MirloCam Evo3 -CableCam- (Blackbird Cam, from Spain)

Absolutely impressive is the work done by Emilio Avila, from Cordoba (Spain)

Just a home-made cable-cam fully operative and functional. Is not a "helmetcam", but it's 100% "experience"

Watch this:

Is not easy reach that quality level. That is the third evolution for this 'blackbird'. At next photos you can see the previous 'Mirlo I' and 'Mirlo II'

and finally, the "MIRLO EVO3 CARBON", ¡great!



* Carbon fiber chasis and aluminium
* Tamiya engine with electronic speed control
* Futaba servos tuned to 360º (transverse and longitudinal axis)
* Radio controller and receiver, 4 channels, 2.4 mhz
* Wireless video transmitter 1.2 Ghz
* FPV case with 7" monitor 12v.
* 100 meters rope. (waiting for a 200 meters steel wire)
* Cámera: GoPro HD. (waiting for a Canon 550d

As you can see the results are very proffesionals. Movement is sweet, and speedy enough, and the vibration and oscillation are not notable.

I hope watch soon the next full mtb video by Emilio ('Agacha el Lomo' team) using the MirloCam

Next time in HD quality (I expect), like this: (select 720p to view)

Ian Baquerin

I want submit you the splendid work that Ian Baquerin (Ian Freerider en Vimeo) shares with us from his own blog www.ianbaquerin.com about mountain outdoor activities, snow, hiking and mountainbiking... Ian's work joins riding skill and video quality.

One of the more surprising landscapes in Spain: Las Bardenas.

Bardenas from ian freerider on Vimeo.

I recommend you to see the next videos in Vimeo:

"Nomadas vol.1"
"Nomadas vol.3"
"Btt por Santa Elena"

Ian himself tell us some words about his videos, (I'll try translate them to my poor english):

Generaly, If I go out without determination to record, I usually carry with me only the GoPro HD with several mounts, and a little tripod with a mending to fit GoPro to tripod screw. If I go out determinated to record some video, I also carry with the big camera, a CANON HFS200 and a wide lens angle 0.45x and some filters, and a more stabile tripod.

In my opinion, for a good results, You must have diverse shots, fixed shots, point-of-view shots from helmet, zooms, far shots, close ones, etc... and a previous idea about you want edit before going out to record the necessary shots.

About subjective (POV) shots, I try to vary and to look for new shots, I try to watch videos enough on the web to take ideas: helmet, frame, chest, pole from helmet, etc. I try not to buy too many mountings but I try to make up them, cheap materials and sticky tape...

Unquestionably the final results, joining together every assorted shots, looks very well. Another matter is the (I suspect) great difference between a 'normal' ride with a simple helmetcam and a 'filming' ride ... but I'll do it someday... I'll tell you.

VholdR Contour HD 1080 vs GoPro HERO HD

The two "blockbusters" helmetcams one beside other for a raw comparison... (Thanks to SportKam, for supply the units for the test).

"Los Pepes" trail. Multicam.

The next video almost burns me...  My computer hangs continously. Too many bytes and rare codecs...  too many hours of edition.
I hope, it will be interesting (curious, at least)

Senda de "Los Pepes" from montonm on Vimeo.

Lumix DMC TS1 + wide lens 0,45x

This is my 'main' camera, recording at 720p on the helmet with the handicraft angle lens conversor that you can see here.

DRIFT X170

Is a not well known camera, was mounted on the top of the helmet of Ruben. Ruben follows me riding 'Los Pepes'. You can see here some extended videos.

MiniDV MD80 "shitcam" + wide lens 0,38x

The 'shitcam' was mounted on the helmet facing back. Helmet is not the best place to mount back-cameras, becouse in cornering the image moves out excessively to sides. Camelback is better place to do it.

Definitely, the 'shitcam' has not quality enough to fill an HD format. The video comes with 30,9 fps more or less (not any standard), jumps every few frames and has a lot of wooble.

Footage from X170 and 'shitcam' fits well into little windows, but  in the big one  the difference with  Lumix is notorious. So I decided to use short appearances and colours.

The "follow-cam"

There is a new place to put a 'helmetcam'

The Anti-Gravity Follow-Cam on Rio from Dean Wilkes on Vimeo.

Dean Wilkes discovers an original system to record himself and the trail where he is riding. ¡incredible trail!, I think.

I dont have seen what is the mounting system, but I suposed it could be easy to try. With some material that I had I improvised a mounting and a very first experiment.

custodio-cam / follow-cam from montonm on Vimeo.

