ContourHD initial thoughts

[gadgetmind]

I got my ContourHD at the weekend and I've used it on my commute a few times. Initial impressions are *very* favourable. A light but solid unit, very easy to work, excellent video, and plenty of battery and memory capacity (I got a cheap 8GB card from Play and it works a treat)

It's low light performance is also very good. Though with a bright sky, it does tend to under-expose everything else.

My only initial problem is that the bike mount is on back order so I've had to bodge something. Once that's fixed, and assuming the camera proves reliable, I'm very happy.

I got a 10% discount at Dog Cam Sport using the cycle chat code, but still £270, which is very much the top end of what I was prepared to spend.

Ian

 

[Theseus]

This is on my wish list. The website talks about loading the video onto thier user base section. Is the format compatable with places like Youtube?

 

[magnatom]

Good stuff. I look forward to seeing some videos.

 

[Tynan]

yes, shame about the £270 when innital reports were more like £200

battery life really two hours? In a way the lIon battery rather than regular bateries is a downer becasue you can change batteries to take advantage of the larger cards

I'm nearly ready to order, can we see it with you on it?

 

[cannondale boy]

I've been wanting a wireless camera to mount either on the handlebar or helmet. It does look solid enough, so if you do drop it (by mistake though ) i hope for 270 it won't break.

I hope the unit fairs well in low light, as i was about to get the atc but decided against it as the quality of it was rubbish.

 

[gadgetmind]

In no particular order -

I'm using the camera in HD mode and the videos are MOVs containing H.264 video at 1280x720, 30fps. Audio is AAC. VLC plays the stuff just fine, MPEGStreamClip will edit it (but stutters when playing) and Windows Media player can play it with the right codecs.

Battery life isn't something I have (yet) fully tested. Will give it a go at the weekend. Battery looks identical to a Nokia 'phone battery but there are suggestions that the plastic wrapping is thicker to stop it vibrating.

The camera is light but seems very solid. Mad mountain bikers and snowboarders in the US use them and don't seem to be able to easily trash them.

Here is a short bit of video as I go through a tunnel.
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/433250/tunnel.mov

That's my front bag at the bottom - it was very full! Also, the camera has a swivel on the end but I didn't have it set right. I need to work on the mount.

Here is another video - quite large!
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/433250/Narrow-Brompton.mov

Will try uploading one to Youtube once I've got the mount sorted.

Ian

 

[gadgetmind]

Oh, and here is my grotty home-made mount.

http://files.getdropbox.com/u/433250/Temp-Contour-Mount.JPG

The camera comes with a goggle mount (motorbikes?) and a flat surface mount. My handlebar mount is on back order. So, I used a mount that holds the camera into the packaging, some cable ties, and some old inner tube.

Because it slides down the bar, the angle of the camera changes. I'm going to work on MK2 this evening.

Ian

 

[gadgetmind]

MK2 bike mount. Recycled rear reflector!

http://files.getdropbox.com/u/433250/Contour-Mount-V2.JPG

Ian

 

[Tynan]

thnaks for them, are they full res, might be my eyes but is it showing number plates?

what does it always stop as you approach red lights?

 

[gadgetmind]

Yes, full res. I have edited them with MPEGStreamClip but I don't think this reduced quality at all. I'll do some side-by-side checks between unedited versus edited.

As for red lights, blame my bad editing. :-)

Ian

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

I too was wondering about not really being able to see the numberplates... and in that second video - YIKES!!! Squeezing between the bus and the car when the lights have changed and they're both starting off.... you could have a whole thread of about 50 pages about that if you posted it up for discussion and/or comments!!!!

 

[gadgetmind]

I too was wondering about not really being able to see the numberplates

It's not as clear as I'd like. I think it's partly that darker areas get underexposed and partly that the optics and focus of the camera can't match its sensor resolution. I'll have to try getting some stills off it and blowing them up a bit.

... and in that second video - YIKES!!! Squeezing between the bus and the car when the lights have changed and they're both starting off.... you could have a whole thread of about 50 pages about that if you posted it up for discussion and/or comments!!!!

Wasn't as tight as it looks (very narrow bike). Tight ones are where you wipe grime off the bus with your shoulder and have to duck the mirror. :-)

I usually try and use the bike lane there, but people turn left across it and the LH traffic lane heads off to the inner ring road so it's often better to get into the RH lane ASAP. This usually involves going down the middle, but the lights are usually a bit more forgiving.

Ian

 

[gadgetmind]

OK, one last bit of video so people can judge image quality. This is on Hunslet Road this lunchtime with it bright but cloudy. The camera is on my handlebars, the roads are rough, and I was cruising at 22-24mph with the odd faster sprint to merge across traffic, hence lots of jiggling.

http://files.getdropbox.com/u/433250/Hunslet-Road.mov

I actually think this camera focusses in too close and also has better focus on the LHS than on the right. It's MASSIVELY better than my previous camera, and well up to what I need, but I don't think the quality/care side of the optics does the rest of it justice.

Ian

 

[Theseus]

I am impressed, time to save those pennies.

 

[Rezillo]

Mine's just arrived. The first one I received was out of focus but Dogcam were very quick in sending out a replacement.

First thoughts are that the image quality is ok but not what I had hoped. I've a fifty quid Medion HD camera I bought from Sainsburys for thirty in a sale and while the file sizes produced are comparable, the Medion's quality is much better - shame I can't easily mount it on a bike!

Why the Medion looks better seems largely down to better exposure control. My main gripe with the ContourHD is that the exposure setting seems poor, leaving much of the picture under-exposed if there is any bright sky present. It's still slightly too dark, though, in a more uniform scene The out of focus unit that was returned was the same so I don't think it's just this unit. Very frustrating that it can't be adjusted without lengthy post-processing.

John