I’ve got one of them new-fangled super-duper video cameras, the HD Contour, which I’ve finally gotten around to experimenting with. What better way to use it than to document the regular Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride? So I strapped the (small) camera on top of my helmet and rode off to join Kevin, Eric, John and, a bit further up the hill, Bob. No sign of George (who apparently won another cyclocross race this past weekend) nor Jan nor Chris. A bit on the cool side, as low as 48, but not at all unpleasant, actually pretty darned nice without the low overcast that made yesterday seem so gloomy.
The plan was to have some cool videos to show you tonight, but, er, I don’t think so. Mounting the camera on top of the helmet, at least on top of my helmet, gives an almost nauseating effect, as it pitches all over the place like a small boat in a storm. As long as I’m sitting down it’s not so bad, but once I stand, you’d better have a bucket handy ‘cuz it’s worse than that long drive to see your grandparents when you’re in the back of the car feeling carsick. Maybe I can sell ad space to Dramamine?
The solution will be to find a way to mount the camera to the bike itself, preferable the frame and not the handlebars. That ought to get about as steady a picture as possible. In the meantime, I’m wondering, with three computers plus a video camera, just how much more computing power I’ve got than a multi-warheaded ICBM missile? Or are the stories about them and the Lunar Lander having no more computing power than today’s pocket calculator not really true?
Or, you could keep it on your helmet but with a steadicam setup to smooth out the bumps and shakes. Given the small size and low weight of your video cam, the inertial mass balancer you’d need shouldn’t be all that heavy…
I think for the time being I’ll just shee how well it works attaching it to the frame. The camera isn’t all that heavy to begin with, and yet you definitely notice it up there on the helmet. I’ve read about home-made steadycams, and there’s a certain appeal, but there’s also something to be said for simplicity and light weight. I bring up weight again because, when I mounted the camera to my helmet, I did give the extra weight up the hill a bit of thought but decided it wasn’t that big a deal because I wasn’t going to have to bring my pocket camera along.