Same question as save10, really. I'm considering starting to film my rides and races, partly for fun and partly (for the races anyway) to learn from mistakes, see what I'm doing wrong.

What cameras is everyone using? Is the GoPro the main one? What are the pros/cons of handlebar versus helmet mounted? The GoPro HD is much more expensive, but can take MUCH longer videos, which seems necessary for cycling (8 hours of 30fps 720p all the way down to 4 hours of 1080p (which my TV can't even display... I only have 1080i currently)).

Looks like around $300 for a full setup with 32Gb SD card ($70) and buying the camera from Amazon ($230) plus a mount.

CDR, SteelerHoo, and I use the ContourHD.

That looks pretty nice. A little cheaper and sleaker too. I like the easy on/off slide, pretty slick. The 720p one seems perfect, I can't even watch 1080p on my big flatscreen, so no need to record it. 720p looks great.

I notice you use handlebar mount, CDR uses helmet, any specific reasoning? I'd like to use it on my MTB too, but I'm not sure whether my head or handlebars would be more still through rough stuff. I'm thinking my head but I'm not sure.

I think I'd lean towards helmet mount, since on your bar mount in a pack I feel like I can't see. I always want to lean up to see over people, but I can't. With a helmet cam I feel like I'd get more of the feeling of the race/ride.

I tried GoPro (seat post and bar mount), not a fan. I like the ContourHD a lot.

The 1080 allows you to do 720@60fps. The 60 fps is key, I think, really smooths things out.

I use a helmet mount so I can see (and illustrate) where I'm looking, and, to a certain extent, perceived effort (head bobbing etc). I find the bike mounts, used alone, to be somewhat limiting with tactical stuff - you can't see what riders near you are doing, you're not aware of what the rider is thinking (i.e. where he's looking), etc.

For helmet vs bar, I am a bit biased - I rode for many years at night and found that a bar mounted light really limited my speeds on unknown, very curving, technical single track. I prefer a helmet light over a bar mounted light.

As a side note it's easier to consciously film something if you have a cam on your helmet. If a car buzzes the group, I can simply look at the car. With a bar mount you have to steer at it.

Head is more stable over rough stuff (but there is software to smooth footage shot elsewhere). Your body is a huge suspension system to keep your head relatively stable. In motorsports they found that measuring Gs at the ear made the most sense - anywhere else and there was a lot of extraneous forces at work. At the ear it's very very consistent.

Helmet mount makes the picture viewpoint high. A few people have asked me why their videos seem too high compared to mine. I point out that I'm short on the bike.

btw not sure if ppl know this but umd's "slow for crash then rear ended" bar/post mounted dual cam clip was misunderstood and used to try and ban helmet cams in USAC racing. The proposed ban failed (in fall 2009). I fought pretty aggressively to make my position known on helmet cams, how they record both good and bad things, and that, if necessary, they can be used to confirm dangerous riding and therefore levy appropriate punishment.

cdr

Hmm, I don't think that could have been me, I never used a cam in a race until this year.

The main reason though that I switched to a bar mount instead of helmet was to make it less conspicuous. I was getting a lot of flak from some people who felt that it meant I cared more about getting footage than racing. On the bars means that a) most people don't even notice, and b) I cannot actively do anything to affect the recording, so the recording does not affect my riding.

It's funny too, because one of the comments in my thread about my crash before it was closed was that I caused it because I was "concentrating onteh camera looking for impressive footage". So on the bars, I just strap it on, turn it on, forget about it, and I don't have to worry about crap like that.

oops. Who had the dual cams, one pointing forward, one backwards, crash in the sprint of a race, cam rider slowed to a stop, then POW rear ended by a sprinting rider?

cdr

Not sure, was it in CA?

I think CA. I just figured it was you. Prominently posted here on BF. Who else does a lot of helmet/bike cams?

Found it:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...o-Crit-Footage

Search is your friend. My friend. Everyone's friend.

I use a GoPro HD. Battery life is around 3 hours which translates to 10-11 Gigabytes of footage taken at 720p @ 30fps. For this reason I mostly use a 16GB SD Card. I have tried both helmet and handlebar mount and have now settled on handlebar (in the drops) mounting for the forward facing camera. As umd has mentioned, with the camera on the handlebar you just turn it on and forget about it... it is also relatively unobtrusive. When I had the camera mounted on the helmet, some people looking at the footage say they felt nauseated. It can also be difficult at times to keep the camera leveled when it is helmet mounted.

The GoPro HD has a 170 degree wide angle coverage when in 720p mode so it captures the action in front nicely even when fix mounted on the handlebar.

Been a while since I posted a ride video. Here's a fun one from yesterday:

Nice video, did you develop the telemetry software? I like the real time charting of the power (in green) although I didn't quite get what the orange bar is for.

gorgeous ride. thanks for sharing. kinda makes me want to get a cam to hang on to some of my riding memories.

Yes, the telemetry software is mine.

The chart at the right shows power data for time intervals ranging from one second out to twenty minutes on a log scale, where green is the average power for the trailing interval of the given duration, and orange is the maximum average power for any interval of that duration during the whole ride so far (i.e., similar to the maximal mean power curve if you're accustomed to using WKO).

The start of the successful break in the 2010 Cat 3 San Ardo RR. About 19 miles in, at the start of the clip, the rider from SJBC rolls off the front. I decide to go for it and bridge up to him, then we keep going and have about 20-30 seconds on the field by the end of the lap. We were eventually joined by more riders (and lost a few). The break went on to win, but unfortunately I crashed out due to my chain coming off a few miles from the finish. More video with commentary to follow later.

nice vid archimeades, you had a HR of 190 and 1200 watts for a second there!! awesome!!

This picks up about 15 minutes into the break I posted the other day. Shortly after the start of the second lap, at the corner at the top of the main climb, we notice 2 riders bridging up and the field is still some ways back. So we ease up and wait for the reinforcements. We pushed pretty hard over the rollers and opened the gap further on the field. Shortly after the end of this clip the Pen Velo guy was gone and it was down to 3 of us.

the ridiculously stiff yokozuna brake housing is making it impossible to fit my contour under my stem. anyone else have this problem?..

Nokons would help, although it would mean replacing the housing.

cdr

true but I just installed the yokozunas a few weeks ago :cry:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_03cQq05j_aU/TI...8/IMAG0058.jpg

when I mount the cam there (admittedly macgyver style), the stiff housing actually moves the cam when I turn the bars. guess it's back to the helmet mount; everyone from my door man to the UPS guy to half of the people I ride with have asked me about it. I was hoping to make it less conspicuous.

ah well. so as not to make this post completely worthless, here's my first attempt at a ride video. it's from one of the local fast rides that usually gets a good crowd, but this night was pretty sparsely attended. witness my lack of prowess as I try to contest the final sprint -

How funny, I was in that race, ahead of the crash. The camera guy is an old team mate, but to the best of my knowledge he does not post here. It was not him that posted the video. Where the crash started was a guy that was blowing up as others were just getting ready to sprint. Fortunately I chose to sprint down the other side of the road, cause there was an even bigger pile up after that.

The bridge, the curve, screams "Gimbles 120 sprint". And so it was. Man I want to do that sprint.

I thought that would be the case on the housing, that you'd upgraded to it.

cdr

Nice video, horrible road!

I wondered if you might recognize it ;) for the Tuesday/Thursday night rides, that's the final sprint. it's a fun one.

I miss that sprint bad enough that when I drive over the Hutch there I tell whoever's in the car:
"This is where the sprint is that I like on the Gimble's ride."
"I know, you tell me every time we go over this bridge."

Ah well. One of these days.