Next coming more... I hope

Expanding Lumix FT1 (TS1) capabilities

That's 'MASSA Optics 30,5 mm Professional 0,45X Wide Angle Lens for DC/DV Japan'. Becouse it is intended for a 30,5 mm thread, was necessary to do some handicraft for to attach it.

An aluminium plate fixes the lens to the camera helped by a kind of 'super-Velcro' and some rubber band (piece of inner tube) for greater attachment.

The angle vision of Lumix DMC FT1 (TS1) improves notably. HD mode (narrowed than VGA) can now be used easily. Subject does not go out of frame and the perception of shaking decreases too. Please look at this video test without any edition or stabilization:

Espadan en crudo - Juanma from montonm on Vimeo.

If you are thinking about to do some similar, please note that 30,5 mm is not big enough for size of the DMC FT1 (TS1) objective. (at VGA resolution all four corners are trimmed...)

Rocket-style on-board point of view.

Thanks to Rich Staley from Great Basin Bicycles we can appreciate these mountainbiking videos 'rocket-style':

Mount Rose Meadows - Tahoe Rim Trail - POV - Great Basin Bicycles - Singletrack - Reno Mountain Bike Trail from Rich Staley on Vimeo.

Really, I would not call this 'helmetcam' but all kind of on-board or subjective video riding bicycles are welcomed in this blog.

Rich recorded his videos with a Sony lipstick camera plugged to a miniDV camcorder. The camera was holded in front of the bike frame: 'The clamps that I made for the bike are relatively simple. There are two clamps, one around the bottom of the head tube, and one around the top tube of the bike. They are simple circles cut in half then jointed at one end, with a bolt on the other side so that they can clam shell around the frame. I have then tapped one bolt hole into the clamp to hold the camera'

I like very much the speed sense that is transmited by this recording system. I think is due to combination of a low point of view and a narrow trail. The angle on inclination in corners adds dynamism.

Of course this setting thrashs largely the more usual mounting in handlebar that, in my opinion is not good because of infuriating movement from side to side, mainly in slow paths

Here you can see one more:


Caughlin Mountain Bike Singletrack - Great Basin Bicycles- Reno Tahoe Nevada from Rich Staley on Vimeo.

Many other videos from Rich Staley in Great Basin Bicycles in that you can find trail maps arround Reno, Nevada (USA)

AEE MINI DV MD80 clon "shitcam"

Can you buy a helmet camera that really works for $18.00 ?
more or less.... that's the MINI DV MD80 (clon of AEE MINI DV MD80). It does not the perfect camera ;-) but $ 18,00 including shipping from Hong Kong !!!!!

Lumix DMC TS1 (FT1 in Europe) samples

VIDEO VGA resolution.

Lumix TS1 records good VGA videos: White balance, exposure and contrast are better than any specific 'helmet' cam that I know.

Angle wide (28 mm equivalent) is enough for helmet use, it is waterproof and seems strong for outdoor sports.

Internal stabilization works moderately good in VGA resolutions but it's not infalible. I would prefer that TS1 had the possibility to turn off the steady function. (I think that PC software would improve their results).

enduro Onda 09 from montonm on Vimeo.

This video was edited with Premiere Elemments that forces me to work at 1280x720 and then to resize to its original resolution at 640x480 with VirtualDub (That may be one cause of noticeable pixelation in Vimeo. You can download best sample HERE)

Most of these sequences have not been stabilized by software, and there are some shots with other cameras.

MY FIRST VIDEO HD:

Recording at HD resolution (720p) is superb to make impressive images but is more difficult to obtain smooth sequences. The Lumix TS1 stabilizer works worse than in VGA resolution, and PC software may not prevent all shakes.

Another little problem with HD is that angle wide is the same, but  image format is narrowed. It's more difficult to frame the subject.

Las emboscadas de la Bicuerca from montonm on Vimeo.

This is my first complete MTB video in HD (720p) resolution. Only a few sequences have been stabilized in the edition process.

An aditional difficulty in european model (FT1) is that Lumix records only 8 minutes continuously (15 minutes in "AVCHD lite" compression).

H.EXP. 1.2 -return to origins-

Cycle is closing and I have retorned to similar mounting system that I had used at first experiences about helmetcam.

Cable-Cam, by Bri

The idea is simple: A taut cable between trees and a camcorder moving along and recording incredible footage. This is not 'Helmetcam' anymore, but it's 'experience', isn't?

Choosing stabilizer

Stabilization test. A little shaken MTB path from montonm on Vimeo.