Cameras

[Burger]

On my observed ride yesterday the trainee observer had a bullet cam mounted to the side of his helmet which was plugged into his camcorder in his pocket. The results were fantastically clear video images. Does anyone know of a good source for such cameras? I've done a quick search of the web but haven't managed to find exactly what he had. If anyone has such a thing, I'd be very interested in your opinions etc.

Thanks,

[Earache]

I bought mine from a place in the UK. Here's the link:
http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/

His had a higher resolution than my previous cam from www.helmetcamera.com and had a much more clear picture.

[tricky_micky]

Dave

I have used Dave Pendry in the past for cameras and mounts. He has been very helpful and built a system for me to mount the camera on the Flip Top helmet. The mount was difficult to work out as he had only worked on full face helmets before. I sent him an old X-Lite to mess with, and he came up with an excellent point.

I use a 'Lipstick' or 'Bullet' camera that can be mounted left or right side of the helmet. It can be adjusted in order to pan and tilt the camera before tightening it up.

I have a digital walkman set up and when in use, I have an extra lead from Autocom that plugs into the passenger lead of the system and it gives me sound when taping.

The reason I did this was for training purposes and also I made a demonstration video of advanced riding with full commentary. I have since put the film to CD and DVD, and when run on a large screen from a projector, it is pretty cool, and I use it for our advanced courses. When run on the PC, the picture is a little digitzed as it really needs to be on the large screen.

However, it works for me. The equipment is expensive if you buy top quality, as mentioned, Sonic will blow you away with their prices, but even so, you would look at about £1,300.00 for a good set up, that is what it cost me some years ago.

Nowadays, it is too much hassle to mess with the damn stuff, but it is there at hand should I need it.

Take a look at this and you will see what I mean about the camera mount.

http://www.twowheeladvancedtraining.co.uk/reviews.htm


Mick

[Tim4255]

I bought mine from a place in the UK. Here's the link:
http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/

His had a higher resolution than my previous cam from www.helmetcamera.com and had a much more clear picture.

Did you have the 480 Line version from www.helmetcamera.com? They sell a lower resolution unit also. I have the 480 Line model and have been very happy with it.

Tim :03biker:

[Burger]

All good stuff fellas... thanks. Not sure I want to spend 1300 quid Mick :D But some of the stuff on the other links looks exactly what the other bloke had yesterday. I'll give them a call tomorrow because it's not obvious to me from their web site what I need.

Thanks,

[tricky_micky]

All good stuff fellas... thanks. Not sure I want to spend 1300 quid Mick :D But some of the stuff on the other links looks exactly what the other bloke had yesterday. I'll give them a call tomorrow because it's not obvious to me from their web site what I need.

Thanks,

Dave

The other thing of course was that I can offset mine against tax for training purposes!

Mick

[Earache]

Did you have the 480 Line version from www.helmetcamera.com? They sell a lower resolution unit also. I have the 480 Line model and have been very happy with it.

Tim :03biker:


Yes, I had the 480 line. Was working well until I crashed during a motocross race that I was videotaping. After getting hit several times by other bikes, the damned thing just quit working.

I suspect a defect in materials:D

Replaced it with one from RF Concepts and it works equally well. made some custom mounts for it and will be using them this year.

I also used a $45 camera from Fry Electronics just to see what it would do. Looks like crap! Had a hard time going from bright sunshine to cloudy areas and also had a red tint to the video. But it was only $45 - so i can't ***** too much.

Here's the video shot with the $45 camera:

http://earachemotorsports.com/videos.html

Click on "Deals Gap 05"

Eric

[Burger]

Received my camera from RF Concepts yesterday. They sent the wrong lens with it, emailed them, they phoned me this morning and put the right lens in the post to me straight away. That's service! They don't want the old lens back so I have a wide angle lens as well if I ever want it.

