Wearable camera

[comadose]

I'm looking for recommendations on wearable cameras. Ideally want something reasonably discrete for walking around.

Would also use it as an occasional dashcam maybe, with rental cars. Anything like that exist?

 

[EGS]

Would also use it as an occasional dashcam maybe, with rental cars. Anything like that exist?

I didn't think something like that exists. Not something that would be practical.

 

[SawMaster]

Some type of action cam might work but they're not designed for discretion and runtimes are short for use while driving. "Spy Pen cams" are made which fit in a shirt pocket but runtime is very short with low-res video and generally crappy quality all-round. "Keyri8ng" cams tend to be similar and car mounting not easy. Rexing does make a body can but I know nothing of it, and car mounting might not be easy. Professional body cams have a horrendous price tag. A Mobius cam can be clipped to the visor- not really discreet but it works, and it is suitable for dashcam use.

With the two very different purposes, there's no decent one-cam solutiion. Get a cam for walking and a dashcam for driving. In basic forms with SD cards added both can be had for around $150 or less with better cams going higher.

Phil

 

[estore009]

The body-worn camera can last about 8 hours recording with its built-in battery! You might have a check!

 

[kamkar]

Not really discrete, well at least not unless you go to button cameras, which in essence are just a remote camera and then you have the main unit on a pocket or something.
The thing is for walking around you would like some form of stabilization or your footage can get bumpy.

This is recorded with the discontinued innovv C3, worn on the head, as you can see bumpy and the sound annoying as i had the main unit with the MIC in the pocket

I am not aware of any of the smaller cameras having EIS to stabilize the footage other than the F1 from Gitup, and it is pretty basic EIS it have if compared with the modern action cameras.

 

[kamkar]

There are some SPY glasses with a camera build in, but not aware of their image quality.

 

[comadose]

Thanks everyone. I was thinking something like the Insta360 GO but that can record for longer.

There's also ones like the Yi Action Camera and Xiaomi Mija Mini. Maybe with a decent strap they could work.

 

[kamkar]

The little mobius, matchbox shaped / sized cameras have been popular attaching to the brim of a baseball cap or something.
In general going down in size also bean going down or at least not up in recording duration, so about 1 hour / 90 minutes are often the limit, but this can often be mitigated with a USB power bank, but then you have a wire to the camera and compromise stealth or usability.

Action cameras on a head strap or chest harness are not discreet at all, it is only keeping your hands free for other stuff.

There are also some keychain cameras or car FOB cameras that are even smaller than mobius, but again then they do not have a large battery.

 

[comadose]

An hour recording time would be fine for me.

The little Insta360 Go can be clipped onto a shirt pocket or lanyard. That's what I mean, no big selfie stick or gimbal mount, just something I can wear and which doesn't get in the way. Not trying to hide it from anyone as such. Being able to quickly detach it would be nice too, so I can put it away in areas I don't want to film.

Are any of the little ones any good for walking, i.e. have decent stabilization?

 

[Nigel]

Are any of the little ones any good for walking, i.e. have decent stabilization?

Nothing that clips to a pocket will have decent stabilization while walking because your body moves up and down too much, several times the height of the sensor. You really need to be holding the camera in your hands for that. The wearable body cams are fine for evidence purposes, but not great for movie making. The 360 cameras do better at stabilisation because they are so wide angle they have plenty of room to stabilise, but to do it they do need to zoom in a lot, and then the real resolution is not brilliant. The normal action cameras are a nice compromise, but you do have to hold them reasonably steady while walking, and they don't sit well on a shirt pocket, the weight always wants to tip them forward.

You need to think a bit about what you want to achieve, and not go too general purpose if you want good results.

 

[comadose]

You are probably right, what I want doesn't exist.

 

[Dashmellow]

You are probably right, what I want doesn't exist.

Well, there are certainly some wearable cameras available. There are the police type of course, but also some more discreet models. Boblov has one that will function as a dash cam.

I can't speak to how well they perform but they look interesting and seem to get good reviews on Amazon. For the price they might be worth a try.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B07C64H6MN


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B077B8H1C8


Boblov also makes a police style body camera that does indeed also function as a dash cam.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B07S7Q19ZL


There are others to consider as well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=body+cams+Muvi&ref=nb_sb_noss

 

[comadose]

Looking at some YouTube reviews the quality seems to vary from potato to far better than I would have expected. Unfortunately it's hard to figure out which model is which but I'll look into it because they might be worth trying.

 

[SawMaster]

@comadose

If you haven't made a choice yet you might want to watch for the next vid HERE about the Boblov cam.

Phil

 

[KANNINA 2.0]

Mobius has a wearable package:

BodyCam/Wearable

 

[mentadent]

There was a variant of the 808 keyring camera that had a dashcam mode, but 808 cameras seem to have all but disappeared.

 

[mentadent]

And FrontRow

 

[comadose]

I'm tempted to try an Android dashcam app. With a decent suction mount it could double up as navigation and dashcam. I'm just worried about overheating on longer journeys and the fact that most of these suction mounts are crap.

I would be using it in a rental car so a more permanent mount is out of the question. Shame as I've had really good results with a magnetic one.

 

[mentadent]

GoPro suction mounts are excellent, strong enough to stay attached on the outside of an airplane flying.

 

[Matt_V939]

There was a variant of the 808 keyring camera that had a dashcam mode, but 808 cameras seem to have all but disappeared.

not really, they just released a ''new'' 1080p30 version, 808#32, it even has h265
Do not expect Insta360 Go (which I have) stabilization though.
But for the price and ''stealth''iness you can't go wrong.
For info, forum on RcGroups