Cameras on your bike.

Been reading about a few accidents on here and just wondered how many of you have got a camera on your bike.

I know they can be expensive but I was lucky as my girlfriend brought me a Gopro Hero 2 a few years ago.

I have it to record just in case I have a accident and know some swine can't lie about what happened.

It's nice to watch a video of your ride but for me that's secondary.

friend of mines dad has one fitted to his tank so he can see directly infront. personally would want one on my helmet. shows you looking around etc. Definately good idea to have them. Expensive though. Might get myself a drift HD when i get a bigger bike.

I'm looking to getting one ... sooner rather than later ... and I am sure they have been covered to death here but for the benefit of us newbies what do you guys use?

As an after thought, I promise I wont mention counter steering. Though why someone would want to learn how to steer on a counter is beyond me

There are some HD ones on ebay for £57 and I have just got one. For the money they are brilliant and I am thinking about getting another to mount under or near the head lamp on the bike set to loop when you turn the power on. I will make a solid mount up so the scum can't nick it. I had just fitted my new one on my bike to try yesterday and stupidly turned it on to ride home but then thought it wasn't on so turned it off by mistake. If it had been going it would have shown the third party to be at fault in my crash yesterday

AAAARRRGGGHHHH

as i said in another thread, i keep intending to install two, one forward facing, one rear facing.

They dont have to be high spec, just need the ability to start recording when the bike comes on, and stop when the engine stops, and record on a loop.

mount them cleverly and they wont be obvious.

I ride with a helmet cam most of the time too, but i just know the one day i need it, it wont be running...

Ive got a Drift HD Ghost. I don't ride without it even if its just the 2 mile across town to my girlfriends.

The Ghost S has better night recording, less grainy but isn't a problem on the original Ghost unless you are on unlit roads.

I'm looking into getting a second cam to rear mount on my bike but would be something cheaper than the Drift.

Drift Ghost HD for me too.

only just arrived, so yet to try it out.

My mate has one, and the quality is superb. However its not cheap.

The intention was to record my great European tour in August.

But as others have said, I may consider it everyday use!

Maybe have a seperate SD card for mundane trips, and just keep deleting the files when it gets full?

I have started riding with a contour roam 2. Is a good camera. It's placed on the right side of my helmet and covers pretty much all what I can see except a little on the left. Will be useful if I have an accident but also like trailing through the footage!

I was stuck between contour +2 and the Drift ghost HD. Going with the drift not only due to price but also for the sleekness.

FWIW I have just noticed the Drift HD at £155 - compared to the 'Ghost' for £250 on Amazon.. Is the more expensive version worth the extra £100 - given the usage on a bike?

just curious.

Another one with a Contour Roam 2 here.

Excellent camera does all I need and fairly easy to mount to helmet.

Price on these was quite good but obviously Contour did go out of business although may soon be back.

First thing I would say though is to understand why you want one.

Is it to protect yourself against numpties who are likely to cause harm who they say 'not my fault', because if it is you need to look carefully at battery life as well recording time. Typically the Contour roam 2 will run for about 3 hours on a full charge and you can get about the same on a 32GB memory card.

Is it just to capture images, maybe self learning/evaluation of performance because recording time is arguably less important here.

I got mine for a bit of self learning (where could I have see if I could have done something better) as well as to have that evidence in the event of a problem with other road users.

You also have to consider that having one is in some aspects a double edged sword in that the evidence recorded could be used aginst you not just in the event of an accident but possibly if stopped for, lets just say; enthusiastic riding.

For me the risk of someone else doing something is the uncontrollable part and therefore what I need to protect myself from, which is why I will always try to have the camera on at all times.

I am old enough now to limit my riding such that I would get a telling off or at the very worst a minor infraction but nothing that will get me a ban or jail

This brings me back to recording time, to achieve the objective you need a solution that will always be there when you need it and because of the lenght of runs that I do I am still potentially at risk with a single camera.

Solutions for me are; portable power charger (takes time to recharge and ok if you have a planned stop of sufficent length) or having two cameras and swapping over to extend recording duration.

Now Sods law states that it will be off when you most need it unless you take appropriate steps.

Hope that helps a bit OldBadger

First thing I would say though is to understand why you want one.

Is it to protect yourself against numpties who are likely to cause harm who they say 'not my fault', because if it is you need to look carefully at battery life as well recording time. Typically the Contour roam 2 will run for about 3 hours on a full charge and you can get about the same on a 32GB memory card.

Exactly. Thats why im setting my "Evidence Cameras" up to be powered from the bike, always on, and recording on a loop.

No risk of flat battery or full memory cards!

they dont need to be broadcast quality full HD, they just need to show the road positioning of the idiots.

My helmet camera is the only camera that needs to be Full HD so i can pulish stupid vids on youTube!

My helmet camera is the only camera that needs to be Full HD so i can pulish stupid vids on youTube!

Where are they?