How and where have people mounted these on ST's? I have a sample of someone riding with one on their helmet, and their observation head movements make the resulting video a bit off putting - made Farkle (my wife) feel sea sick. I think therefore I'd be much better off with it mounted to the bike. Has anyone tried any of these sucker type mounts? I am thinking I might use the velcro mount under the front of the fairing (under the headlamps), but it isn't very rigid under there, and so I'm thinking vibration might be an issue. I don't really want to be drilling into my lovely spotless fairing :D

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

[Earache]

Burger -

Check out this mount: http://www.earachemotorsports.com/yokebig.gif

I made it to work with RAM balls. On the other end of this mount I have a RAM ball connected to a tube lens from RF Concepts. The camera can be aimed just about anywhere and remains very stable.

They can be mounted off of the clutch or brake lever perch or just about anywhere else.

Eric

[Burger]

Thanks Eric.

Problem is that's going to have a job seeing out of the front of my ST1300 :D

I think it also would mounted to the clutchor brake lever or resevoirs etc.

For the time being I'm going to try the velcro mount under the headlights I think. I'm a little concerned because the bodywork is a little flexible there but a test at the weekend will tell me one way or the other. If that fails then I might look at suction cup mounts somewhere like these (http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/helmetcammounts.htm). Only problem there is they're a bit pricey, especially as they say I'd need three.

Regards,

[Earache]

The RAM balls can be put anywhere. Drill a small hole in your tip over wing and mount it there. Great camera angle as you can see the the front tire moving about. The RAM ball with a U bolt on it woudl work well here.

Anytime you mount it outside of your tupperware, be sure to have some sort of cover over the lens- keep road debris, bugs, bird ****, etc off of it. I made an aluminum (sorry - aluminium) tube and then put a piece of Lexan (perspex) over the end of it. Bullet proof!

Eric

[Rob Hephner]

There are a few models by Samsung, here is the better one.

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Id=4082621&JRSource=googlebase.datafeed.SAM+SCX210L

[Tim4255]

For the time being I'm going to try the velcro mount under the headlights I think. I'm a little concerned because the bodywork is a little flexible there but a test at the weekend will tell me one way or the other.
Regards,

Your fender may come in contact with your camera under there. All it would take is a big bump that bottoms the forks and I think it will make contact. That could damage many expensive parts. I have been trying to find out how much space is there under maximum fork travel because I was looking at that space for a laser jammer.

Tim :03biker:

[Burger]

Tim,

I had a good look there yesterday because I happen to know that's where the police in the UK mount their bike cameras... shhhh, don't ask me how :D Anyhow, I had the same concerns as you, but came to the conclusion that if offet from the center line by a couple of inches (as per UK police), the front fender could not contact it. Not sure how big your laser jammer is, but that might work for you too?

Regards,

[Burger]

The RAM balls can be put anywhere. Drill a small hole in your tip over wing and mount it there. Great camera angle as you can see the the front tire moving about. The RAM ball with a U bolt on it woudl work well here.

Anytime you mount it outside of your tupperware, be sure to have some sort of cover over the lens- keep road debris, bugs, bird ****, etc off of it. I made an aluminum (sorry - aluminium) tube and then put a piece of Lexan (perspex) over the end of it. Bullet proof!

Eric

Thanks again Eric, I'm taking notes on all your good, and I dare say experienced, suggestions. Much appreciated.

Regards,

[tricky_micky]

Dave.

Have you thought about testing a mount underneath the offside mirror?

Just a thought as I have been looking for a good spot, and if you do make a solid mount, it would be easy enough to drill into the plastic and make it secure. You would just need the mount to give you the option to adjust the pan angle and tilt angle of the camera in order to point it where you want it to go.

[Burger]

See, I knew the word police would smoke you out Mick :D

I've looked all over the bike for suitable mounting positions and I did also think about the mirrors, on top or underneath. There's just one problem with that... I would first have to get over my aversion to drilling holes in my tupperware :D That's why I think the sucker mounts linked in my post above are a good idea... although what I want to know is this... If they're tested to 180mph, then how the hell do you get them off when you're done for the day? lol.

Regards,

[tricky_micky]

See, I knew the word police would smoke you out Mick :D

I've looked all over the bike for suitable mounting positions and I did also think about the mirrors, on top or underneath. There's just one problem with that... I would first have to get over my aversion to drilling holes in my tupperware :D That's why I think the sucker mounts linked in my post above are a good idea... although what I want to know is this... If they're tested to 180mph, then how the hell do you get them off when you're done for the day? lol.

