recommended cam for my needs

[ady347]

I seem to have had a couple of close calls lately due to idiot drivers from the same taxi firm (mostly foreign drivers relying on sat navs!) I am after advice on a cheap bike video camera. What I need is

One that works at night with good street lighting on journey.

Helmet and handlebar mounted preferred.

To last my daily journey of 1hr 20mins

after my round trip I want to easily delete footage if no incidents.

I have no knowledge of this area, just something cheap, basic and will give good enough video quality.

Thanks

 

[Cabo]

I have been using a Drift170HD this past three years. Comes with 5 different attachments, one of which is for helmet and another for handlebars.
Has 3 resolution settings, so lower will give you plenty of record time. I carry spare recharge battery - not expensive.
Go-Pro is more expensive and regarded as better, but the most useful thing i find with the Drift is a small remote control that turns vid record on/off.

 

[jackhandy]

I use an ACT20 action cam - 720p resolution, 120 deg lens, which gives me about 90 mins on an 8 gig card & 180 mins on a 16 gig, which is about the same as the battery duration.

Trouble is - I don't know how useful it would be in low light conditions: I think this is going to be your problem.

Horsebox pulling out - YouTube

Very useable in good light, as you see.

 

[ady347]

Thanks for advice I will do some research on these.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Thanks for advice I will do some research on these.

You need an HD one (1080P) if you want to be able to read car number plates. I've tried a lot, but this one was my favourite. It cost about £100, but I dropped it and brole the clip, so I gave it to Saneagle, who made a custom clip for it and is still using it. It's waterproof and the battery lasts about 2 to 3 hours. I then bought a replacement one for £50, but I think it was a cheaper copy because it had different software in it and the battery retaining clip broke straight away.
HD 1920x1080P Waterproof Helmet Sport Mini DVR Monitor Camera | eBay

Now I use this one. The image doesn't seem quite as good as the other one:

HD 1080P Waterproof Sports Helmet Camera DV Action DVR Video Camcorder Recorder | eBay
Image sample here, but don't forget to set the image quality to 1080p at the bottom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nRP1oBMZkI

 

[johnc461165]

Worth a look here Techmoan - Techmoan

 

[jackhandy]

One other thing I forgot to mention is that, for numberplate identification, you really need 60 frames/second.

The act20 runs at 30, like most cheap cameras, &you need to look square at the plate for a moment or 2, to avoid it smearing as it pans accross the frame.

 

[Scimitar]

Google for "rolling shutter" or "jello effect", which a problem with the cheap cmos cams. There seem to be a few jello-removal utilities around, but I don't know how good they are.