Juan Foote

as a gift, and attempted to use it for cycling. The video resolution, sound, and shaking make it worthless for the purpose.

What is everyone using for decent video and stabilization, on bike?

fietsbob

So? (cannot beat the cost of a Gift) , stop, take picture, then start again..







you live where you must share the road with jerks.. you could Move somewhere else?
....

Juan Foote

I will keep that in mind as someone is deciding to almost side swipe me on the road.

"Hey, hold up a second. Fiets said to ask you to stop so I can get a picture of your tag before you maim me."

Are you always like this, or am I special to you?


Really, helpful hints? Is the answer going to be GoPro, or is there something else?

My phone takes great video, but I prefer not to go that route again after running one over.

Juan Foote

^ Well, I would like to share a couple of routes, but would like to be able to actually read car tags as they go by. The routes are mostly for my own edification and enjoyment.

mercator

I just got one of these for christmas, have it mounted on the rear rack right now. The quality is excellent, although the battery only lasts about 90 minutes

Juan Foote

90 minutes would not be outside my time window. Video sample?

BobbyG

A Helmet-Mounted Camera will shake less.
Check out my videos at
https://www.youtube.com/user/bgvideo...able_polymer=1

mercator

Here's a short sample, the quality of the youtube video seems lower than what I get viewing directly but the image stabilisation seems to work pretty well.

Juan Foote

^ nice, thank you.

Juan Foote

what are you using?

BobbyG

Contour Roam... Although if I were to buy a camera today I would get something smaller and lighter perhaps a Sony. The Contour roam works for me though because the lens rotates so if it is mounted off center or not perpendicular to the ground you can compensate by twisting the lens. Also the battery life is pretty good about four and a half to 5 hours.
As far as shaky, yes I suppose a smooth frame or handlebar mount would work and possibly be smoother, however I have had better luck with the helmet cam. One of my videos shows me messing around with different mounts and the way I smooth them out was to run my tires a little less inflated than normal. That would not work for everyday riding. Plus if the intent is to document other traffic being able to turn your head and aim the camera where you look gives you more flexibility then a frame or handlebar mount. There is no correct way to do it there was only the way that works best for you.

TimothyH

GoPro Hero 4 Session

Mounted under the GPS on the GoPro mount...


Mounted on the skewer using a Nut-R mount...


A stiffer mount will cause less shaking. The Nut-R mount literally bolts the camera to the hub.

BobbyG

Contour Roam... Although if I were to buy a camera today I would get something smaller and lighter perhaps a Sony. The Contour roam works for me though because the lens rotates so if it is mounted off center or not perpendicular to the ground you can compensate by twisting the lens. Also the battery life is pretty good about four and a half to 5 hours.
As far as shaky, yes I suppose a smooth frame or handlebar mount would work and possibly be smoother, however I have had better luck with the helmet cam. One of my videos shows me messing around with different mounts and the way I smooth them out was to run my tires a little less inflated than normal. That would not work for everyday riding. Plus if the intent is to document other traffic being able to turn your head and aim the camera where you look gives you more flexibility then a frame or handlebar mount. There is no correct way to do it there was only the way that works best for you.

canklecat

Ion Speed Pro. Decent camera for around $50-$60. Weatherproof as-is, no need for a housing.

Via the included plastic mount on the road bike stem, it's as steady and smooth as the road. Very smooth on smooth pavement, choppy on chipseal.

When riding my hybrids I mount the camera on my helmet, via a homebrewed rig make from an accessory shoe included with the Ion camera, with heavy duty Velcro tape and zip ties. It works well enough for the intended purpose -- documenting traffic incidents. The videos tend to be swimmy.

Main problem with ultra-wide lenses on action cameras is the extreme barrel distortion at the edges. It's less noticeable with the camera mounted on the bike, more or less level. Much more noticeable mounted on the helmet. And license plate details can be difficult to capture clearly with ultra-wide lenses, combined with cameras that have mediocre native resolution and dynamic range. Worse at night with high ISO noise.

That's the problem with the teensy sensors used on most action cams and cell phones. Although the image quality is improving there will always be limits.

I might consider an upgrade when a reasonably priced one-inch sensor shockproof/weatherproof video camera is available. I've used my 2012 era Nikon V1 on my bike and the image quality is excellent. But the shock was damaging the lens so I replaced it with the Ion Speed Pro.

