Handlebar camera mount.

[Yellow7]

After recently purchasing a Go-Pro camera for the next tour I felt the £19.99 price tag for their handlebar bracket was a tad expensive...there was only one real option…..

An old aluminium bracket of some sort - cut, drilled, filed & polished.

Using the bell’s clamp minimises bar clutter, simple, effective, cheap.

 

[deanE]

certainly cheap!

 

[ufkacbln]

Beware !

The wreak point on these cameras is where the blades of the mount stress fracture at the end where the join the bracket

Unless the new fitting is the same width as the ga between these blades,the stress is increased and failure is likely

 

[Crankarm]

Also won't vibration/movement due to wind kill the likelihood of image clarity? Would it not be better to wear it on your helmet, presuming you wear a helmet? Your body acts as a natural shock absorber. Just my 2ps worth from using cameras whilst cycling.

 

[derrick]

Mine sits like this, held on with a couple of tie wraps, four tie wraps hold it really secure.

 

[Yellow7]

Cunobelin, I chose the specific piece of aluminium as it was exactly the same width as the camer's monting blade width, fits really snug.

Crankarm, from trying to record footage whist snowboarding I found the head to be the worst place for a camera as ones head moves so much, looking around, that it's not viewable, of which the best place for that I found was on the side of my leading leg calf muscle. Similar on a bicycle, just not for me, & I only wear my helmet when cumpolsory, I must have used it < 50 miles on my last anual tour! On my following tour I want to record mountain descents, hair-pin switch backs etc, with a good surface it works well there, i've used it regularly on my town & off-road bikes.

 

[steveindenmark]

This is only my opinion but after spending an arm and a leg on the Go Pro, I would think that £20 to do the job correctly is a small price to pay.

I have a couple of questions. Did the Go-Pro not come with all the mounts you needed?

What is the quality of the still photos taken with the Go-Pro?

Steve

 

[Yellow7]

Hi Steve.
But their bracket is just that, a simple [over-priced] bracket, whereby any basic method, as I have made, works perfectly without affecting product performance whatsoever, and further matches my needs of reducing bar-clutter. Manufactures make a tidy profit by selling their ‘recommended’ add-ons, which many people are lured into as the only method.

The real work being done by the camera, of which yes, the images are excellent, the BBC use these for their ‘head’or 'bar' footage. There is copious footage on YouTube, take a gander.

There are several modes:

Single photo.
Video (various frame-rate upto 120 fps!)
Burst mode (1 Second 10 shot’s, good for stunts…best not on touring bikes though!)
Timelapse mode (Photo ever 2,5,10,20,30,1 min, 2 min)

Mark.

From web:..
• Professional 11MP Sensor
• 2x Faster Image Processor
• 2x Sharper Glass Lens
• Professional Low Light Performance
• Full 170º, Medium 127º, Narrow 90º FOV in 1080p and 720p Video
• 120 fps WVGA, 60 fps 720p, 48 fps 960p, 30 fps 1080p Video
• Full 170º and Medium 127º FOV Photos
• 10 11MP Photos Per Second Burst
• 1 11MP Photo Every 0.5 Sec Timelapse Mode
• 3.5mm External Stereo Microphone Input
• Simple Language-based User Interface
• Compatible with Wi-Fi BacPac™ and Wi-Fi Remote™
• Long Range Remote Control of up to 50 GoPro Cameras per Wifi Remote
• Wi-Fi Video/Photo Preview, Playback and Control via GoPro App
• Live Streaming Video and Photos to the Web

 

[steveindenmark]

Mark, how about this one on e-bay?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bike-Bicy...K_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item53ef1351f3

Could you post a couple of photos taken on the stills function. I have seen lots of movies made with them but I have never seen genuine stills photos taken with it.

Steve

 

[Yellow7]

Steve, that one is for a standard camera with a standard (3/8-16 UNC) thread insert on the base of the camera, the Go-pro has no insert as so tiny. You can still get excellent video footage with a ~ £80 Nikon or Canon camera, of which that clamp will work, seen here within this snowboarding footage I took using a a cheap Canon, mounted on my calf, in 2008.

I intend to give my [overhauled] touring bike a good test weekend soo will get some footage for to show you Steve (using the Go-Pro) on tarmac & some bridleway to show difference between smoot & rougher surfaces, I'll use Video & Burstmode & post on youtube, will send you a link.

Mark.

 

[steveindenmark]

Thanks Mark,

I handheld my camera to show how my TomTom read books on my trike. It turned out surprisingly well I thought.


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itqoKZUZtXE


Steve

 

[Yellow7]

Many people are concerned with 'quality' as opposed to the actual 'content'.

Looks like France? good quiet roads & hedgerow-less fields? Do you tour on the trike?

 

[EltonFrog]

I have a GoPro and the handle bar bracket. I don't think that at a little under £20 the bracket is over priced. The quality of the material it's made of feels sturdy amd substantial to me, plus it has other attachments that allows you to fit the bracket to the bars, the stem and seat post so it tkae a lot of faf out of the equation. From my experience anyway, there is very little vibration transmitted to the camera from the bars.

I have not had the camera long and all my film is on my pc, I have not yet worked out how to upload it to YouTube yet, when I do I'll update this post so you can see what I mean.

 

[Muddyfox]

I dont have a proper Go Pro type camera just a little Canon jobby and i made a handlebar mount out of and old bicycle reflector mount and the top of a broken tripod but vibration was a big problem, so i'm thinking of getting one of these .... looks cheap enough just to take some basic videos whilst out riding

 

[Blurb]

@Muddyfox. I've got that Minoura mount on my non-sus MTB commuter and the Brompton for my Sony AS15 and it is very solid. Coupled with the steadyshot feature on the Sony I get very stable video footage.