Introduction:
Reading a few forums I noticed that a few folk were videoing their exploits using helmet cameras.
Looking at the systems being used they tended to be pretty high quality (and pretty expensive) DV setups where a helmet-mounted camera is attached (either by wires or wireless) to a boat mounted DV recorder in a peli case. Interesting, but for me; too expensive and at the level of my paddling and swim-history …not really practical.
While looking at this I noted that actioncameras.co.uk were selling a self-contained helmet cam made by those purveyors of household weather gadgets; Oregon Scientific. At first the ‘name’ put me off; but at the price I was curious so decided to give it a go and the unit went to the top of my Christmas list.
Overview:
The unit in question; an ATC-2K is a solid state device that writes to an SD card in AVI format.
The recording options are as follows:
VGA 640 x 480 pixels
QVGA 320 x 240
QQVGA 160 x 120
All three modes can be shot at either 15 or 30 fps.
The unit handles cards up to 2GB which at max resolution and frame rate (480x640 at 30fps) relates to just over an hour of footage. At lower frame rates and lower resolution (but still good enough for posting on sites like you-tube) the 2GB card can hold several hours of footage. I would suggest that QVGA is the smallest resolution that is useful. At QVGA at 15fps that unit will hold just under 4hrs.
The unit is rather like the AVI or QT movie functions that you get with most digital cameras, but in this case clad in a small, bullet-like waterproof housing (about the size of a police baton-round or rubber bullet)
The unit works on normal AA-batteries which at first glance is a bit low tech but as the owner of several devices that use dedicated re-chargeable cells, it really is the best option. They are cheap, you can get them anywhere in the world and carrying spares is dead easy. You can also buy rechargeable- AA’s with a solar charger from places like maplins for those long trips to far-flung places. Not an easy option for most DV-cams.
Operating temperatures are stated to down to 0C but lower temperatures are possible if lithium cells are used. The instructions mention a neoprene sleeve to insulate the unit and drop the operating temperature even further but I hear that these are not yet available but it should be simple to make your own.
Cost and Source:
£159 from actioncameras.co.uk. I found them very helpful and genuinely interested in what I was doing. They are neither a ‘gadget shop’ nor specific to any sport but rather a supplier of mini cameras for use in all extreme situations and supply anyone from individuals like me to F1 motor-racing teams. As one of their cheaper options I was worried that such an outfit would not treat me seriously but my fears were ungrounded as they have so far supplied an excellent and attentive service. When you call them you often get an answer phone; don’t be put off; they always ring back promptly.
In the box:
The unit comes in a ‘blister-pack’ which is a little disappointing and misleading but it is pleasing to report that the manufacturers have concentrated on the equipment not on its presentation:
With the unit you get the camera, manual, helmet mount with rubber strap, a few additional Velcro mounting straps, some double sided Velcro, self-adhesive rubber strips, USB cable, RCA type AV cable (for plugging into the TV) and a handlebar mount!. You also get two o-rings and a pot of silicone grease to lubricate them with to finish off the waterproof seal.
The claim is that the unit is not waterproof (just splash proof) but the instructions hint that when two o-rings are used in tandem with the grease then the unit will be totally waterproof at surface pressures.
No software is needed or included as the unit will plug into most macs/PC’s via a USB cable and appear on the Desktop (mac) or in My computer (windows) as a removable storage disk as it supports USB mass storage protocol.
Mounting:
The unit feels solid and well made and the unit mounted quickly onto my protect Ace. I supplemented the grip of the rubber strap with some gaffer tape. Additional and I guess un-necessary security was added by cable-tying the strap to the helmet through the aces front and back drain/air holes. This gives a very firm and stable platform. The camera is easily unclipped from this pretty permanent set-up for clipping into the other mounts supplied as affixed to your mountain bike, cat etc and for plugging into your PC.
In-use:
The unit is controlled with three keys, on-off, shooting start/stop and menu. They are rubberized buttons that you have to press quite hard but possible with gloved hands.
Menu functions are things like resolution and frame-rate etc.
The footage from the highest resolution fastest frame rate mode is actually surprisingly good. Better than any web-footage that I have seen from this type of thing (compression-for-web alters the view of all DV or MPEG footage anyway).
The unit reacts well to different light levels but can be fooled into underexposure when faced with a bright light in the centre of the field of view but this is not a big problem in my opinion. Colour rendering is good but can be just a little washed out in strong light; again not a big issue and certainly amazing considering price and size etc.
Obviously the quality is not full-broadcast DV but great for almost any other application.
Battery life is about 3-4hrs from Energiser alkaline batteries.
‘Testing’ at the Tees Barrage proved the unit to be fully waterproofed (when assembled as directed); a protracted ‘inverted’ session and a swim proved this to be so…..
The mounting stayed secure and the resultant footage pretty stable.
Uploading:
Uploading to a host computer is fast and efficient and the card can also be plugged into a card reader. The footage is in AVI so it can easily be edited by the software that comes with most new PC’s. I used Imovie and Quicktime that cam with my mac.
You have to unscrew the waterproof housing (pretty obviously) to plug the unit in and I am aware that this will stretch the o-rings in time as the silicone grease is pretty sticky and ‘drags’ them a little when you unscrew the housing I expect that they should last for many months depending on how you treat the unit but these should be cheap easy-to-obtain consumable items.
Overall I really like the unit. I plan to take it surfing and on ‘real rivers’ as soon as I can. It gives great footage and feels and performs far better than you would expect.
The only real downside is that you do look a little like a member of ‘The Borg Collective’ with the unit in place. Also beware that most people will be expecting you to pull some killer moves if you are going to be videoing your trip!!!
For more reading the instruction manual is available for download on Actioncamera.co.uk’s website.
JDH 2/1/07 |
