Solutions to video camera shake

[morphix]

This is the video footage of the incident from the PSP rear cam ...
YouTube - PSP CAM REAR VIEW capturing the CAR DVR incident

It's a good job you saw or heard it come off else you would of had a lot of back tracking to do to find it down that winding country lane..

 

[kitchenman]

It's a good job you saw or heard it come off else you would of had a lot of back tracking to do to find it down that winding country lane..

If only I had a chest, head or glasses cam and I could have shown you!

 

[vhfman]

Alan, it's a good job the camera came off on a quiet lane rather than on the A339. Which from your video looks like a very busy road, and the camera would probable have gone under some car wheels. I see in your video, PSP CAM FRONT MOUNT TEST-01, those traffic islands make the vans and cars that over take you, pass fairly close! At 2:24 the white van followed by the car looks very near. It's a good job you can get on to country lanes away from the traffic, other wise it would be a nightmare journey.
Anyhow it is interesting seeing other peoples videos. It's amazing how much information you can get about the surroundings. With the aid of Google maps + Street View you can work out quite a lot. Now I seem very voyeuristic looking at where people live and work!

Chris

 

[kitchenman]

Thanks for the concern Chris. You are right it is horrible! .. I have done the 339 a few times in the past but not anymore. Those traffic islands may make crossing the road for pedestrians a bit easier but they're not doing me much good! .. one time a car left it so late he decided he couldn't make it and decided it was safer on the other side of the road. Fortunately his path was clear. Once I'm in the lanes its great cycling .. sometimes I only see a few vehicles.

 

[kitchenman]

A It's amazing how much information you can get about the surroundings. With the aid of Google maps + Street View you can work out quite a lot. Now I seem very voyeuristic looking at where people live and work!
Chris

Have you seen my thread on "route swapping". Has anyone? ... umm ..
If its a bad idea I wish someone would say! ... I have attached the GPS file so that anyone who wanted to look at my route in detail can.. I have a particularly nice route and I'm sure others do as well ... but all routes will have something interesting about them ... I would be delighted for someone to cycle my route and tell me what they think. Doesn't need to be a socially arranged event although obviously there is that option. - Ah! I just realised there is a flaw in the idea. What are people going to do when they get to Basingstoke? ... may be thats why there is no interest ...

 

[allen-uk]

Any ideas where the microphone (hole) is on the Mini DV MD80?

Reason: I've made a little pouch, fitted to a spare light fitting on the front of my bars, and the first trial round the block was promising, but totally silent! I think I must have covered the hole unwittingly, but testing it off-bike doesn't reveal the location. (There are a couple of slots in the top, but neither seems to affect the sound going in).

Google didn't help, by the way.


A.

 

[Mussels]

Anyhow it is interesting seeing other peoples videos. It's amazing how much information you can get about the surroundings. With the aid of Google maps + Street View you can work out quite a lot. Now I seem very voyeuristic looking at where people live and work!

Chris

I use it quite a bit when I'm taking on suppliers at work, it's good to check their office address to see if it's a rent-a-desk place or a small terrace house.

 

[kitchenman]

Any ideas where the microphone (hole) is on the Mini DV MD80?
A.

The only hole in my CAR DVR is on the switch:


If thats not it then it must be under the cover!
Perhaps your device is the same ..

 

[morphix]

Any ideas where the microphone (hole) is on the Mini DV MD80?

Reason: I've made a little pouch, fitted to a spare light fitting on the front of my bars, and the first trial round the block was promising, but totally silent! I think I must have covered the hole unwittingly, but testing it off-bike doesn't reveal the location. (There are a couple of slots in the top, but neither seems to affect the sound going in).

Google didn't help, by the way.


A.

As far as I can tell, it's somewhere near top of the unit..if you look you'll see two little holes, one on the left and one on right.. the mic seems to be near to them as if you tap there it picks up loud.