Regards,

Dave

Go out and do 190mph :bow1:

Okay on the drilling, well think about the industrial velcro option under the mirrors, the only problem I have found with velcro is that it makes it difficult to get the camera angle as you want it to. As soon as you put the camera to the velcro, you may find the view is tilted. I found that problem when I used velcro for the helmet mount, it took me ages to get it right. I now have a good helmet mount that allows the pan and tilt but I do not want to keep smacking a large pice of velcro on my helmets.

I have some fixed mounts, and when I get round to it, I may look at setting the video up again on the bike, but at the moment, I am toooo busy making money LOL

All the best with your quest.

Mmmm, that rhyms, maybe I should have been a poet!

[Earache]

Thanks again Eric, I'm taking notes on all your good, and I dare say experienced, suggestions. Much appreciated.

Regards,


A couple more pics ...

[Burger]

Well, after a lot of experimenting with likely mounting points etc. I finally plummeted for Mick's suggestion of under the right mirror. This was the best spot for a number of reasons, but primarily because it's easy to adjust the camera with the mount clamp screw pointing in the right direction and it provides a very easy, but still temporary cable route back to the tank bag. Also it means I can put the camera connector in the right hand pocket and it won't be bashing against the tank.

I did have a problem with the mount to start with because no matter how tight I clamped it, it was easy to knock the camera out of position. First bump encountered on a ride would have seen it pointing at the road. I solved this by putting a small steel sleeve inside that helps to grip the ball. I'll find out tomorrow if it's really worked, on a longish ride.

A nice touch is that when the camera is completely disconnected, I can't see the mount... so it doesn't spoil the beautiful lines of the ST from the riders perspective :D

I've also ordered the 180mph sucker mounts for my helmet so I don't have to put an ugly velcro slab on it. They are 20 quid for three from the above link if anyone's interested.

To finish this off, although I can film now... I'm going to put the fairing powerlet socket in with an adapter cable to the tankbag to power both the bike cam and my DV cam and then get a LANC control so I can switch the recording on and off remotely.

Regards,

[Earache]

I make some driving light mounts that would work well for mounting your camera. The supplied mount that you use can be difficult to use at times.

If you want a mount (it's basically a bolt, spacer and some angle) for under your mirror, just let me know and I can whip one up for you. It'd keep your camera very stable.

Eric

[Tor]

Well, after a lot of experimenting with likely mounting points etc. I finally plummeted for Mick's suggestion of under the right mirror. This was the best spot for a number of reasons, but primarily because it's easy to adjust the camera with the mount clamp screw pointing in the right direction and it provides a very easy, but still temporary cable route back to the tank bag. Also it means I can put the camera connector in the right hand pocket and it won't be bashing against the tank.

I did have a problem with the mount to start with because no matter how tight I clamped it, it was easy to knock the camera out of position. First bump encountered on a ride would have seen it pointing at the road. I solved this by putting a small steel sleeve inside that helps to grip the ball. I'll find out tomorrow if it's really worked, on a longish ride.

A nice touch is that when the camera is completely disconnected, I can't see the mount... so it doesn't spoil the beautiful lines of the ST from the riders perspective :D

I've also ordered the 180mph sucker mounts for my helmet so I don't have to put an ugly velcro slab on it. They are 20 quid for three from the above link if anyone's interested.

To finish this off, although I can film now... I'm going to put the fairing powerlet socket in with an adapter cable to the tankbag to power both the bike cam and my DV cam and then get a LANC control so I can switch the recording on and off remotely.

Regards,

Sweet setup.......Now we need to watch some video's, Dave.......:)

[Burger]

Geeze... gimme a chance would ya :D

I expect to be shooting some video tomorrow when I go to the National launch for Bikesafe here in the UK. I'll string something together from that and see what I can post.

Regards,

[Burger]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr :rolleyes:

If I didn't explain that well enough... oh... can't be bothered :D

[NCSam]

I make some driving light mounts that would work well for mounting your camera. The supplied mount that you use can be difficult to use at times.

