on the viewpoint at Holmbury Hill of a Sunday afternoon it now seems more people are using helmetcams than not. When did this happen and why? And more importantly, why did my helmetcam accidentally work when I was in the bushes but then mysteriously corrupt during my trip to Chamonix last week? aghhh
Bike Forum
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why does everyone now wear helmetcams?
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Posted 1 year ago #
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perhaps you should ask yourself the question if you have one on your helmet
Posted 1 year ago # -
Never understood why anyone would want to watch their own helmet cam video...
Posted 1 year ago # -
it's fun, why not?
Posted 1 year ago # -
I have a cam, I'd quite like to watch my line afterwards and see how I can improve, also good for filming people in front. Although saying that, I haven't got any decent footage yet (not had it long) and can't fathom out how to mount it properly...
Posted 1 year ago # -
It's all good.
The problem with helmet cams is they make the terrain look way tamer than it is. I think it's better to get the camera lower... A bit like this:
Fork eye view of the sprint Avalanche course.Posted 1 year ago # -
off-road ok,
but those commuters that vid their commute and post them up showing all the bad car driving blah blah blah and how perfect their cycling is are something else..
and also wish people would mount them so the is something static in the shot.. so if on fork leg lower, get a bit of fork and front wheel is in shot, if on helmet bit of helmet is in shot - makes the vids much easier to what with a static reference in part of the picture frame.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I can't watch H-cam videos, unless there's a point of reference (as Rootes1 suggests) it makes me feel seasick
Posted 1 year ago # -
I tried helmet cams but they view isn't the most interesting and doesn't usually give a great impression of speed. I've moved onto using a chest mounted camera now, which I think is a lot better.
I've got other mounting kits so might give fork mount a try at some point.
Posted 1 year ago # -
The brother in law carrys his camera to catch all our off's. As we are rubbish this a common and quite often funny occurance.
Posted 1 year ago # -
epicsteve's video looks quite good actually, it does make it look a lot faster like that.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I love them especially the quality of video from the Go Pro units, I'd get one in a flash (if I had a spare £300) - so I could show my mum what daft-ness I get up to @ age 38 (mentally 12.5) and to enthuse ppl into MTB-ing.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm using one of the Go-Pro's but it's the cheaper, non HD one. I've got one of the Oregon ones as well, but the Go-Pro is way, way better. Not only is the quality much improved but the very wide angle gives a more useful view.
Someone mentioned not liking commuting videos - how about my one: video from my commute
Posted 1 year ago # -
I've only got a cheap Action camera.
I agree helmet views can look pretty dull - no sense of speed and flattens all the obstacles but cheaper cameras like mine suffer from really bad vibration if the are mounted anywhere else
Posted 1 year ago # -
This is about the best I ever managed with my Oregon. I never did get any particularily good results from it as a helmet cam.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Loads of surfers sticking them on their boards too - mostly poor standard longboarders wanting to show their mates how crraaaaaazy they are.
I don't get it myself. Unless you're very good indeed and can justify making a vid, why video yourself?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Someone mentioned not liking commuting videos - how about my one: video from my commute
It's a nice commute - but imvho the chest mounting shows too much crossbar/downward and not enough handlebar/forward so you can't see the terrain/path. Sorry.Posted 1 year ago # -
Why not, The average STW'er is proabbaly riding arround on £1000+ of bike, if £27.50 of helmetcam makes them even happier why not?
Mountainbiking is fundamentaly pointless, so why does videoing yourself have to have a point?
Posted 1 year ago # -
It's a nice commute - but imvho the chest mounting shows too much crossbar/downward and not enough handlebar/forward so you can't see the terrain/path. Sorry.
I agree with that, although I like the perspective on principal, more interesting than helmet mounted.
Rear facing can be good too, a friend had one on his seatpost, so it was looking at the guy behind, means you get a better view of them and it looks a lot faster.
It wouldn't detract from my enjoyment if every other cyclist on the planet was using them, so I don't care, just not something I'm that fussed about! I'd be quite interested to see what my riding looks like, but not sufficiently interested to buy one!
Posted 1 year ago # -
the chest mounting shows too much crossbar/downward and not enough handlebar/forward so you can't see the terrain/path
That's because people point the camera down too much.
If your point it upwards more you can see plenty of the trail/person in front.Posted 1 year ago # -
99% of footage is dull as dishwater. Having said that, Singlespeedstu got some good stuff from Verbier recently.
Posted 1 year ago # -
its as sad and pointless as people watching live music and videoing it on their phone.
people seem to think that life is better if it is captured in a digital image that you can forgot you ever had, a bit like a memory.im beginning to think the aborigines (sp?) had the right idea about losing your soul..........
Posted 1 year ago # -
epicsteve, thats pretty decent footage. Where and how did you mount the camera.
I used a lock-block to mount the Oregon on my handlebars when descending Pennels Vennel at GT and the results were shocking the vibration meant the picture was all over the place
Posted 1 year ago # -
Almost none of this is worth recording unless your dementia is getting worse and you struggle to remember that you ride a mountain bike by the middle of the week.
If it's a useful tool for making something which might sensibly be called "art" or even "entertainment" then fine. But it's one camera angle, and to make any fim of riding interesting requires several angles and (I suspect) a lot of takes.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't ride around filming yourself stuttering through a wood in France if that's what you want to do. But I'm not going to sit through more than about 20seconds of it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Because once in a blue moon you'll capture yourself doing something stupid (like this)
http://vimeo.com/3744060Posted 1 year ago # -
Dibbs -
Can't quite work out what made you crash though?!
Posted 1 year ago # -
SOOBalias - Member
its as sad and pointless as people watching live music and videoing it on their phone
+1
It's technology gone mad i tell ye.Last concert I was at, half the folks were watching it through their 2.5" phone screens.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Dibbs, thats quality.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Dibbs - made me lol (schadenfreude). Hope it wasn't too thorny!
Posted 1 year ago # -
I find most helmet cam stuff boring to watch. Each to their own.
A mate did mount one off a stick from his helmet so the static point was his head whilst the bike and trail whizzed by. Was more entertaining but I think the main reason I remember it is his crash into a tree at the end and the subsequent footage of him staggering about, probably mildly concussed and given the camera set up looked v.weird indeed.
Good job he laughs about it too.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Chest cam definitely seems to be the best view - helmet cams don't really give much impression of riding the bike.
The other problem is that the quality/frame rate/sensitivity is too poor on most of the cameras people are using. If the trail is a blocky pixelated mess you don't get any real idea of what the trail was like. Likewise the commuting videos - if these people are trying to record bad driving it would help if you could actually read any of the number plates (which you can't on any of the vid's I've seen).
Posted 1 year ago # -
I like watching the high quality chestcam stuff, particularly when the background scenery is nice.
It's an easy way of documenting trails. Can't imagine anyone would be interested in my riding though.
Posted 1 year ago # -
its as sad and pointless as people watching live music and videoing it on their phone.
Or talking about bikes on an internet forum?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Some bloke walking up Ben Nevis t'other week had a helmet cam on. Hope his family/friends survived that viewing
Posted 1 year ago # -
It's a nice commute - but imvho the chest mounting shows too much crossbar/downward and not enough handlebar/forward so you can't see the terrain/path. Sorry.
It was the first time I'd used the chest mount and I hadn't angled it up far enough.
Posted 1 year ago #
Topic Closed
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