Helmet Cam

Does any one have any experience using helmet cams?
Any recommendations of what to look for, or specific products they have bought that the would recomend using, and on the contrary would not recommend?

You need to speak to spaz. He is the expert in this field. I’m sure he will pop in here to answer your questions. He is also currently offering a discount to Boardworld members in the Industry Announcements section.

Also check out his website: http://www.snocam.com.au

My first proper helmet camera was a RageCam, a really tough little camera that produced excellent pictures at 580 line 720x556 (PAL) CCD processor. It had to connected to a recording unit, I used a cheap miniDV canon because at the time DVR’s (digital recording units) didn’t record in a format large enough or at a high enough frame rate to match my hand held camera when the footage was edited together. Almost all bullet style camera’s were repackaged Sony security camera’s which are designed to be used in low light conditions.

My set up had some major problems; mainly connection wise. The camera itself captured digital video, then converted it into analog to send to the recording unit, the recording unit then had to convert the signal back to digital, a useless process which reduced the quality. The connection to my camera would sometimes come out, it would jiggle and within a few days a screw came off inside the camera lodged in something and broke the camera. All the bouncing around and condensation would have broken the camera eventually anyway.

In the last few years mini camera technology has come a long way and aren’t solely Sony products, DVR’s have also reached HD resolution like Flash drive and HDD video cameras, you can get DVR’s with the same tech. connecting a bullet camera to these will work but will be a analog connection.

There are also camera’s that have the recording unit built into the camera like VholdR which have great video quality, I find they are to heavy and bulky to have on your head while boarding. HeroCam have an awesome picture but a low frame rate that looks a bit jumpy I think they look ugly too.

Sony have produced a dedicated HeadCam that is brilliant but it’s price is gienormus.

The camera I use and hire is VIO POV1.5 priced at $1095rrp, it is a pure digital feed from wide angle camera head to recording unit which has an LCD display uses AA batteries that last 10 hrs, takes 8GSD which holds 6hrs footage. Oh and the picture quality is as good as DVD.