How do I build a portable mount camera?

[yellowr1991]

Few companies have helmet mount camera system, which is quiet expensive.

A simple one unit camera is around $130 but it has many limitation what I found out.

A user review:
The good is that it seems to be sturdy and in any event, is sturdier than a regular digital camera. It also has plenty of memory with a 2-gig chip. A bunch of downers, though. First, without any kind of a screen, it's impossible to aim. You need to put it on your helmet while at home, look around and narrate to yourself so you know what you're supposed to be seeing, then plug it into the computer to see if you have it mounted right. If not, adjust. This obviously doesn't work if you're in the field and don't have your laptop with you, which is always. So aiming it is a crapshoot. I mounted it on my bike and shot nearly an hour of footage, only to get home and find out that for the entire thing, it was pointing high and to the left somewhere. Worse, the sound quality is zero if you have any amount of wind (like on a bike, or a climb in anything other than totally calm weather). This is also a problem with the controls. It beeps when you turn it on or off, which is a good feature because you can't see it. But the beep isn't loud enough if it's mounted on top of the helmet instead of on the side. And because of its weight, it really has to be mounted on top. It's too heavy for extended use on the side of a helmet; you'll feel it. If you're just going to film a short ski run, it's probably fine; but if you're trying to shoot a climb or a bike ride, for example, you need to mount it on top or it'll really annoy you (and forget about the handlebar mount; it's like the Blair Witch Project on extra caffeine). Also, it's tough to get the camera into the mount without looking at it, so expect to have to take your helmet off every time you want to mount the camera. That said, it does shoot when you have no hands to shoot with, and will survive where your regular DV camera won't.

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What parts do I need to build a helmet mount camera system?
A bullet type camera with wire and connector.
One company sell a camera (A Sony CCD bullet camera with wire) separately about $130. A whole kit is close to $1,000.
A digital camcorder with the camera input (NTSC).

I'm going to mount on my motorcycle helmet.
I love to install a mount kit on it but it's hassle due to the highway traffic act and regulations.

Can anyone give me some direction?


Thanks in advance.

[jwax]

Maybe a chest-mounted LCD monitor/camera with image stabilization would be better, or at least just the monitor mounted so the user can just look down to see the image.
You didn't say whose helmet camera you reported on. Are there others that meet your price?
Image stabilization has gotten way cheaper lately, so I'd think all decent "Active" cameras would have that.
www.supercircuits.com has lots of cameras, monitors.
John

[Engineer1138]

1) What is your budget?
2) How are you recording the signal?
3) How large a display do you need?
4) Are you comfortable with wiring connecting you to the bike?
5) How do you want to mount it to the helmet? What potential danger exists if you crash?
6) What is your budget?

My gut feeling is that the $1,000 Sony system isn't out of line. After a quick mental calculation of a DIY system I'm already past $300 and I probably haven't even thought of half of the issues that will arise. My guess is that a DIY version will cost about $500. You need:
- Batteries and possibly a field charger
- Helmet mount (breakaway in case of crash)
- Rugged display that's readable in daylight/darkness
- Display mount
- Digital recorder
- Start/stop controls for recorder.
- Perhaps lighting?

[Bob Scott]

Get one of these and stick a cheap color surveillance camera on it.

http://www.villagehatshop.com/miners_helmet_light.html

Mount a small LCD screen monitor on the handlebars and you're all set.

For audio you will need some type of wind jammer, like cabin cruiser wind dodger "windshields". They slant into the wind forcing the air to go vertical. A standard foam puff ball on the microphone won't be enough.

[Engineer1138]

Not sure I'd wear that helmet on a motorcycle, Bob!

I was curious so I started looking around and I was able to find a setup with lipstick camera & monitor for about $350 which is about what I thought the minimum DIY would cost.

yellowr1991: Is there any reason you couldn't use a cheap Aiptek digital camcorder (about $100) and mount it to the handlebars?

If you go over to www.mpja.com, they have a color lipstick camera for $89 and a 5" color display for $59.95. The display is out of stock, but it looks like they will have more later. MPJA is a surplus outlet, so you're not likely to find it cheaper than this buying at full price. Figure about an additional $20 for batteries and connectors and you're all set.

[yellowr1991]

Not sure I'd wear that helmet on a motorcycle, Bob!

I was curious so I started looking around and I was able to find a setup with lipstick camera & monitor for about $350 which is about what I thought the minimum DIY would cost.

yellowr1991: Is there any reason you couldn't use a cheap Aiptek digital camcorder (about $100) and mount it to the handlebars?

If you go over to www.mpja.com, they have a color lipstick camera for $89 and a 5" color display for $59.95. The display is out of stock, but it looks like they will have more later. MPJA is a surplus outlet, so you're not likely to find it cheaper than this buying at full price. Figure about an additional $20 for batteries and connectors and you're all set.

I found this one on the net.
It's $99 plus DVR extra.

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Need something low cost? This set is perfect for those with a budget. Set include tiny miniature camera wtih complete receiver set. 2.4GHZ camera 380 lines CMOS technology camera. 2.4GHZ Receiver included power adapter. Up to 200ft Open space preference.