On a different note, I wonder what the legal situation is:

Are those vids good enough to provide evidence that can be used in court? (Not talking picture quality here; are they accepted as evidence?)

What if the "director" (the rider) makes a mistake... Can law enforcement seize the cam and use it against them? Would be a double-edged sword then, because although we like to think that we're never at fault, we may be.

(Let's say you're knocked off the bike, maybe unconcious, and the plod find the camera at the scene... they might use it without you having a say in it. Long shot, I know, but still.)

Really just wondering if the law has kept up with technical developments and their implications. Is anybody here in a position to expand on that? TC maybe?

There are more than a few examples of the police either being informed about or spotting a video where the rider has been flagrantly flouting the law.. wheelying on public roads.. or doing over a ton on an NSL with other traffic and so on and making a point of showing the speedo. It doesn't take much detective work to discover who the rider is. some make really dumb mistakes like showing their number plate. Or showing their bike - naming the road and having the video mixed in with other videos on their YT channel that pinpoint who the rider is.

So.. if the Police can use a video as evidence... even if they are relying exclusively on the published video - they don't have the original. Then there is no reason why you or anyone else cannot use your own recording as evidence. In the case of criminal culpability.. like a hit and run for instance - the police will have that video off you in 5 seconds flat to identify who the other person was.

The footage can be used as evidence both for you and against.

The laws which allow and/or prevent them from seizing equipment or what ever the footage is stored on is much more complex and in some cases it will be a judges decision as to wether or not yhe evidence is admissable.

Okay that's interesting, thanks!

Out of curiosity, what do people use for Editting software ?

I use a drift hd 720. an older camera, but i only paid £100 for it a year ago or so. I've fallen out of the habit of using it - but reading a few on here who've had accidents recently, i might get back in the habit.

The reason i stopped using it was because I felt that with it on, I turned into a self righteous dick. without it, I'm merely a dick!

for editing software, I use the stuff that comes with mac. although I've used sony vegas in the past, that was good.

Youtube has some good basic editing functions i have Corel x5pro which is probably a bit ott for basic editing.

I have a gopro hero motor sports camera and strongly recommend against getting one! It's bulky as all hell and if going faster, the wind resistance pulls my head back and hurts my neck. Also, I recorded my pillion ride with Tango at the last TMBF rally with it in the waterproof case in case it rained, and the bloody thing steamed up for about a third of the journey. So much footage of fields of cows ruined!!!

Any truly waterproof camera will mist up. If it has damp inside this is what happens, with any brand.

You can buy anti fog inserts that attract the moisture and stop the fogging.

I use a gopro on my lid a lot and never had any issues with neck or it causing my head to tip back.you probably need to use it more to build up your neck muscle.

If you want a bit of a laugh

That's the first footage of contour roam 2 camera I caught, 30 minutes of riding and I messed around for about 20 minutes on iMovie!

Never edited videos before and used an iPad mini for the whole thing, never once put the footage on a laptop or desk top. Those worried about any of the technology side of it, never been easier.

Also the contour roam can plug I into my iPad and I can reformat or delete as I need. This means on trips where my card may expire but I can charge, if I have the ipad I can remove the infomation!

Anyway, bit of a giggle if you click the link.

If you want a bit of a laugh

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That's the first footage of contour roam 2 camera I caught, 30 minutes of riding and I messed around for about 20 minutes on iMovie!

Never edited videos before and used an iPad mini for the whole thing, never once put the footage on a laptop or desk top. Those worried about any of the technology side of it, never been easier.

Also the contour roam can plug I into my iPad and I can reformat or delete as I need. This means on trips where my card may expire but I can charge, if I have the ipad I can remove the infomation!

Anyway, bit of a giggle if you click the link.

That`s pretty good editing to be fair!

Are you making more videos in the future?

If you want a bit of a laugh

">

That's the first footage of contour roam 2 camera I caught, 30 minutes of riding and I messed around for about 20 minutes on iMovie!

Never edited videos before and used an iPad mini for the whole thing, never once put the footage on a laptop or desk top. Those worried about any of the technology side of it, never been easier.

Also the contour roam can plug I into my iPad and I can reformat or delete as I need. This means on trips where my card may expire but I can charge, if I have the ipad I can remove the infomation!

Anyway, bit of a giggle if you click the link.

That`s pretty good editing to be fair!

Are you making more videos in the future?

I am not to sure yet, thinking of it. I mean that footage was not deliberate, just hd the camera running when I was closing the garage etc...the editing was pretty straight forward, was just a pain clipping the videos into bits on an iPad.

Might try my laptop next time as I can store more than 8gb footage then!

It was made as a bit of a joke for my gf really, the whole waving at my grandparents etc...lol

Glad you enjoied it, I liked making it so will prob make some more, would actually learn how youtube works and stuff though, I only put it on youtube for the forum.

wifey wants me to have one for accident purposes! What do people make of the Road hawk one http://motorcycle.roadhawk.co.uk/#tab-video