I'm not one for putting lots of accessories on any bike but I must admit I do enjoy watching peoples videos which they have created of trips they have been on. I did some research into suitable on board bike camera systems and came across the HD Gopro system.
I've tried crude attempts before with a mini DV tape on the bike but been disappointed with the results, usually down to vibration and excessive wind noise. If you do a search on U-tube for the HD system there are some good results. The Gopro system comes in two formats, normal , i.e. non HD and HD. The HD system is £300 and the cheaper version is about £110, you get what you pay for. Its wireless and records directly onto a memory card. I'm using a 32gb card and then editing the software in Pinnacle HD software.
I've been playing around with the HD Gopro system on the bike now for a few days and finally got it sorted. I have it mounted underneath the nearside mirror, that way its not directly mounted on a painted surface and if I ever decide to take it off it can simply be removed without causing any damage.
Is there a way to put a You tube link up on here??
I have the GoPro HD as well. Can you post a pic of where you've mounted it?
I mounted it on the windscreen using the sucker pad. Was stable but too much vibaration
For the time being just post the URL. I'll work on getting it embedded.
Apologies I have only just picked up this message. I''ll post a pic or two tomorrow of how I have mounted the camera when I get home from work & before the wife puts her car away in the garage.
Meanwhile here is the link....its in HD. I have found so far that if I try to play it at 1080 it can be a little bit jerky occasionally but its fine at 720 and below. Not sure why that is because I have watched other videos at 1080 and they have been smooth, still its early days yet. I'll learn as I go along.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvBoOaA2D4s
Are you from Halifax? If so and you fancy doing a rideout, give me a shout. I'm down the road in Hudds.
As for the jerkiness, could be down to the FPS (1080p mode is 60 FPS), or the speed of your SD card.
Quote from: Norman Bates on August 11, 2010, 10:37:24 PM
Are you from Halifax? If so and you fancy doing a rideout, give me a shout. I'm down the road in Hudds.
As for the jerkiness, could be down to the FPS (1080p mode is 60 FPS), or the speed of your SD card.
Hi, I live over in Bradford but work in Halifax. (somebody has to!) Small world eh? The speed of my card is grade 4 or whatever they call it. Its ok, at the end of the day I put the camera on the bike just for a bit of fun.
I've taken some pictures as promised. The camera is mounted upside down simply to avoid the use of extra brackets which minimises vibration and then I rotate the footage 180 degrees in Pinnacle, its easy to do. However I notice from the Gopro site that they are shortly going to release a firmware update which will allow the footage to be rotated in the camera. I've attached a cable tie just to be on the safe side. I dont want to see the camera bounce down the road and get crushed by a following car.
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s139/Jaffa_Cake101/Moderator%20Stuff/100_0575-1.jpg)
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s139/Jaffa_Cake101/Moderator%20Stuff/100_0574.jpg)
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s139/Jaffa_Cake101/Moderator%20Stuff/100_0577.jpg)
Thanks for posting pics. I'll be trying the same on my bike.
Bradford. Home of the curry! Let me know if you fancy a rideout. I know some good routes around the pennines.
Cheers
Asif
I'm up for a ride out at some point but I work some weird work patterns, hence me posting this at 2.45am!! Out of interest, are there any other folk out there who have a GTR and live locally? Perhaps we could all meet up at some point, just a thought.
Thanks for posting pics of your mount. Have been looking at the hd pro - only reason for not buying is that it looks like it could come off easily.
There's no way the camera is going to fall off. Like you I was a bit wary, hence the tie clip as a secondary precaution. But in fairness the adhesive pads are industrial strength, they are there to stay!! ;D
Lonewolf ... I have just read the above and looked at your You tube link ... really good quality I am amazed ! For £300 that's good value. How much time will your card record and is it powered by battery ? That wouild be ideal for a "sorry mate didn't see you" incident !
ps .... no need to reply unless you have any tips... I have just found the web site !!
Quote from: Lonewolf on August 15, 2010, 11:00:19 PM
There's no way the camera is going to fall off. Like you I was a bit wary, hence the tie clip as a secondary precaution. But in fairness the adhesive pads are industrial strength, they are there to stay!! ;D
What kind of speed can you reach without the camera falling off? I have always been apprehensive to mount something there due to wind turbulences.
Fast enough to get me banned if that answers your question without me dropping myself in it!
I'll get some videos of my camera up soon. I stuck mine on the windshield so there's alot of vibration. Then the route I took was straight into the sun, so the quality ain't brilliant.
NB, thinking about videos etc, do you think it would be a good idea to have a completely new section from the Home page for members to post links to videos of their bike tours and maybe have a similar section for photos of ride outs etc?
Just an idea.
Good idea. I'll create a separate forum for it
A long time coming. HD GoPro have recently released their firmware update for the HD GoPro camera. One of the most significant improvements is that if you mount your camera upside down on the bike as I do the camera will now automatically record the footage to the SD card the right way around. This saves you valuable time at the editing stage. Another advantage of the update is that you now have one button recording, rather than having to turn the camera on and then press the shutter release, now just press one buton and it turns on and starts recording, and vice versa to turn it off and stop recording. There is also the PAL support function plus a few others.
Click on the link to have a gander....
HD GoPro Update (http://www.goprocamera.com/support/hdheroupdate.php)
I'm pretty sure that when I bought the GoPro there was in the pipeline an viewfinder accesory that would plug in to the back of the GoPro. Did I dream it, or is there one?
I haven't seen one on their web site but it wouldn't be a bad idea. I work on the principle that if its pointing forward its probably going to film it, its such a wide angle lens.
I nearly got knocked off my bike in February this year by an Officer of the law who decided to do a u-turn right in front of me....and I mean right in front of me and without warning, thankfully I anticipated what he was going to do but I still wasn't too impressed. ::)
If I'd had a camera on the bike then, that would have been interesting.
NB, regarding your post above, the view finder you mentioned for the GoPro is now available for $79.99, about £50. Have a look at the Go Pro Official site. Ive sent them an email asking if there are any UK retailers who currently stock the accessory.
LW, did you find out out if the view finder was available in the UK? I will be hopefully mounting my camera this weekend given that I've hardly put it to good use.
Yes if you eBay Hd GoPro there's usually a few on there.
I use a Tachyon HD camera which sits on my lid ... now the video is ok but it has another trick... time lapes photos...which is the dogs bollox,
Basically it is a 4 megapixil wide angle camera which takes one shot every 2 seconds, imagine when you are on a days touring, everything you look at you have a pic of...we took it on our trip to Andorra this year and the results were abso-fucking-lutly stunning...
we had a brillent photo diary of every where we went and everything we saw, yes it is a lot of photos to go through when you get home as a days run amounts to about 2,500 pics.
If anyone wants a looky see at them or info let me know and i'll facebook ya lol... oh the camera cost £160
Any pics of the photos?
yup, here is a few of the masses of brill photos that the camera took..oh its 100% water proof too..
(http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii388/Mogster101/PICT242.jpg)
(http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii388/Mogster101/PICT238.jpg)
(http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii388/Mogster101/PICT114.jpg)
(http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii388/Mogster101/PICT712.jpg)
(http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii388/Mogster101/PICT64.jpg)
(http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii388/Mogster101/PICT52.jpg)
(http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii388/Mogster101/PICT313.jpg)
all these were taken by the Lid cam as we were going along...oh how i long to be back on the road :(
Good quality photos there. The Go Pro will also do time lapse photography, I think there are a few different settings for the photos, something like every 30 seconds down to every couple of seconds.
I've just sold my GoPro though, I enjoyed it while I had it but it was time to allow someone else to put it to good use.