First HD Quality Video from Camera Mount

[BusyWeb]

Hi, there.
It's my first HD video with FZ6 Camera Mount.
There are some faulty on the mounting, so some noticible vibration on the video.
However, I satisfied some overall quality of the video and camera mounting (includes camera itself).
I made some more videos with this mounting for testing.
Many different road types and different speeds..
Let me edit them and put some link later on..
(not that easy for me with MP4 format....little new file format and.......>>>> my computer is little old aged.... ha ha ha)
Anyway here is the YouTube link...

[youtube:3rlm14y3]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VlXQLGlU64[/youtube:3rlm14y3]

Thanks

[Water Warrior 2]

Wow Busy, that is quite a picture. The video is very clear and the depth perception is very noticeable. Also the color is much better than we normally see on a video. Looking forward to your next video.

[dhgeyer]

I've tried mounting my Canon HV30 on my bike, and the results were not nearly as steady as what you got. Compared to many other attempts I have seen on YouTube, you are doing very very well, especially considering that the GZ250 isn't the steadiest platform in the World!

[music man]

Originally Posted by dhgeyer

I've tried mounting my Canon HV30 on my bike, and the results were not nearly as steady as what you got. Compared to many other attempts I have seen on YouTube, you are doing very very well, especially considering that the GZ250 isn't the steadiest platform in the World!

That's because he is not riding a GZ, he is riding an Yamaha FZ6, and if you haven't seen his camera mount maybe you ought to check it out, if you are really serious about having a camera on your bike, you could probably get some good ideas from his mount.

[Edit] I found that thread, viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2719&p=26424&hilit=camera+mou nt#p26424, It actually doesn't start out as a thread about his camera mount, but scroll down a few posts and you will find it.

[dhgeyer]

Thanks MM. I assumed he was riding a GZ since his profile doesn't mention any other bike.

I did a little experimenting with video on the motorcycle, and came to the conclusion that the best approach is a helmet cam. The human body takes out all of the vibration and a lot of the bumps. It also gives a more realistic impression of riding, because it records where you're actually looking as opposed to straight ahead all the time. I actually rigged a Canon HV30 to one of my helmets, and the result wasn't bad. It's a pain, though, and I just kind of got tired of it.

Here's what I came up with:

http://www.vimeo.com/4250725

I may get back to it sometime.

[music man]

Patrick_777 also has a very cool helmet cam setup that you might want to do a search for. And Busyweb doesn't have time to change his profile, he is too busy racking up miles, I swear I think that guy sleeps on his motorcycle.

[BusyWeb]

Hi, there.
Thanks for the coments all.
Isn't it look better than regular SD (Standard Vidoe Format), even if there are some vibrations.
I need to fix those camera vibration, but seems little harder than before (not sure yet).
But I'll try next time.

Here is another video clip from yesterday testing,...
.... to convert into WMV format takes very long time with my computer..........
Very slow canyon riding... ha ha ha, to test...
(actually my canyon riding speed.. ha ha ha, I don't blame my touring tires...)

[youtube:3ndaltw5]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK9yuJyTAys[/youtube:3ndaltw5]

Thanks
I hope that next time I could get better result....

[BusyWeb]

Originally Posted by dhgeyer

Here's what I came up with:

http://www.vimeo.com/4250725

Hi, Mr Geyer.
The video looks great for me.
I considered to mount new camera on the helmet.
And I may try next time at helmet, but some disadventages...
Hard to control camera while on rinding.
Can't see preview window..
And some Neck Pain >> I searched internet >>
People said to reduce nect pain with heavy helmet cam, try put counter-weight on the other side of helmet.???
Thanks for the nice video and scenery that hardly can see here in los angeles area.

[Water Warrior 2]

Looks like a fun road by not a fast one. Too many blind curves and chances for wildlife leaping out. Good weather for a ride too.

[dhgeyer]

Originally Posted by BusyWeb

Hi, Mr Geyer.
The video looks great for me.
I considered to mount new camera on the helmet.
And I may try next time at helmet, but some disadventages...
Hard to control camera while on rinding.
Can't see preview window..
And some Neck Pain >> I searched internet >>
People said to reduce nect pain with heavy helmet cam, try put counter-weight on the other side of helmet.???
Thanks for the nice video and scenery that hardly can see here in los angeles area.

Thanks! You are very correct about the disadvantages of the helmet cam. I had to go to great pains to line the camera up so that it "saw" about what I saw. I did this, as I recall, by turning the movable LCD around so that it faced the front, and looking in a mirror. It took a few tries. I had to turn the camera on before I even got on the bike. The 4 minute finished video was edited down from a 16 minute ride. I didn't use any normal kind of helmet cam. I literally duct taped a small tripod with flexible legs to my helmet, and mounted my regular camcorder on that. It didn't pull to either side, but it did add weight. Also, with the camera above the windshield like that, there is risk to the lens, unless you buy a neutral or UV filter to protect it.

I took a couple of videos with my "lash up", and then gave up on that approach. I was working on a mount for the motorcycle when I kind of got tired of the project and moved on to other video subjects. I never got a bike mounted camera to work as well as yours.

I looked into buying a proper helmet cam, but felt, based on what I could find, that the technology isn't quite there yet. As far as I could discover, there are no helmet cams that do real 1080i HD. But, things are tending to develop so fast, I'm sure there will be after a while, so I'll just bide my time. Or it may have happened already.

Outputting a .wmv high definition video is very time consuming on any computer when compared to other formats such as .mp4. It is the nature of Microsoft's compression algorithm, which, while very advanced, and delivers an excellent quality/file size ratio, is complex and processor intensive. If you're uploading to YouTube, you might try the .mp4 route, since YouTube seriously compresses video into one of the Flash Media formats anyway, and a lot of quality is lost in that transition. Of course, which output/upload format is best for you depends on the software you are using. Video formats are still kind of a "Tower of Babel" situation. Different video editors support different formats in greater or lesser degrees, so you have to play around with what you have and see what works best. I've been through 4 video editors, several converters, and finally settled on Sony Vegas Platinum 9 (not the hugely expensive "Pro" version). It has the most "bang for the buck", power and flexibility wise. It also doesn't crash my computer on a regular basis, which Windows Movie Maker, Cyberlink Power Director, and Pinnacle did all the time.

Good luck with your video endeavors. I definitely think you are onto something!