To Contour or Not to Contour?

[TimmyJay]

Looking at mounting a camcorder to capture all that great bean footage. Not those beans. :dance: What's your thoughts for those that own one?

Mounting location on goggles...older version/Roam2/+2/GPS...other brand.

I'm getting the itch with LL6 coming up.

I saw a thread/link of someone developing a even smaller device, but looking for something soon that works.

I use a Profiler mask, but interested in getting something different some day...

[GoatBoy]

What mask do you use? Your mask of choice might actually affect your decision.

[sQuidvision]

contours work great with grills/profilers, not so much with the proflex. i like mine a lot, nice low profile camera!

[GoatBoy]

Hrm... mounting on goggles without exposed straps gets kind of tricky.

How detailed an answer do you want on this matter?

In my opinion, until it's integrated right into the mask, it doesn't get better than this:

87759

In your particular LL6 case, this might be of interest to you:

87760

In-flight refueling off a regular Tenergy 2600mah USB power supply.

[Justus]

I use one on my Grill, and bolted the mounting circle directly to my lens retention clip. The clips on the Grill are a little more pronounced, but I think the clips on the Profiler are big enough to work with as well. And you can typically pick up a spare set of lens retention clips for just a couple bucks.

[TimmyJay]

I am getting the itch even more now. Thanks for the comments and pics. I heard Contour may have a new one coming out in June so now I don't know. I guess if you keep waiting for new technology then you will never buy...

[GoatBoy]

Bolting does seem the way to go, as long as it's still adjustable. My Drift is bolted into my retention piece as well; it just so happens that the Drift has a 1/4"-20 hole built into the camera itself, so I don't need an adapter. I literally bolt the bare camera straight in.


I’m not going to say Contours are bad; they take perfectly good video, but they do seem to have a few issues.

Contours do NOT like to be shot. Much of the time they survive; sometimes they do not. And when they don't, Contour seems to shrug and just go, “Well, you should have had it in the extra case”. Seems kind of contemptuous.

This guy lost his audio:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBoJUG8ZaBY

IR filter knocked loose:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meVdDNv_lW4

Cracked lens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5OugIIriCg


Not only that, but Contours seem difficult to clean up in the field. I think it has to do with how the lens housing is designed. Or maybe it’s just operator error, but I think that’s why you see so many blurry Contour videos.

For nearly the same money (depending on the model you compare against), the Drift HD has a screen, a removable battery, a remote control, a built-in 1/4”-20 hole, and is external mic and external power source capable without having to open it up and leave the entire backside exposed. And it’s easier to clean in-field. I can blindly hit it with a microfiber cloth mid-game and get it completely clean.

If the next Contour release manages to fix all these issues and comes in at $200, great.


There's another camera that I have been interested in -- the Liquid Image Ego, but I don't have any firsthand experience with them.

[BTAutoMag]

i got a buddy who is starting a business selling hopper cams. built right in the hopper.

hes an electrical engineer... lucky bastard

[GoatBoy]

i got a buddy who is starting a business selling hopper cams. built right in the hopper.

hes an electrical engineer... lucky bastard

What's a hopper?

[warchild69]

Ball hopper

[Laku]

The most important things I would consider are:
1. image quality
2. field of view (if it's wide you're not going to see most of the hits or even the targets)
3. How durable it is.
4. Is it light/easy to use. (noone wants something that's constantly in the way.)
5. What options does it give you in frame rate. (this also affect field of view in most cameras)

I haven't done extensive search on the options available. But from those that I do know "R7 RePlay XD 1080 Full HD" seems to be fitting most of those points. Gopro's have too large field of view (FoV) and are bit unwieldy depending on where you want to mount them. Contours don't take hits like said before and they have larger FoV.

[BTAutoMag]

What's a hopper?

...


WHAT?!:eek:

[GoatBoy]

...


WHAT?!:eek:

I KEED, I KEED.


Srsly tho, hopper cams don't help if you don't use hoppers.

I've mentioned that the 1/4"-20 is really convenient... I basically just made a barrel mount using a strip of Kydex and a 1/4"-20 bolt.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r35E23Dg-Po/Tqoj1mqUuvI/AAAAAAAAExM/QpQP2up71K8/s1600/IMGP3284.JPG

Not much of a fan of on-gun setups though.

[BTAutoMag]

Me either. He's developing a 2 camera on mask setup that will sense when one of the cameras has an obstructed view and switch to the other camera....

I then asked... "2 cameras on either side of your mask... why not have it shoot 3d?"

He slowly puts his finger to his mouth while smiling evily... shhhhhh

[keiko_819]

My contour has taken about 5 solid hits and I've had no problems...replacement lenses are cheap also...

[TimmyJay]

replacement lenses sound great. I see the gorilla glass is replaceable on the drift.

[Laku]

All the cameras mentioned here should have optics protector replacement kits available.

[GoatBoy]

Me either. He's developing a 2 camera on mask setup that will sense when one of the cameras has an obstructed view and switch to the other camera....

I then asked... "2 cameras on either side of your mask... why not have it shoot 3d?"

He slowly puts his finger to his mouth while smiling evily... shhhhhh

You know I haven't been much enthralled with "3d" technology, but being able to watch my own recorded games in 3d might make it worth it.

[Justus]

I see the gorilla glass is replaceable on the drift.

From what I understand about gorilla glass - which is surprisingly quite a bit after listening to an article on NPR about the stuff - you're never going to replace that stuff. You'll replace the camera first, because anything that hits your camera that could crack that glass is going to likely destroy your camera in the first place.