If you want a mount (it's basically a bolt, spacer and some angle) for under your mirror, just let me know and I can whip one up for you. It'd keep your camera very stable.

Eric

Sounds interesting. Picture? Cost? ....

Thx, Sam

[CruisingDog]

Well, after a lot of experimenting with likely mounting points etc. I finally plummeted for Mick's suggestion of under the right mirror. This was the best spot for a number of reasons, but primarily because it's easy to adjust the camera with the mount clamp screw pointing in the right direction and it provides a very easy, but still temporary cable route back to the tank bag. Also it means I can put the camera connector in the right hand pocket and it won't be bashing against the tank.

I did have a problem with the mount to start with because no matter how tight I clamped it, it was easy to knock the camera out of position. First bump encountered on a ride would have seen it pointing at the road. I solved this by putting a small steel sleeve inside that helps to grip the ball. I'll find out tomorrow if it's really worked, on a longish ride.

A nice touch is that when the camera is completely disconnected, I can't see the mount... so it doesn't spoil the beautiful lines of the ST from the riders perspective :D

I've also ordered the 180mph sucker mounts for my helmet so I don't have to put an ugly velcro slab on it. They are 20 quid for three from the above link if anyone's interested.

To finish this off, although I can film now... I'm going to put the fairing powerlet socket in with an adapter cable to the tankbag to power both the bike cam and my DV cam and then get a LANC control so I can switch the recording on and off remotely.

Regards,

Dave, Excellent job. BTW if you wantd to be really anal about your colours you could spray the mount & Camera the same colour as the bike. It only costs a couple of quid for touch up paint.

[Earache]

Sounds interesting. Picture? Cost? ....

Thx, Sam


Sam -

A pic is here: http://www.earachemotorsports.com/stlightbig.gif

This picture has a driving light mounted on it, but just about any light weighht item can be fabbed to fit. All aluminum and then powdercoated.

cost: $10 or a couple of beers next time I'm in North Carolina:D

Eric

[Burger]

Sorry fellas but there isn't any on bike video from today. If you read my post in the riding techniques forum, you'll see it was raining nearly all day and setting up the camera and stuff just wasn't important. I did take a couple of still photos that I'll post in my gallery later, but you'll have to wait for my first on bike video. Hopefully this will be next weekend when a few from here are meeting up and going for a ride together.

I left the camera on the bike though and I am pleased to report it appears to have held it's position. So the mount and set up seem to be very good.

Regards,

[CruisingDog]

Sorry fellas but there isn't any on bike video from today. If you read my post in the riding techniques forum, you'll see it was raining nearly all day and setting up the camera and stuff just wasn't important. I did take a couple of still photos that I'll post in my gallery later, but you'll have to wait for my first on bike video. Hopefully this will be next weekend when a few from here are meeting up and going for a ride together.

I left the camera on the bike though and I am pleased to report it appears to have held it's position. So the mount and set up seem to be very good.

Regards,

Any chance of taking a still shot through the camera/CCD so we can see what the point-of-view looks like ? I'm interested to see what amount of the road is visible and what the fairnings obscure (if anything).

[tricky_micky]

I will try and get these on the post.

Two stills taken from a video I made, the speed of the bike at that time was well above our national speed limit!

Camera is a Lipstick or Bullet type, and was helmet mounted on a Nolan X-Lite with a purpose built camera mount.

8547 8546

I know the camera is in a different position to Burgers, but it is a start.

If I could get the video up onto one of my web sites, I will get a link to it, the video has full commentary and is now on DVD, wether I can get it onto the web site may be an issue for me, but I will try in the next couple of days

[Burger]

Any chance of taking a still shot through the camera/CCD so we can see what the point-of-view looks like ? I'm interested to see what amount of the road is visible and what the fairnings obscure (if anything).

Hm, I can certainly try to do that. I have a Sony DCR-HC90 Mini DV camera that also has the ability to take still pics, at good resolution onto a memory stick. In fact the two linked photos were taken today on this and then I made them smaller to post in my gallery.

Photos here (http://www.st-owners.com/gallery/browseimages.php?c=54).

