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Checking out a New Action Cam

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tshelfer

tshelfer

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Centennial, CO
First Name
Tim
Last Name
Shelfer
There was a thread a few weeks back about action cams, and how good the low-priced ones are or aren't. I picked up a $49 special from Amazon a few weeks ago, replacing my old $100 Ryder cam. Today was the first day I had a chance to mount it up & take it for a ride.

This is also my first time trying out Microsoft's Clipchamp editing software. I had previously used Shotcut which works fairly well, but is incredibly NONintuitive. I figured out Clipchamp just by trial and error, and created this admittedly crude video in about half an hour.

The big drawback with the new camera is that the motion stabilizing software doesn't seem to work as well as on my old camera. In any case, if you use a handlebar-mounted camera, there's gonna be a certain amount of shakiness. Maybe it's the camera; then again, maybe I need to get rid of those Shinko tires. If you helmet-mount your camera, my guess is you'll have a much smoother image. Also, after the ride, I mounted the camera to the windshield of my Subaru Legacy and the image was as glassy smooth as the Subi's suspension.

So for those of you wondering about low-cost cameras, here's an example. Judge for yourselves. I've never had a Go Pro, so I can't attest to how well it handles the same handlebar conditions.

By the way, the road in the video is Deer Creek Canyon Road, just SW of Denver proper. The entrance to the road is about 20 minutes from my house; it's a nice way to spend the morning.

 
It's the 80/20 rule at work, Scott. 80% of what you'd get in a more expensive camera for 20% of the price.
 
Flipit said:
Name of camera? Link?
Click to expand...
Here it is. To be honest, there are some dozens of action cams on Amazon for about the same price, and that all look about the same. Pick one & have a ball.

The reason I picked this one over the others was because the seller actually verified its weight (1.52 oz) in the writeup. When you have a camera mounted at the end of a 6" ram mount, weight is obviously critical. The more it weighs, the more it's going to vibrate. This little thing really is crazy light, as well as being about the size of a couple of Legos. The 2 primary buttons are large enough to manage while riding, and I can even see the view screen. Well, except that little red record button - those are never visible for some reason.

Next week, I'm gonna try a run up into the Front Range, but in my Subaru. Quality should be a lot better. Or so I hope, anyway, because I'm driving to California in Sep, and plan to get some videos along the way.

 
tshelfer said:
There was a thread a few weeks back about action cams, and how good the low-priced ones are or aren't. I picked up a $49 special from Amazon a few weeks ago, replacing my old $100 Ryder cam. Today was the first day I had a chance to mount it up & take it for a ride.

This is also my first time trying out Microsoft's Clipchamp editing software. I had previously used Shotcut which works fairly well, but is incredibly NONintuitive. I figured out Clipchamp just by trial and error, and created this admittedly crude video in about half an hour.

The big drawback with the new camera is that the motion stabilizing software doesn't seem to work as well as on my old camera. In any case, if you use a handlebar-mounted camera, there's gonna be a certain amount of shakiness. Maybe it's the camera; then again, maybe I need to get rid of those Shinko tires. If you helmet-mount your camera, my guess is you'll have a much smoother image. Also, after the ride, I mounted the camera to the windshield of my Subaru Legacy and the image was as glassy smooth as the Subi's suspension.

So for those of you wondering about low-cost cameras, here's an example. Judge for yourselves. I've never had a Go Pro, so I can't attest to how well it handles the same handlebar conditions.

By the way, the road in the video is Deer Creek Canyon Road, just SW of Denver proper. The entrance to the road is about 20 minutes from my house; it's a nice way to spend the morning.

Click to expand...
I'm old and get confused, but thought you got out of the riding game?
 
woodsguy said:
I'm old and get confused, but thought you got out of the riding game?
Click to expand...
Well, you are old and confused, Rob. But you're also right - I did say I was quitting riding altogether after my 2021 accident.

However, the VStrom was only superficially damaged, so instead of totaling it like they originally said, Progressive paid me a boatload of money for repairs. I ordered a few parts & I put it back together with the help of a friend. I'm done with long tours, and probably would be even without the accident, just because I don't have the strength, stamina, or butt-toughness that I had only 2 years ago. But last summer, I gradually got back into backroad riding, and there are a lot of backroads here. I do avoid interstates like the plague these days.
 