 

[kitchenman]

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK - The JESSOPS MINI DV

Got my body cam! .. I can now test front, rear and body! ..
Apparently this is being given away with other camera purchases at JESSOPS. Looks like its about 20 quid on its own ..

Weight: 19g

Initial pictures:




Now for some testing!

 

[morphix]

Got my body cam! .. I can now test front, rear and body! ..
Apparently this is being given away with other camera purchases at JESSOPS. Looks like its about 20 quid on its own ..

Weight: 19g

Initial pictures:
View attachment 1975
View attachment 1976
View attachment 1977

Now for some testing!

That is the MD80, repackaged?! Exact same camera as mine.. I paid £20 quid for mine with 8GB from 7dayshop.com.. but the camera sucks if you move..I have confirmed this beyond any doubt now.. unless you move *real* steady and slowly, it will drop frames and suffer picture flicker and distortion.. I suspect this is the camera sensor itself (I may have a dud one again), but it could also be the memory card is too slow to keep up (class 4)..

Really interested now to know how well yours works Alan.. try it just for walking around quickly..mine doesn't even cope with that.

Paul

 

[kitchenman]

That is the MD80, repackaged?
Paul

Does look pretty similar! .. Walk in kitchen was ok and am going for the goggle mount as the follow shows:


And not forgetting the all important, wouldn't cycle without it, HELMET!


Will test tomorrow as I have chores to do!

 

[vhfman]

Hi Paul, I think that the MD80 is not going to cut it even with a faster card. I have a class 6 micro SD in one that I used last year. The problem is the sensor and chipset used in these cameras. I think that the latest HD version, like the Keyring cam I showed earlier are a better proposition. Although these still don’t cope practically well with a fast enough refresh rate, especially if the light is not bright and sunny i.e. typical British day light. It’s not so much dropped frames that are the problem, but more like frame stability. As you can see from this video I took last year using the MD80 mounted in the bike frame just below the handlebars. You can see the typical effect of movement with these cameras. The resolution is only 720x480 and a strange 31fps; I found this is only just acceptable when viewing on a large screen TV/monitor.
Sound pick up is quite good from such a small camera. I didn’t find a way of successfully wind proofing the audio with my example.

By the way the motor doesn’t sound quite as loud in real life from the saddle; the camera is only about 18” away from the hub.

I think that the file has just made it onto Youtube link here:-

YouTube - Mini DV MD80 test.avi

I just looked at the up load and it’s not as good resolution as the original media but the wobbly frame looks similar. The file was reduced from 439MB to 67MB, so that’s why the quality is down!

Chris

 

[morphix]

Hi Paul, I think that the MD80 is not going to cut it even with a faster card. I have a class 6 micro SD in one that I used last year. The problem is the sensor and chipset used in these cameras. I think that the latest HD version, like the Keyring cam I showed earlier are a better proposition. Although these still don’t cope practically well with a fast enough refresh rate, especially if the light is not bright and sunny i.e. typical British day light. It’s not so much dropped frames that are the problem, but more like frame stability. As you can see from this video I took last year using the MD80 mounted in the bike frame just below the handlebars. You can see the typical effect of movement with these cameras. The resolution is only 720x480 and a strange 31fps; I found this is only just acceptable when viewing on a large screen TV/monitor.
Sound pick up is quite good from such a small camera. I didn’t find a way of successfully wind proofing the audio with my example.

By the way the motor doesn’t sound quite as loud in real life from the saddle; the camera is only about 18” away from the hub.

I think that the file has just made it onto Youtube link here:-

YouTube - Mini DV MD80 test.avi

I just looked at the up load and it’s not as good resolution as the original media but the wobbly frame looks similar. The file was reduced from 439MB to 67MB, so that’s why the quality is down!

Chris

Many thanks Chris, you have confirmed for me what I sort of suspected..I just watched your video and it looks very much same as mine, that strange flicker or wobbly thing in middle of frame.. still, the resolution and colour is not bad at all is it for such a tiny camera even with all the compression.

