The wishlist for motorcycle and ridding camera

[RockThinking]

Motorcycle manufacturers go to great lengths to fit mirrors that do not vibrate. Handlebars are often fitted with weights at the ends to act as mass vibration dampers. Why not mount a camera on the mirror stem or, even better, mount a discrete camera inside a replacement purpose-designed mirror body?

Mirror bodies are large enough to take the workings of a camera plus a decent sized battery

To take it further, how about a front view camera on one side of the handlebar (or fairing), and rear view on the other?

Having said all that, I would still prefer a discrete helmet mounted system, but something that fits flip-front, full-face, and open-face helmets in one solution is quite a design problem!

PS. A helmet mounted microphone would also be ideal to make verbal notes of registration numbers, etc.

I can confirm you, the above your needs can be achieved in the working on new development.

 

[gordon861]

Having said all that, I would still prefer a discrete helmet mounted system, but something that fits flip-front, full-face, and open-face helmets in one solution is quite a design problem!

The Contour cameras work on all helmet types due to fitting on the side of the helmet rather than the top, mine is fitted to a flip up lid with no problems.

 

[RockThinking]

The Contour cameras work on all helmet types due to fitting on the side of the helmet rather than the top, mine is fitted to a flip up lid with no problems.

As motorcycle camera, the mount to fit all helmet types including top and side would be very important.
We have been working on that.

 

[FlyingPanMan]

The Contour cameras work on all helmet types due to fitting on the side of the helmet rather than the top, mine is fitted to a flip up lid with no problems.

Yeah, I've mounted my Sony on the side of my helmets and many others can be mounted that way, but the key word in my sentence is "discrete".

In other words, a camera that no-one can see and stops silly questions like "Is that a camera?" and "What do you use that for?" - a fitting that looks like part of the helmet and not a brick on the side of it.

 

[FlyingPanMan]

I can confirm you, the above your needs can be achieved in the working on new development.

That sounds very good. I think there is a lot of potential for an integrated system.

For example, even if I used my idea for front and rear facing mirror-mounted cameras, I would still want to use a helmet camera due to the huge coverage it gives by simply turning the head.

A good system could make a fortune... has anyone ever counted the number of two-wheel users in the world?

 

[Dashmellow]

Yeah, I've mounted my Sony on the side of my helmets and many others can be mounted that way, but the key word in my sentence is "discrete".

In other words, a camera that no-one can see and stops silly questions like "Is that a camera?" and "What do you use that for?" - a fitting that looks like part of the helmet and not a brick on the side of it.

I think you makes some very good points here. So often we see products on the market designed by engineers who have no real experience with the activity the product is designed for. And it's not just product engineers. Where I live I am a member of a food COOP that spent years raising the money to build a state of the art, energy efficient modern natural foods supermarket. It looks lovely and is indeed very energy efficient but it is seems to everyone who works and shops there that the architects who designed the place have never set foot in a grocery store and certainly never worked in one. A motorcycle cam needs to be designed by someone who rides all the time and knows where the heart of such a product is.

 

[Dashmellow]

I can confirm you, the above your needs can be achieved in the working on new development.

Excited to see what you are working on.

 

[RockThinking]

Excited to see what you are working on.

Wait a while, you will see the new development.

After C1 released, we have been learned and listened what people's need.
and being awarded people are looking for a simple and easy using camera for motorcycling.

Why can not make it?

 

[Art]

Perhaps a wireless camera that could be mounted to the helmet, although my modular helmet is a flip up front and has openings for either earphones or bluetooth, something like that. The space to attach something is rather small. But a strictly helmet mounted system is of limited use to me as I'm not required to wear a helmet where I live in the U.S. So I'd personally lean towards something mounted to the bike itself, with remote lenses.

 

[RockThinking]

But a strictly helmet mounted system is of limited use to me as I'm not required to wear a helmet where I live in the U.S. .

What is wrong for you to wear a helmet when you live in the U.S.?

So I'd personally lean towards something mounted to the bike itself, with remote lenses.

Other reason people like mount the camera on bike instead of helmet is because they turn head very often, the recording would be not stable.

 

[Art]

I'm just saying that I don't wear a helmet very often, because I'm not required to and I choose not to wear one. So if I wasn't wearing a helmet, I'd need an alternate location for mounting a camera, or remote lense.

