OK, now i cant stop myself from daydreaming at times about getting back into filming stuff.. especially the thoughts of filming whilst riding (girls windows at night, that kinda thing) and as my father keeps reminding me (much to mrs consequences disapproving “where do you get the money from?” disdain)… lifes too short to keep pushing my daydreams to the side.

one of the things i’d want to make an effort to include is good quality shots of the surroundings in which the riding is taking place… i.e shots of the hills, woods, trails, trees etc etc. also reasonably close close-ups of bike parts moving without needing to use a horrible digital zoom.

at the moment i’m torn between the contour HD and the go pro HD, liking the all-in-oneness of the contour but liking all the various mounts for the go-pro. (its gotta be HD otherwise i’ll buy something and wish i had gone for HD)

anyone tired mounting either on a tri-pod for static shots? is it possible to use a tripod with them?

anybody able to comment on their performance in low light stuff like heavily wooded singletrack?

anyone able to comment/show me examples of static-ish shots of nature instead of pacey riding?

anyone able to convince me that i’d need to invest in fast computerness and software to do the camera work justice?

i thank you all in advance for you replies and help 8)

or would it be better to be looking at HD cam-corders and jsut use static shots as i’m yet to see a video where the cam keeps up with the pace of the rider when worn on the helmet or attached to the bike…

:S i just dont know!

bump….

Mate of mine swears by the GoPro HD, but says the only drawback is the way it mounts onto the helmet for skiing. That’s the reason why he went for the Contour and why he will be getting the new one with GPS too.

I’ll see if he has got any stills knocking around from the Contour.

interesting…. think the biggest question is how mountable are they on tripods or those gorilla pods so it can be attached to a tree 🙂

i like the double lazer rotating lens abilities of the contour i have to admit

I ve gone for a go pro. The footage seems pretty good in dark woods and the stills are good if you like the wide angled look. Computer wise hard drive space is a must as hd footage chews through it. I’ve not got a tripod mount, but I’m pretty sure there is one available. chesty mount is great though!

I’m waiting for a Go Pro with a screen on the back so I can use it hand held as well. Anyone heard any rumours if that’s in the pipeline? Can’t see the point of GPS on one though…

thats why im struggling so much…. i’ve seen some beautiful stuff shot on an SLR and when watching a riding video i much prefer the ones edited together using static shots with the rider coming into the shot then riding off out of it, its rare i see footage taken from a helmet cam that does it for me.

then again the right clips mixed in with the static shot to emphasis movement is always tasty so i think i’m asking for the moon on a stick to end up with something that can be used when mounted on the rider and be used for panned shots from a tripod.

i know you can buy an adaptor to mount the contour on a tripod, not seen the go-pro mounts though

You can certainly buy one: LINK although I imagine you might be able to construct one yourself, maybe using the display case bit that comes with it

ahhh good find! shame the both the go pro and contour have no way of checking the quality/framing of the shot until its loaded up on a computer!

my my this is tricky

What about the other one, the drift HD170? That has a screen. And an even bigger price tag!

how to confuse things even more! its got a screen but no 60fps option.

does look tasty….. the rotating lens like the contour and then throwing a screen in the mix is a big plus.

ohhhh this is useful…. i like the greens in the go pro footage better than the other two. the drift appears to tint everything with a sense of grey though my eyes… just me?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5v36v2zpqQ[/video]

anyone use a helmet/mountable cam for riding footage but a HD camcorder with fold out lcd screen for tripod stuff?

Yep and a tripod mount… always like to help confuse things 😆

I think you are right, the 60fps would be great. Something like 200fps would be better though.

Then I’d want another of course for 3D 🙂 I need to upgrade my computer first though, this HD stuff looks like a pain to edit if you don’t have the horsepower.

I want similar to you, almost sold my Lumix to get one of these instead. Now my phone does HD that and a helmet cam could be usable . But you know in a year there will be something cheaper and better.

hmmm yeah HD would mean a step up in the computer game… but it could also be a good excuse to visit dad and his sexy iMac computer thingies every now and then, force him to drag his crippled self up and down the stairs bringing me cups of tea 😈

i’m not too fussed about 3d at the moment, would have no way of viewing it at home and pretty sure it’ll be at least a year before anyone i know does…. by that point i expect the cameras would have stepped up their game to 60fps at full HD instead of 720, or be offering 120fps at 720.

Taking advantage of your pops like that…disgraceful 😛

I agree with you the drift looks the least nice of those. And pretty rubbish in low light. The gopro just seems to work.

I think I will rent one from here to try out first

http://www.freezeproshop.com/gopro-helmet-camera-hd-hire.ir?cName=product-type-freeze-pro-rental

yeah the go-pro despite being the ugliest, does seem to have the nicest colour rendition (when uploaded to youtube at least) considering i’d be mainly filming in heavily wooded singletrack the greens and browns are the most important colours….

go-pro also has all the different mounts compared to the other 2.

maybe its worth investing in a normal HD camcorder with flippy screen first…. and then seeing if i need on-board shots too, if so that that gives the companies time to meet my expectations whilst i work it out haha