Eye of Snowron

April 19, 2007 6:58 AM

Greetings Hive Mind. I love to ski, and I want to have a video record of said skiing. Has anyone got any recommendations for helmet cameras that I could use next time I'm in the mountains?

Bonus points for:

- at least 640 x 480
- nice big lens
- reasonable price
- rugged

My brothers and I have been skiing forever (25, 28, and 29 years respectively), and we finally got a chance to ski together again for the first time in years last month. It was great, but we wound up with very little in the way of pics and video, as my trusty DSC-V1 isn't exactly designed for taking spontaneous mountain footage.

I get 640 x 480 out of the V1 right now, but if I could improve on that, that'd be great. The same holds for the lens...most of the rigs that I've seen don't seem to have super-duper optics on them, but if that was an option, I'd be into it.

In terms of price, I'm looking to buy at least two, probably three of these things...I can use my brother's Christmas/birthday present budgets to off-set some of the cost, and I earn a good living (I'm paid in pounds these days), but if I could keep things under about £300/rig, I'd be happy (Americans - that's about $600 at current exchange rates). Don't hold back if you've seen more expensive options though.

We ski pretty hard too, so whatever I wind up buying will need to be able to withstand constant small knocks (moguls) and occasional catastrophic blowouts.

Double bonus points for anyone who's actually used, or knows someone who's used what they're recommending.

posted by Kreiger to technology (7 comments total)

http://www.sports-camera.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SCX105L-Sports-Camcorder-Optical/dp/B0007QN8AG

I haven't used either (but I've been thinking about getting something for ski footage too lately)
posted by nonmyopicdave at 7:31 AM on April 19, 2007

I've heard some guys recommend this one. At least I think they did -- I thought they said biosport, and it was the end of a powder day so I wasn't paying great attention. Looks like the one they had though.

No double bonus points for me -- never used it, don't know who has, I just asked some guys sitting at the bottom of the hill because it looked like they weren't messing around.
posted by powpow at 7:46 AM on April 19, 2007

Get a Samsung Sports Cam with a blue tooth lens attachment that goes on your head- sometimes I wrap mine around my shoulder. It is a hard drive camera so there is no tape or flash cards to screw with. You can check out the details here...

http://www.samsung.com/PressCenter/PressRelease/PressRelease.asp?seq=20050105_0000089662
posted by bkeene12 at 7:55 AM on April 19, 2007

Correction... my bro says that they haven't come out with a blue tooth lens. I have used the "wired" lens extensively and it works fine. The latest an the greatest from Samsung seems to be the SC-X300L.
posted by bkeene12 at 8:09 AM on April 19, 2007

We did Vail with a skydiving helmet and camera this year. This sort of helmet looks a bit odd on a ski slope, but takes a standard video camera. The combination of camera and helmet is a bit pricer than the range you've stated, but will do a wonderful job -- just make sure the camera's protected from the damp (there are neoprene sheathes for that).

(This is not the only company that does skydiving video helmets, btw.)
posted by MarcieAlana at 10:30 AM on April 19, 2007

Thanks everybody. Has anyone seen competitors to the Samsung that bkeene12 is talking about?
posted by Kreiger at 1:27 PM on April 19, 2007

If you find one let us know. I looked all over the place when I was searching for one. I never had any luck. I can say that I am very happy with the unit I have. The thing is used every day as I keep a video journal. In the year I have had it the only thing I have had to do was replace the battery. The bigger one last a good bit longer but doesn't compromise the size convenience.
posted by bkeene12 at 8:10 PM on April 21, 2007