 

[RockThinking]

I'm just saying that I don't wear a helmet very often, because I'm not required to and I choose not to wear one. So if I wasn't wearing a helmet, I'd need an alternate location for mounting a camera, or remote lense.

From the new development, you could mount the camera on helmet or on motorcycle. the remote lens allow you do what you like.

 

[RockThinking]

Base on the discussion, the wished features has been sorted and combined together.
That would be easy and clear for review.
Further more,
As the mount system are the key features of the motorcycle camera,
if photos of the mounts including the DIY ones can be shared, what would be good reference.

 

[RockThinking]

The wishlist has been collected and optimized.
The fantastic development will be released in coming months.

Below is the blog for share,
What is the good motorcycling cam, Where is it?

http://innovvactioncam.blogspot.com/2014/06/what-is-good-motorcycling-cam-where-is.html

 

[kamkar]

It would be nice with EIS, but since that dont seem to Work that good on the gopro 3 cameras it might be a problem.
Though i do undestand the EIS Works good on the sony action cameras AS 15 - 30 - 100

I think this new stuff still might be worth strapping to my RC toys for sure i will keep a eye out for the new product.

My C1 is good and well worth the mony i payed for it, but for my needs it is still possible to make a even better product.

 

[FlyingPanMan]

"It would be nice with EIS, but since that dont seem to Work that good on the gopro 3 cameras it might be a problem.
Though i do undestand the EIS Works good on the sony action cameras AS 15 - 30 - 100"

I have a Sony AS-15 and, although the EIS (Electronic Image Stabilisation) works extremely well, there are drawbacks.

Firstly, EIS samples the full video frame then zooms in on the centre of the image and basically moves the frame around the centre. This means that a 170 degree view/frame angle has to be reduced to around 120 degrees, hence EIS cannot work on 170 degree setting on the Sony cameras.

Secondly, high frequency vibrations still affects the video. Only normal, human-type shakiness is reduced and occasionally with some weird effects.

Due too this method, it means that the stabilised image is not quite as sharp (a bit like digital zoom) and video shot in poor light can be blurry.

Now most of us have seen YouTube's attempts at video stabilisation and they are pathetic. I use Cyberlink PowerDirector for editing and it does stabilisation probably as good as the AS-15 camera's built-in software. I think most other decent editing software probably does the same. Consequently, I do not use image stabilisation (Sony call it "steadyshot") so I get a sharper, more detailed 170 degree video. If it's too shaky, I just use PowerDirector's stabilising effect.

I want detail in my shot... e.g. registration numbers that I can zoom in on. If I want a smoother, cinematic experience, then I switch to "Steadyshot".

 

[MrFluff]

Base on the discussion, the wished features has been sorted and combined together.
That would be easy and clear for review.
Further more,
As the mount system are the key features of the motorcycle camera,
if photos of the mounts including the DIY ones can be shared, what would be good reference.

View attachment 5540

I'd just add constant charge/auto on with power.
As for the lens, a cable that is long enough. 8 inches like the Mobius really isn't much.

 

[RockThinking]

As for the lens, a cable that is long enough. 8 inches like the Mobius really isn't much.

How long do you need?
1.5m or 3m?

 

[MrFluff]

How long do you need?
1.5m or 3m?

Haha, 3m is insane. I was thinking 30-50cm would give more mounting options. But hey, if you can do meters, by all means... You could have everything under the seat and run the lens to the front of the bike. 1.5m is ample enough.

All those setups I've seen so far have a VGA resolution or so though.

 

[gordon861]

Surely the whole point of cables with the camera on the end is that they can be extended easily?

I assume that a camera cable will require four cores (+/- power and two for the video, perhaps two more if you have audio), if you are going to make extension leads that can be plugged in to make it longer then please make sure the plugs are round instead of square. This way way you can use heat-shrink wrap rubber to seal it, square plugs can rarely be sealed fully.

On the subject of wiring, if it's going on a bike it probably needs to be a bit more robust than you would need in a car. Perhaps taking a leaf out of the CCTV market and using a Cat5 style cable for the wiring would work well, it won't be as flexible as the normal thin cables but it will survive more abuse. I use Cat5 to run power, video and sound to an external CCTV Dome camera and it works well.