Set Include:
Color CMOS Wireless Camera
Power Adapters for receiver
2.4ghz Receiver
AV Cable

[yellowr1991]

Maybe a chest-mounted LCD monitor/camera with image stabilization would be better, or at least just the monitor mounted so the user can just look down to see the image.
You didn't say whose helmet camera you reported on. Are there others that meet your price?
Image stabilization has gotten way cheaper lately, so I'd think all decent "Active" cameras would have that.
www.supercircuits.com has lots of cameras, monitors.
John

I found the below camera on the supercircuits.com.
If I use this camera as video input of a camcorder, I'll be set what I'm planning.


PC504XS Day/Night Micro video Camera

* Auto color or b/w mode switches to black and white with infra red light sensitivity when light levels fall too low for a color image
* Use infrared illuminators (see 'Related Products' below) for camera vision in complete darkness
* Super tiny 1.25" square size is easy to conceal, or place in enclosures
* 420 lines of resolution provide an incredible detailed image, day or night!
* 1/3" Sony CCD
* 512(H) x 429(V) Pixels
* BNC female connection
* 0.1 Lux low light rating
* DC 12V
* 3.6MM F1.2 lens 70° FOV. (standard lens)
* Built-in auto shutter, auto gain, auto backlight

[frhrwa]

the sound should be the simplest to fix.. just need some feathers to put in front of the mic.. or use that foam stuff like the news broadcasters all have on their mic's.. takes all of the wind noise out and doesn't block voices or other normal noise.. kind of like hairy ears pits.. ha... by the time mine got hairy, I couldn't hear anyway.. oh well

[jollyrgr]

I would like to make several suggestions regarding a helmet cam. Make sure it is "fail safe" just in case.

Do not wear a backpack containing your video recording equipment; mount it separately. Make sure the camera is "break away" or failsafe. If you insist on using wires, make sure there is a quick disconnect that can be easily pulled apart; ie a 3.5mm phono connection, instead of BNC or F connections. Why do I say this? Take a look at this crash caught on a helmet cam:

GRAPHIC HELMET CAM CRASH
Video of a woman with helmet cam crashes into car that skids in front of her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu8kOcWro8c

Note in the video it appears she is wearing a backpack containing the recording equipment. Her helmet is tethered to bag. Note at the 1:37 mark where she says "It's connected to my bag". It appears she is "tied" the helmet.

I'd also recommend that the camera "break away" rather than be hardend to the helmet; lest it become a focal point for an impact.

[yellowr1991]

There are two alternatives:

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(1) Many of the Aiptek digital camcorders have video-in function (with RCA

cable). Most models except the most expensive ones have optical zoom lens, but if you are only using this as a digital video recorder you don't need to worry about the camera lens.

http://aiptek.com/

(look for the models that have "Personal media player and recorder" function)

One important thing to point out ....

DON'T BE TEMPTED by the capibility of "HD recording quality" - most helmet

cams use CMOS or CCD board cameras with low resolution (more compatible

with VCD 320 x 240 pixel quality, the most to standard DVD 640 x 480 quality).

If you plug in a video source of low quality into a "high definition" video recorder,

the recorder only blows up the image size artificially, like digital zoom function in

digital cameras. This gives fuzzy, blocky video.

I don't use Aiptek digital camcorders (but I have a Sanyo CG6, similar to the

CG65 and CA65, it is great!). I am not sure what the recording quality (excluding

the optical quality) of the Aiptek cameras - apart from video resolution (pixel x

pixel), another important factpr to determine video quality is the video bitrate - but

this is not mentioned in the specs or menu. For 640 x 480 resolution (at 30 fps),

most MPEG-4 video need at least 1.5 to 2 Mbps video bitrate to play smoothly

with decent quality. This is especially important when you are using your helmet

cam for action sports with fast movement.

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(2) If you only need a digital video recorder, you can buy one without the camera

function. Archos has a whole series of personal media player (PVP) / recorder.

The latest models do not use laptop hard drives but only SD memory cards - eg.

405 Flash (2 GB internal memory + SD card slot for SDHC). This is only around

150 USD, not much more expensive than Aiptek digital camcorders. The Archos

405 Flash is bigger though, with a larger LCD (obviously because it is designed as

a video player, not camera). I also use Archos PVP and recorder, and I can

assure you that the video recording quality is excellent, at a higher resolution of

640 x 480 pixels.

http://www.archos.com

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Thank you very much for the advices.

I didn't want the archos solution before you say it exists with flash media only

(without HDD). Maybe it's THE solution for what I want to do at good price!

Edit: ok, This is a good solution with a good rate quality/price.
I buy a archos 405 2Go + travel adapter + sony bullet cam.

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I just picked up the Aiptek Action HD from WM and tried my helmet cam (RCA

output) on it and it works great. The Aiptek can only record 640x480, but that

matches the bullet cam rez so its perfect. Much smaller footprint than the DV

camcorder I was using, and efficient for putting on the computer.....