It's a shame the camera doesn't perform good on the bike, but it does make a handy little cam for use for static filming I think which comes out very good. If you needed to film annoying neighbours or a TVL licence man, this is the cam to do it ;-) I will heed your advice I think and not bother spending more money on a higher class micro SD card for it.

Paul

 

[steveindenmark]

Hi Steve, I have looked at that camera and the footage it produces and agree it's probably the best solution for super stable video but I think the price is prohibitive still for many people at £300. I could afford it, but I really can't justify spending that much on a bike camera. Are you going to get one yourself?

Paul

I am due a new camera Paul but I have still to see some still photos taken with this camera. Looking at the videos they are super smooth but because it is a wide angled lens it distorts the picture.

Like you I cannot justify spending that much on something I would hardlings use.

Steve

 

[allen-uk]

Alan: that is DEFINITELY the MD80.

I won't bother trying to battle through the ether tonight to up load a 2 minute sample to YouTube - the morning will do - but I really don't know where all the shaking and dropped frame stuff comes from. Mine behaves beautifully! Maybe it is the quality of the card - mine cost about 8 or 9 quid from Amazon - I'll dig out the full spec. int morning.

Or maybe there was a dodgy batch of MD80s and I for once got lucky.

I'll stick it on YouTube first thing Sunday.


Allen.

 

[allen-uk]

So, I stuck it on YouTube:

YouTube - md80on bars xpt - Computer.m4v

and apart from the usual 'splash' at the start (upload glitch I think), it seems okay.

I've redone the pouch with a softer lining and more silicone dampening, and I'll pop out soon and try it out on some 'proper' north London roads - the ones in my estate are all cul-de-sacs and don't get any heavy traffic, so they're fairly smooth - it's different Out There.

I DO get the bad effects when I walk round holding the camera - it really doesn't like fast panning, does it - but still can't get frames to drop out.
The card was a SanDisk microSDHC 8GB Card, £6.99 from Amazon, so nothing special.

Anyway, more later (should be nice and peaceful even in n.London at this hour)...


A.

 

[vhfman]

Hi Allen, your MD80 seems to perform much better than mine. The video is a lot smoother than anything I can see with either of the 2 MD80 I got last year. OK on the card you are using, I tried several different cards. The one that's in the camera at the moment is a Samsung class 6. So I don't think that the quality I am seeing is anything to do with the card. It must be down to pot luck with the individual cameras as to how well they respond. I am much more hopeful of the keyring type I am experimenting with now.
It will be interesting to see what your next upload is like later on.
I assume from the .M4v file extension you are using an Apple computer. I wonder what file compression you have used for the upload to YouTube?
Anyhow it's a nice sunny day here so it should be good for shooting video.

Thanks for taking the time to give us some more video material to compare.

Chris

 

[allen-uk]

Hello Chris.

Yes, I would have liked to see the next upload, too! Sodding battery (on the camera, not the bike) went out, so now recharging. How long do yours last? Mine seems to get eaten up if you make lots of little films when experimenting. Or maybe I've got a duff battery.

Yes, I'm on iMac, using QuickTime Pro (the one you pay £20 extra for). That one on YouTube started life as a .mov at 263Mb, and ended up as a .m4v at 54Mb, just as a function of 'Save for web' on Quicktime, so that's a useful tool. I would have thought it was the same on PCs, but don't know.

Another problem (not just mine) is that I can't see the little lights on the MD80, not once I'm out in the bright outdoors, so I'm thinking of doing that mod involving drilling bigger holes in the top of camera.

But as soon as the battery comes back to life, I'll ride over some potholes and post the results.


A.

 

[kitchenman]

thats happening to me ... battery wont charge! .... I switch it on, hit record and a few seconds later it shuts down after a bit of encouraging red light flashing ... The video is literally a few seconds ...
Trying to charge on a different machine ...
The lights ARE too small.
If it dont charge this time then I'm concluding the test and with a "not recommended"