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.

Improving H.EXP 7.0: 7.0+ and 7.1+

The H.EXP 7.0 was designed thinking to put every kind of cameras in, but obviously cameras with light weight and small size makes to wear the helmet more comfortable. Recently I bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC FT1 (TS1 in USA) and I was looking for the best way to carry it on the helmet.

CMOS: wobble - jello effect -

In my first experiences with wobbling of footage after stabilization process,I thought it was caused by cheap lenses distorting the images, but the main factor is the CMOS sensor inside many photo cameras, video cámeras and most of 'one-piece helmetcams' that you can buy.
It is the result of operation by 'rolling shutter', opposite to 'global shutter' usual in CCD sensors.

7.0 (universal mounting)

Everytime that I start a experiment, I expect it will be the definitive. One more time, I was sure that it would be in this way.

Face-Cam from La Palma

A speciality of HelmetCam that occasionally you can see in the web is when the camera focuses directly to the face of rider. The first video I saw was THIS from Ft William taken by Sam Hill. (Probably it is well-known),
The next is a video recorded by Spiri and Ruben, in La Palma, (Canary Islands, Spain), and they recorded too a 'How to do' where we can see exactly how they did it:

el pino 08 on board (Jeta-Cam) from montonm on Vimeo.