Bike mounted cameras

[banjo]

The more I read these threads the more I read the same stories about near misses and horror stories. Most of my riding tends to be out of heavy traffic but I have had my moments too where the heart rate has been forced up most unexpectedly.

The idea of a video camera mounted to the bike has appealed to me for some time. Initially just for the novelty value. However I have spent a fair bit of time looking at different options such as bullet cams and specially marketed kits etc.

All need a video cam with av-in (which I currently don't have).

Has anyone else toyed with this and put together a package that works? Thought I'd ask around rather than reinvent the wheel. Does anyone know of, or can recommend a digital video cam with av-in. Doesn't need flash features, just good quality video capability which can obviously record DETAIL such as number plates etc.

I think it would be an interesting exercise to mount a camera on my rides, probably facing rear, but forward would also be useful. I ride a hard tail MTB set up for touring and commuting so weight and drag is not an issue (my roadie mate laughs at what I haul around).

Seems to me that being able to provide the occasional video to police of dangerous driving behaviours might just illustrate how bad it can be on the roads for a cyclist doing the right things. Pictures tell a thousand words.

Having a cam onboard could also just be a bit of fun for those non life threatening moments I often enjoy that keep me out there.

I'm interested in what people think about the whole idea.

[Mulger bill]

Interesting idea Banjo, there's some great runs on youchoob.

IIRC there's compact cams about that record to flash media.

Shaun

[vx255]

Not the same, but possibly relevant.

I used a cheap SD card video camera on trail bike rides (5 yr ago) with the cam duct taped to the side of my helmet*, the resolution wasn't that flash, then again, the camera was cheap and nasty and old technology by todays standard.

todays ones would be lighter and possibly better resolution.


*you could cheat by looking up for (AT) 20 sec and later, viewers thought you were doing a 200mt mono

[John Lewis]

In the link I posted in another thread about the guy taking video evidence, he was using an Oregon Scientific ATC2K camera. It was helmet mounted.

In a later post he mentioned typing ATC2K into a youtube seach pane to see samples.

I believe these cams are available in Oz . A 2 gig card gives about an hour at 640X480 I think.

I'd like to try one out.

John Lewis

[Shard]

My mobile (n95) could be set to video record mode, mounted on the bike and then quickly brought out of standby and to begin recording at the touch of a button.

...not sure if I like the idea of the phone mounted on the bike though.

[twowheels]

dpi in wa has been trialling cycling cameras, see -

http://www.dpi.wa.gov.au/cycling_cameras.pdf

[Jeremy]

I'm considering getting one of those "go pro" cameras......record onto SD card with fairly good quality.......

there are a fair few youtube clips with them, and chain reaction sell them

[rolandp]

I attached several pieces of wood to a bicycle basket, which I then attached the video camera to. It worked quiet well until one too many bumps, and the wood snapped. Luckily, the camera fell and was still held up by the basket. See my youtube shots on:
I want to ride my bicycle - Perth - Telstra Pit Hole
I want to ride my bicycle - Perth - Princeton Estate

After this success, I looked further on the web and found this item which I'm contemplating rigging up:
Bicycle Camera Mount for under $1

The small helmet type camera's would be OK for every day viewing, but you won't get the features (eg night vision, zooming, vision quality) that you would get with a normal video camera.

If you do get one of those camera's please post so that we can see.