I wish now I'd bought a Nikon J1 and 10/2.8 lens kit when they were discontinued and blown out at around $100 several years ago. Those would be useful traffic cams in good weather; and bad weather with a housing. Bulky compared with GoPros and others, but much higher resolution video.

dim

I use a Garmin Virb Ultra 30 in the front and a Cycliq Fly 6 on the back ... here's a video of an Audax ride a few months ago (battery ran out after about an hour, but I am in the process of buying the open cage so that I can record with a powerbank connected (17 hours with a 128 GB card) .... I'm also learning how to use Sony Vega for the editing:


I had a close look at the new GoPro but opted for the Garmin as it can link directly to your Garmin sensors and display the info on your movies

dim

and here's my newest video showing the combo of the Garmin Virb Ultra 30 front camera and the Cycliq Fly 6 rear camera .... as mentioned, I'm still learning how to use the video editing software ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yxl...ature=youtu.be

Juan Foote

Thank you all with the helpful comments. I will be busy for a moment looking.

motorthings

gopro knockoffs can be had on amazon and ebay for cheap too.
i'm a fan of the gopro hero session for ease of location and size without giving up quality.
i like the way the cycliq fly6 handles video, but don't need a light.

canklecat

Those specs are only part of the story. The one-inch sensors, even in Nikon's first implementation, provide much higher quality video, particularly in contrasty daylight and nighttime with lower noise.

In daylight the shutter speed is a more important factor than frame rate. My Ion Speed Pro has selectable resolution and frame rates up to 720p/60 fps and 1080p/30 fps. There's no advantage to the 60 fps setting in dim light and nighttime use because of blur and high ISO noise. The 1080 setting at 30 fps in low lighting may provide just a slightly better chance at snagging license plate detail.

sweeks

What's that thing on your hub? Sender for your computer?
Steve

canklecat

Regarding the J1 specs, the 24 fps rate applied only to the gimmicky motion capture mode that combined video and a still snapshot. The J1 and V1 standard video modes were 1080/30 fps, 1080/60i fields per second, 720/60 fps. There were also 400 and 1200 fps slow motion modes at reduced resolution and the overall image quality was mediocre.

Traditionally, resolution in general terms of image quality is the ability to resolve detail. With film the standard was line pairs per millimeter and it varied tremendously with film, exposure and processing (not to mention optics and other factors including film flatness). The size of the negative or positive frame wasn't the sole or primary factor.

With digital there's more to it than pixel count. More pixels, particularly artificially inflated with interpolation, doesn't improve the ability to capture and see fine detail. It just increases the mush in mediocre recordings. That's the problem with higher resolution, in terms of pixel count, with the mediocre small sensors used in cheap video cameras is they don't actually resolve fine detail, regardless of specs. They still suffer from poor dynamic range and high ISO noise.

Offhand the largest sensor I can think of in an action cam is the 1/2.3 inch. Most use smaller sensors. Offhand I can't think of any that use the one-inch sensor. That would make a significant difference in improving dynamic range and low noise at high ISOs for nighttime use.

There are some pretty good low priced dash cams that appear to have good dynamic range and night performance, but they aren't designed for exposure to the elements on a bike, as-is. It might be feasible to adapt them to bike use. Techmoan's channel on YouTube is pretty good for getting an idea of how those perform at night from a moving vehicle. He also reviews a few action cams, since he also rides a motorcycle.

The main problem with basing choices on demo videos from users in England or around Europe is their license plates are larger and record better on video. US plates are much smaller and harder to record, especially at night. So when watching demo videos to estimate how well they record fine detail, if the reviewer is in England or Europe look for smaller signs and bits of fine detail, particularly at the periphery of the frame.

Even in bright daylight I find the Ion Speed Pro struggles to accurately record license plates at the periphery of the frame. Between distortion, mediocre dynamic range and actual ability to resolve fine detail, the Ion often captures only partial license plate info.

I had this problem last week when a fellow missed me by inches after he ran a stop sign. I turned my head to get a better view of his rear license plate but even in relatively bright late afternoon sun I was able to make out only that it was a handicap plate and a couple of letters. The rest of mush.

TimothyH

Yes, for the computer. It is a Wahoo RPM speed sensor.


-Tim-

WNCGoater

Got one of these a couple years ago. Used it to do some mtn bike videos and snorkeling in the Caribbean.
https://www.swimoutlet.com/p/polaroi...UaAl6-EALw_wcB

Decent enough image stabilization. Even on single track & handlebar mount.

Edit to add, it comes with a handlebar and helmet mount.

canklecat

Those are made by the same company that makes the Ion cameras. Apparently Polaroid rebranded them as an alternative to their Cube cameras.

Decent action cams for the money. Weatherproof as-is. Often included with a good selection of useful mounts.

Offhand, the only problem I can think of with my Ion Speed Pro was with one particular SanDisk media card. I swapped cards and it's worked fine since then. With that SanDisk card the camera would stop recording at random times. When running normally the Ion records files each about 40 minutes long, with seamless transitions to the next file until the card is filled or the battery is exhausted. The battery usually runs about 90 minutes per charge so a 16 GB card has been good enough.

The camera will run and simultaneously recharge off an external USB battery, but it's necessary to remove the rear weatherproof cap that protects the ports and controls on the back of the camera.

jgwilliams

If you're looking for something relatively inexpensive I've heard good reports of Mobius cameras.