pull?

Shimagnolo

You are missing the biggest variable that makes plates hard to read: Angle of View.
This is sometimes referred to in specs as "Field of View", although that is technically a little different.
Anything over 63 degrees is a wide-angle lens, which:
- Makes objects look more distant than they really are, (e.g. the car that buzzed you).
- Causes straight lines near the edges to look bent, (e.g. utility poles at the edge of the road).
- Causes objects to be rendered in fewer pixels, causing loss of resolution, (e.g. license plates).

But mfgrs like to brag about how wide their lens is, e.g. this page even refers to 90 degrees as "narrow": What is GoPro Field of View (FOV)? » Project GoPro

Here is an image from a photography site that gives photographic definitions:

base2 

"Field of view" is a better term than vector of approach. Point taken.

Notso_fastLane

Well, I know I love to go out and ram 4000 lb cars with my 30 lb bicycle.

I always win!

Leisesturm

I am not complaining about anything I am observing the irony that is the American cyclist, certain that their camera will capture motorist malfeasance and land them a nice payday in court when the inevitable ground strike occurs. Ironic because on the other side we have the post mortem information that in 50% of accidents the cyclist is at fault. Isn't that also the definition of 'hubris'? I don't know, I could be wrong but I have enough faith in first responders, law enforcement, insurance adjuster types ... if it matters, I believe they can sort it out from the forensic evidence at hand! I doubt a Go Pro on my head could add much of significance. If they didn't weigh half a pound and cost $200 ea. and you need at least two ... like I said, I don't know ... I've found it better (all around) to simply not get hit. It really isn't that hard to do.

robertorolfo

What's your deal? You think people really want to get hit by a car for a payday? You think the 'slip and fall' crowd are now riding around on bikes? That's pretty twisted.

And I have absolutely no faith in law enforcement and insurance adjusters to figure out what happened (either through incompetence or simple laziness). I had a (luckily very minor) motor vehicle accident a couple of years ago where the other driver pulled a move that was outlandishly dangerous and stupid. When the cops showed up he completely lied about what happened, and despite his lie being illogical, without solid evidence (video) they wanted nothing to do with figuring out the truth.

To add insult to injury, how many times do we see motorists that are 100% at fault for "accidents" getting nothing but a simple ticket (if that). It's ridiculous...

Leisesturm

Exactly. Everyone from the arresting officer to the Judge knew the driver was texting. Knew it. Knew exactly what they sent and who to because of course their phone transcripts were subpoenaed from their provider. And? Having video would change the outcome? When and if cameras are given to cyclists the way helmets are I won't have any excuse not to have one but I'm hanged if I am going to pay money to get one ... or two. No, hell no. It's way easier simply not to need one. The driver who you had the 'very minor' accident with. Do you think the officers response would be the same if it was a very major accident? Are you sure, considering his move was so outrageous, are you sure your camera would capture anything meaningful? I mean I've seen my share of YouTube accidents that left me scratching my head as to what happened. Worse than useless. And I have to keep the battery charged, upload the files, archive the files ... some of us have lives. Not all of us are paranoid want to be drivers.