Advice for a complete novice!

[jimbo2112]

Hi All,

I am going snowboarding at new year and I want to know if it is possible to adapt some technology to help me film my descents. You must have all seen those tiny cameras that people are using for security? Well I would like to have a digital (preferably jvc) camcorder in a padded pcket and tiny camera attached to it. The camera could be taped to my helmet. If the cost would be OTT on top of the digi camcorder then it would be a no go. But I have seen these things really cheap on the internet.

Any help ideas appreciated

Jimbo:p

PS I will be in Meribel, France if you are a barder as well!

[CarlB]

I've been boarding in the alps for the past six years and just carry my camera at hip level when I'm riding. I had one of the small JVC cameras intially but have just upgraded to a Sony TRV20 this year which is bigger. Maybe I'll have to modify my technique next year as the Sony is probably not so robust.

One thing to watch - the temperature really saps the battery life, so take plenty of spares or be prepared to find your battery only lasting about 20mins on the mountain!

[jimbo2112]

Cheers Carl,

My solution (if one exists!) would negate the cold issue (to an degree) and also the robustness problem.

Have you any idea of the theory of how to solve the external camera lense idea? Would it be something like a camera that has a DV input which you could attach the micro camera gizmo to?

I might be barking up the rong tree here ...... it would b nice to know either way!

Jimbo

[mart.stokes]

You know, I thought me and my mates had reached the height of sadness when we worked out how to attach camcorders to our motorbikes (nearly said "attach camcorders to our helmets"!) . I now realise that we were amateurs compared to you guys!:grin:

[mart.stokes]

Originally posted by jimbo2112

The camera could be taped to my helmet.

Oh goodness, I have just seen that jimbo2112 IS going to tape the camera to his helmet!!!:grin:

jimbo2112, you have to take great care in those freezing temperatures for the following reasons;

1) Your helmet will shrink when outside, so don't tape the camera to your helmet when it is warm inside. Wait for full shrinkage to occur outside before you tape it on.
2) The reverse is also true, make certain you untape it before you come back inside otherwise when your helmet expands it could hurt A LOT!!!
3) Don't forget that cold makes things numb so check your helmet every ten minutes to make certain the camera has not fallen off (it may have taken your helmet with it). Check for frostbite, if your helmet goes much darker than normal try rubbing it straight away with a closed fist while shouting "Oh God please don't die, please don't die". Better still, see if you can get a female snowboarder to do this for you.

[Chris Frost]

LOL, Martin.

Isn’t the helmet normally attached to the end of a flexible shaft? Doesn’t sound like the most stable of platforms from which to shoot. If the helmet shrinks with the cold, would the shaft also shrink? How would that affect stability, I wonder.

Regards

[mart.stokes]

Good point Chris! The shaft does also shrink but therefore becomes very short and rigid. The shaft tends to operate best in both "fully extended" and "shrunk" mode, being rigid in both cases. The standard "room temperature" flacid mode is pretty pointless and any camera attached would flop all over the place.

Of course I must ensure that the following caveat is noted by everybody; "Kids, please don't try this at home, jimbo2112 is obviously an experienced snowboarder and, as such, obviously feels comfortable with a camera attached to his helmet".

[EzzaD]

I admire the extra dimension you adding Jimbo, by strapping the camera to your helmet. Could be an expensive action though, if it drops..! I'm not that adventurous, but I am going boarding in France, and do want a DV camcorder to catch all my collisions with skiiers (lol)!.

Tell me what you end up buying, and if anyone has any opinions on Canon's new MV400 range, could you please post some....they seem far too cheap...!

Ezz

[Phatboy]

It must be Something to do with snow!

I too am boarding in France (again) this year. Morzine. I've used a camcorder for years, my current one is a JVC ultra small which fits in my inside pocket. The cold really does sap the batteries though. I am looking for a system that has the camcorder tucked away in my coat or rucksac with a remote lense attached to my "helmet" or shoulder strap of my rucsac AND an on off switch remotely attached to my rucsac strap. No point having the lense if I still have to take the camera out to start & stop filming.

Any one know of any kit that comes close?

[Duncan Craig]

Try looking here:
http://www.extremefacilities.com

There is little benefit to recording on digital formats when using most minature lower resolution cameras.

Also DV formats are very poor in cold damp locations.

A cheap portable Hi8 recorder with a Maplin CCTV type Pinhead camera would give good results and be so tiny you could mount it anywhere, even on board I expect.

Put the recorder under your clothes to keep it warm, and it won't be so worried about the sweaty moisture under your clothes, a DV format machine would be.

MiniDV has a very small tape track size, and the error correction is crap, so the picture could break up totally, but with an analogue format it would maybe only degrade slightly.