Which helmet camera

[Guest]

Hello everyone.

I am looking to buy a friend a gift of a helmet camera. I am not a biker but thought a bike forum like this one will give me the best answers.

I will happily spend up to £100 in the hope I can get something half decent.

What is the best on offer for around this price please. A built in mic would be preferred.

Thank you

[Herbie]

Hi. Sorry I'm far from expert on this so will defer to others for a proper response, but I was looking for such a thing myself about 6 months ago and couldn't find anything for £100. The Go Pro and Drift cameras are the top dogs but they come in at around £300 and I wasn't keen enough to spend that. There are cheap cameras on eBay but I've no idea about the picture/sound quality or the robustness for motorcycling. I resisted the temptation. Your friend may be better off with a second hand Go Pro. I'm sure the peeps here will have ideas.

[wr6133]

Here is an exact paste of something I posted to a similar question recently.

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I have 2 cheap ones

Here is a under £30 cam ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HD-1080P-Wate ... 20e9bc4849 ) clip filmed at 720p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkzBGMuUAc8

Here is a clip from an SJcam SJ4000 (bit under £60 for a genuine SJcam one) filmed at 1080p ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191223702403? ... EBIDX%3AIT )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmw2hrhea1M

You can mod an external mic jack on to either cam, there are guides online, it wouldn't cost much and is not hard to do.

You won't get 4 hour battery life either, if you use an SJcam the battery is removable so you can carry extras though and swap them round.

[mr slike]

Sj400hd on ebay pick one up between 50 and 75, great camara, bought for my son but I've used it loads on my bike

[klingelton]

I got a drift HD 720 from action cameras. i used the code baron10 to get 10 percent off. i'm pretty sure the current code is spicy10 for a similar deal.

it was sub £100 when i bought it. the quality and battery life is decent - enough for general use. This was about 2 years ago i bought this thing, so they will be cheaper now, i'd imagine.

[Ali in Austria]

Just be aware that budget cameras have their limitations. Lens, sensor, hardware and firmware tend to be considerably inferior to the higher end action cameras. They can struggle with changing light conditions and even some of the decent ones are useless at night. If it is going to be used for playback on a small screen player such as You Tube then most HD capable cameras will do an acceptable job. Playback on a larger screen will show up the shortcomings. Anything recording 720 or 1080p genuine HD should do but if Slow Motion Playback is desired then it should be capable of a recording rate of at least 720P/60fps.

Rolling shutter can be a problem with any action camera but tends to be more pronounced on the lower end devices. (Rolling Shutter or Jello occurs because these types of cameras don't record one frame at a time but slices of a frame and stitches them together. Quick movement of the camera or vibration results in Jello because of the movement as these slices are recorded.

Built in Mics on a waterproof camera are next to useless such as on a GoPro when using the waterproof case or a Drift where the Mic itself is waterproofed. A Mic stuck out in the wind is going to record dreadful wind noise which is why most people mute the audio and put the footage to music. If the camera has provision for an external mic then a cheap Mic fitted with a wind muffler and positioned out of direct wind blast does a good job.

Avoid the new entry level GoPro Hero http://shop.gopro.com/EMEA/cameras/hero ... aster.html .The built in battery limits recording time and if it becomes defective you can't use the camera. The protective case is designed to take knocks but on this model the camera is permanently fitted in to it. Damage the case and the camera is useless.

Difficult if it is a surprise present but if you haven't already, sound your friend out to establish what they intend using it for and how serious they may take it as a hobby. Perhaps consider a voucher towards a more expensive camera.

Drift appear to have discontinued the HD720 but if you can get one cheap they do a reasonable job.

Pros - Reasonable battery life with interchangeable batteries and range of mounting options.

Rotating lens and built in screen to aid set up

Cons - Maximum 720p/30fps

No provision for external Mic

[Guest]

I have a £300 (when released) gorpo 3 black edition.

I just bought a £35 SJcam SJ4000 as I believe it to be sharper and generally give a better image quality.

I can update when it arrives but based on what I've seen, I would recommend the latter.

[Guest]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I can now look into all the ones mentioned.

[Elgreco]

I have this one...http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/roadhawk-r ... amera.html. Quality is excellent and I have the kit so i can plug into usb power take off fitted to bike for longer rides.Showed mate the footage he was impressed and is going to order one.