Well, I'm glad to hear that! Hope I'm not too confused, because I'm old for sure. Long trips are done for ne too, my legs and butt don't like.
 
tshelfer said:
I don't mean to torture, but now that I have a working cam again, I can put up a few videos.
Click to expand...
Please do, its triple digits here until November by the looks of it. I'll set up the monitor in the garage, sit ion my bike, and watch some riding while I make vroom vroom noises!
 
I do remember those dog days all too well. It doesn't stay hot as long here in the fall, but Denver is plenty warm right now; we're having our own heat wave. It was 95 Wednesday, 90 yesterday. I know, boo hoo for me! :tears: Denver heat is weird. 90 degrees feels like 100 on your skin because the thinner atmosphere doesn't soak up as much UV. But while you feel like you're about to spontaneously explode, you're not even sweating. :shrug: Of course the good news is that when you're geared up to ride at those temps, you remain relatively comfortable.

I'm riding a loop this morning down a back road to Monument, then back up another back road home. I'll see if it yields any decent video. Maybe at least a good picture of the Front Range.
 
I may give this another try. I spent over $200 years ago & couldn't get the videos off the sim card onto my computer. It's Apple. Lately I'm thinking about a camera to go on my helmet.
 
Your image looks good, clear and color correct. It'd benefit from better image stabilization. I believe there is image stabilization software available intended to be used after the fact. You feed it your clip and it does it's magic. For the life of me I can't recall the source but it'd be worth googling.
 
pwillikers said:
Your image looks good, clear and color correct. It'd benefit from better image stabilization. I believe there is image stabilization software available intended to be used after the fact. You feed it your clip and it does it's magic. For the life of me I can't recall the source but it'd be worth googling.
Click to expand...
I've already googled it, and there are some freewares out there. I haven't gotten around to trying one yet. The color is accurate, but full disclosure: when I edited it through Clipchamp, I increased the contrast & darkened the image just slightly - same thing I usually do to my still shots.

Out of curiosity, is that a Brittany in your profile picture?
 
I hope your eco cam holds up. The one I had a couple years ago did well with video quality but didn't handle harsh trails at all. Vibration and bumps were it's downfall. It started having occasional vision problems that eventually became blindness. It was one of those things you look at and wonder how they could even sell the things so cheap. No great loss.
 
1/2 Brittany, 1/2 Border Collie rescued as a pup. I loved this dog. Over the top energetic and easily the smartest dog ever. She knew what I was going to do before I did, kinda like my wife come to think of it. Actually, now that I am thinking about it, maybe it was just me. :-)
 
My two favorite breeds. I've had 5 Brittanies and a BC; I'll bet she is smart! My current dog is true mashup. But since his 17 identifiable breeds include multiple spaniels, multiple retrievers, multiple terriers, some Australian shepherd, and 1% coyote, he was able to get "smart" genes from a lot of places.
 
_RG_ said:
I hope your eco cam holds up. The one I had a couple years ago did well with video quality but didn't handle harsh trails at all. Vibration and bumps were it's downfall. It started having occasional vision problems that eventually became blindness. It was one of those things you look at and wonder how they could even sell the things so cheap. No great loss.
Click to expand...
I'm not too worried. My last cam lasted 2 years, and only died because the USB power port quit. In my experience, that's a pretty common failing. In any case, the new cam's total cost is less than taking my grandkids out for pizza. Not a huge financial investment.
 
tshelfer said:
Here it is. To be honest, there are some dozens of action cams on Amazon for about the same price, and that all look about the same. Pick one & have a ball.

The reason I picked this one over the others was because the seller actually verified its weight (1.52 oz) in the writeup. When you have a camera mounted at the end of a 6" ram mount, weight is obviously critical. The more it weighs, the more it's going to vibrate. This little thing really is crazy light, as well as being about the size of a couple of Legos. The 2 primary buttons are large enough to manage while riding, and I can even see the view screen. Well, except that little red record button - those are never visible for some reason.

Next week, I'm gonna try a run up into the Front Range, but in my Subaru. Quality should be a lot better. Or so I hope, anyway, because I'm driving to California in Sep, and plan to get some videos along the way.

Click to expand...
Got the Surfola SG230. Going to give it a test run this weekend. I have been using a Freedconn, but the helmet mount gives it slight angle.
 
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