I have fitted the bike cam in such a way that you will not see any of the fairing through it. As you might know, the bike cam is hooked up to the DV cam through its AV IN socket. I'm not sure if it's possible to take still pics in this mode as to record through the AV IN the camera must be in playback mode. But, I will check, and failing anything else I can always make stills from any video I shoot.

Regards,

[Medicine Bear]

Look out, Mick! You're on the wrong side of the road!!! :D

Fred :03biker:

[tricky_micky]

Okay, bitten by the bug again!

Been messing today and got the video equipment up and running. I have mounted the camera under the mirror with industrial velcro, should be okay for my test purposes. I do have a purpose built mount where I can adjust the angles of the camera quite easily.

Now, anyone mounted the video recorder in the top box? I do not want to mount it in the tank bag as this is in the way as far as I am concerned, and is a PIB

I am now looking to get the cables into the top box and then to the recorder, anyone any ideas apart from drilling a ruddy great hole and threading the cables through. I was thinking of a panel of some sortes that could be fixed to the top box so that when running video, you just plug the leads into the connectors and away you go. When finished, you just unplug and the top box can be removed.

If anyone has got any ideas on this subject, I am all ears.

I think some of you are running your cameras straight from the bike, be careful as you should have a regulated power supply feeding the camera, if not, it could blow the camera if there is a 'Spike' in the bikes electrics

[Burger]

I think you'll have to drill holes Micky or put in sockets as you suggest which would probably make for a much neater installation. What are you going to do with the camera cable though? Run it under the seat? And, do you have a mechanism for remote controlling the camera, as in the recording device? In which case, where are you going to run those cables?

I like my camera under the mirror, but I wouldn't mind finding somewhere even less obtrusive for it. I'm still experimenting with getting it under the headlamps somewhere, but don't want it where it can slam into the front mudguard on full suspension travel.

As far as the power goes, I'm still powering mine off the battery pack, but I thought the 12V accessory circuit was regulated on the ST?

Regards,

[Tim4255]

I have my camera mounted on my left tip over wing cover with a dash mount from www.helmetcamera.com
Sometimes it's fun to watch the abuse the front forks take on the average road. I was going to try and post a 50 second video here so you could see what the video looks like from that location but, the file size is 25MB and making it any smaller will make the quality drop very quickly. I tried a few video web sites but they want to change the format of the video and it looks like crap when they are done.

If anyone has an ftp I can upload it to let me know. It is in MPEG4 format at the moment.

Tim :03biker:

[sttourer]

Okay, bitten by the bug again!

Been messing today and got the video equipment up and running. I have mounted the camera under the mirror with industrial velcro, should be okay for my test purposes. I do have a purpose built mount where I can adjust the angles of the camera quite easily.

Now, anyone mounted the video recorder in the top box? I do not want to mount it in the tank bag as this is in the way as far as I am concerned, and is a PIB

I am now looking to get the cables into the top box and then to the recorder, anyone any ideas apart from drilling a ruddy great hole and threading the cables through. I was thinking of a panel of some sortes that could be fixed to the top box so that when running video, you just plug the leads into the connectors and away you go. When finished, you just unplug and the top box can be removed.

If anyone has got any ideas on this subject, I am all ears.

I think some of you are running your cameras straight from the bike, be careful as you should have a regulated power supply feeding the camera, if not, it could blow the camera if there is a 'Spike' in the bikes electrics

Mick,

My video cam is located in the top box. I've got some information on my setup here (http://members.cox.net/sttourer/). RC was interested so I threw it together.

Pat

[AuntyGranty]

Okay, bitten by the bug again!

Been messing today and got the video equipment up and running. I have mounted the camera under the mirror with industrial velcro, should be okay for my test purposes. I do have a purpose built mount where I can adjust the angles of the camera quite easily.

Now, anyone mounted the video recorder in the top box? I do not want to mount it in the tank bag as this is in the way as far as I am concerned, and is a PIB

I am now looking to get the cables into the top box and then to the recorder, anyone any ideas apart from drilling a ruddy great hole and threading the cables through. I was thinking of a panel of some sortes that could be fixed to the top box so that when running video, you just plug the leads into the connectors and away you go. When finished, you just unplug and the top box can be removed.

