This is my first post, so please be patient with me. If I missed a previous thread on this topic, please send the link my way!

My husband is planning a cross-country (Portland-to-Portland) tour for the summer of 2012. I'm looking to purchase a camera for his trip. Ideally, I'd like one that is bike- or helmet-mountable. I need suggestions and recommendations from people who actually know about this kind of stuff, since I know nothing about touring and don't want to interrogate my hubby for fear of spoiling the surprise. EDIT: He also does cyclocross racing, so a camera that can be used for that when the tour is done would be more bang for my buck.

Thanks for your help!

For video or stills?

For making video's from a helmet or bar cam...probably the Go Pro. If you want a camera that takes good still pictures but also doe video and is mountable...that's much tougher. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3 is waterproof, dust proof, shock proof, and shock proof. It takes good photos for a small point and shoot...and takes good 1080p video. But...it's not designed to be helmet or handlebar mounted...so you'll have to get creative.

Take a look at the Drift Innovation HD170 Stealth Action Camera with HD Recording, 4x Digital Zoom and 1.5-Inch LCD Screen (Black). Shoots video and stills.

https://www.amazon.com/Drift-Innovati...ef=pd_sim_ol_2

I haven't used one personally but have heard good reports on the Go Pro Hero. A friend of mine has one and really likes it.

I believe this is the same as the Eagle Eye and no doubt there are other incarnations. RigidMount's advice is ...

Quote:

DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA!!!

For the reasons why, take a read here and for more general advice on video cameras for cycling take a read here.

On the video camera front I am using two (commuting but not touring), a Contour HD 1080P which is now my rear camera and a Jumbo HD808 #11 which is my front camera (cost about $55 on eBay).


There is a good discussion thread on video cameras at the Australian Cycling Forums. Best to go to the last few pages for the latest comments/experiences.

For a still camera I am looking to upgrade to a Panasonic Lumic DMC-LX5 or a Canon PowerShot S100.

Regards
Andrew

With its ultra-wide angle lens and mounts, the GoPro makes a good POV video camera. I think it's overpriced though. You need to buy extra mounts for handlebar and tripod, and perhaps more if you want to put it on larger tubes of the frame. The handlebar mount feels a bit cheap and all mounts have tiny bolt caps that can be easily lost. The casing has two door, one is waterproof, the other gives better audio. You also need to pay an extra 100$ for a LCD panel. You also have to charge the battery in-camera from a computer or USB charger (not included). If it weren't for the ultra-wide lens, I think I'd return mine. I haven't tried the other brands.

For a more conventional camera that can take a beating, the Panasonic TS3 is very good. I have the older TS1. It feels less rugged than the GoPro but mine has survived being dunked in water, dropped and scrapped on asphalt a few times. It's cheaper than some of the GoPro and doesn't need a special casing. The lens isn't as wide so vibrations are more apparent and it has a standard tripod screw mount. I don't why there aren't more commercial mounting options for those. The TS3 has a slightly larger front surface than the GoPro but is thinner.

The GoPro is better as a POV video camera but the Panasonic beats it at everything else.

It depends on what you want to do with it. If you are thinking helmet or bike mounted video I have no advice. I find that I seldom want video capability on tour and therefore helmet or bike mounted cameras don't appeal to me.

If you are thinking still photography with some video capability... There are a lot of very nice point and shoot cameras these days. If you want a bit more, the Olympus Penn 4:3 models are a good fit for touring. The Nikon Coolpix 7000 is also super nice and fairly light and compact. I would avoid the big DSLRs unless photography is the primary reason for the tour, and even then something like the Olympus or Nikon models I mentioned might suffice.

it's worth adding that just recently a new model of the GoPro came out, GoPro2 which now shoots in full HD at 30fps, and 120fps in WVGA (for nice slowmo's), overall the colors are more vibrant than the older model as well plus you can choose the view angle this time (170 or 90) which is great for times when the fish eye effect just isn't appropriate
it's an expensive camera, but as far as small adventure camera's go I think its the best you can get, just search for examples on youtube comparing with other (small) camera's such as the Contour
mine arrived just last week, I had a special deal with an extra battery, charger, 16G memory card and various mounts, I've done a few tests and the results are quite positive, the image quality is good (but don't expect wonders from such a tiny camera/lens), it's easy to use, it feels robust
other than that, the audio quality is fairly poor (to be expected on such a small device in a plastic waterproof body) but there is a line-in for the mic (big plus imo, hard to find on similar camera's), the mounts are sufficient (they work) but compared to the camera they feel cheap and in the end not all that strong

getting footage on a bike is a little tricky too, when mounting on your head or handle bars you get poor footage due to the vibrations and angles constantly changing, mounting on the frame itself gives much better results although its hard to get a clear view without some cables obstructing (170 degrees is huge)

all in all its a neat little thing, i bought it mainly because of its strength and size, and the option to film at 90 degrees at full HD sort of justifies the price (as opposed to buying a normal cam + an adventure cam)

I'm with Pete on the head camera video thing. There's too much country to see, and who wants to pfutz around downloading, editing, archiving, etc. for 2-3 months?

If he's going for the ride, make sure he has a nice point and shoot camera. Something like the Olympus Tough series might work well; it'll fit in a jersey pocket and be readily available, and since it's waterproof, no worries about rain or sweat.

I've been looking at some of the super-zoom (20-30X) lens P&S lately, but I'm not sure about keeping the camera steady with a 350mm effective lens.

Hi All,

Just want to share some of my video using GoPro HD Hero.

https://www.youtube.com/user/tracerey

Panasonic Lumix DMC FX-3,with Leica lens. Just a point and shoot I picked up .

looks grainy

Small version of the file.