Recently I bought one of those cheap mini cams off ebay. One of the ideas was to somehow mount it on my helmet and record rides and generally let it run in the event of an accident. (that could be a double edged sword). The thing is very small and I didn't expect much. It worked fairly okay and I posted a 10 minute ride on the tube. This was taken early in the morning and was the first time I used the camera so there's some good and bad.
These little cameras use mjpeg for capture so what it does is take one jpeg picture at a time. That's okay if your'e still but when moving rapidly it gets jumpy. I was able to stabilize it somewhat with my software and then youtube said it could correct it even more so I let it alter the video. Should have left it as I had it but what the hey....
I tried the filming with the visor up and down because the way I have it mounted it is under the visor when the visor is down. With the light the way it was in the morning there is considerable glare on the inside of the visor and the little camera actually performed better with the visor up.
I was worried about wind noise but the only thing I noticed was if exposed to too much wind it just got quiet.
Just though I would leave a post here for any thinking about a similar setup. The cameras are really cheap but try to find a stateside supplier because it's hell dealing with someone in Hong Kong when things don't work. I paid about the same as you would from a HK supplier to a company in California. Price included shipping and I had the camera on the third day after ordering it. Their price was $34. I got one on a bid on ebay for 1 cent but they charged me $15 for shipping and when the camera arrived it did not work so I'm guessing the sent me a junk one. It won't turn on but hey, lesson learned and I intend to use it to see what make them tick.
So here's a link to the video if you interested.
These little cameras use mjpeg for capture so what it does is take one jpeg picture at a time. That's okay if your'e still but when moving rapidly it gets jumpy. I was able to stabilize it somewhat with my software and then youtube said it could correct it even more so I let it alter the video. Should have left it as I had it but what the hey....
I tried the filming with the visor up and down because the way I have it mounted it is under the visor when the visor is down. With the light the way it was in the morning there is considerable glare on the inside of the visor and the little camera actually performed better with the visor up.
I was worried about wind noise but the only thing I noticed was if exposed to too much wind it just got quiet.
Just though I would leave a post here for any thinking about a similar setup. The cameras are really cheap but try to find a stateside supplier because it's hell dealing with someone in Hong Kong when things don't work. I paid about the same as you would from a HK supplier to a company in California. Price included shipping and I had the camera on the third day after ordering it. Their price was $34. I got one on a bid on ebay for 1 cent but they charged me $15 for shipping and when the camera arrived it did not work so I'm guessing the sent me a junk one. It won't turn on but hey, lesson learned and I intend to use it to see what make them tick.
So here's a link to the video if you interested.