If anyone has got any ideas on this subject, I am all ears.

I think some of you are running your cameras straight from the bike, be careful as you should have a regulated power supply feeding the camera, if not, it could blow the camera if there is a 'Spike' in the bikes electrics
Mick,

When I installed my Honda RDS radio I wasn't happy with where Honda suggested mounting the antenna (up front beside the windscreen) so I ran the coax down to the top box and used the connectors below to ensure rapid removal of the box if required. They have an IP68 water ingress rating and make disconnection of the box very simple whilst retaining reliability.
RS Components (Radio Spares) stock them but as is usual with them they are not very cheap (about £6 each I think).
I have the RS part numbers if you're interested.

Grant

[tricky_micky]

Re the IP68 joints, I was talking to a friend of mine last night, and he told me about those and so started to look at them on the web.

I would appreciate the part numbers if you have them please. I dont mind paying the price for them so long as they are top notch and what I want, and I know IP68 gear is totally waterproof, so if you could drop me the numbers, I can follow that up.

PAT

Many thanks for those pictures of how you set your video system up, looks complicated but I managed to work it out in the end LOL. I am only looking at one front mounted camera, and it is for training purposes only. I used to run with the video in the tank bag but it was a pain in the butt when riding, hence me looking at the mount in the top box.

I am not running a standard handy cam, I have a Sony Walkman Video with a 4" screen for playback, and other little gizzmos that are good.

Dave

If you notice on Pats set up, he is running a 12v regulated power unit on his kit. It is recommended that you run all expensive equiment such as video, via a regulated supply rather than relying on the bike.

Many thanks for the input, I will look forward to Grants reply and maybe it will seal the deal so to speak.

[AuntyGranty]

Re the IP68 joints, I was talking to a friend of mine last night, and he told me about those and so started to look at them on the web.

I would appreciate the part numbers if you have them please. I dont mind paying the price for them so long as they are top notch and what I want, and I know IP68 gear is totally waterproof, so if you could drop me the numbers, I can follow that up.

PAT

Many thanks for those pictures of how you set your video system up, looks complicated but I managed to work it out in the end LOL. I am only looking at one front mounted camera, and it is for training purposes only. I used to run with the video in the tank bag but it was a pain in the butt when riding, hence me looking at the mount in the top box.

I am not running a standard handy cam, I have a Sony Walkman Video with a 4" screen for playback, and other little gizzmos that are good.

Dave

If you notice on Pats set up, he is running a 12v regulated power unit on his kit. It is recommended that you run all expensive equiment such as video, via a regulated supply rather than relying on the bike.

Many thanks for the input, I will look forward to Grants reply and maybe it will seal the deal so to speak.
Mick,

RS Component numbers as follows:

494-4291 IP68 SMB Rewireable Plug.
494-4342 IP68 SMB Chassis Jack 0.5m (has coax already terminated on jack).
426-0981 IP68 8 way Cable Socket.
426-1035 IP68 8 way Chassis Plug.

You will need to buy the pins/sockets separately to go into the last two items. ( RS for you ;) )

They come in bags of 10 and are:

426-1322 Pin Contact Solder 5A
426-1344 Skt Contact Solder 5A

These are the components I used to extend my antenna and power the antenna amp to the topbox, take a look at RS online (www.rswww.com (http://www.rswww.com)) you may find something better suiting your needs.

Grant

[Earache]

I have my camera mounted on my left tip over wing cover with a dash mount from www.helmetcamera.com
Sometimes it's fun to watch the abuse the front forks take on the average road. I was going to try and post a 50 second video here so you could see what the video looks like from that location but, the file size is 25MB and making it any smaller will make the quality drop very quickly. I tried a few video web sites but they want to change the format of the video and it looks like crap when they are done.

If anyone has an ftp I can upload it to let me know. It is in MPEG4 format at the moment.

Tim :03biker:


Tim -

I have an ftp site you post it to. PM if you wanna put it there and I'll get the info to you.

Eric