Along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal

[happyslug]

5. The more stable the mount the more stable the video

Last edited Wed Apr 8, 2015, 12:37 AM - Edit history (1)

Thus a stationary tripod based camera always give the best videos. The problem is you want to RIDE and RECORD the ride, thus the choice of a Stationary Tripod Camera is not an option for you.

The most stable mobile system is system based on wheels that goes over a fixed route. Hollywood did this for decades using rails (yes a camera on a rail car going along the action shot being made). In the days of Black and White Westerns it was common to have actors riding horses, ride along a rail line built for the scene, with the camera look sideways from the Rail car (thus the rail car is NEVER in the video). From what I have read this was done as late as the 1980s, but then enhanced video stabilization permitted the abandonment of such rail systems in favor of a camera on wheels (a much CHEAPER system). A camera on wheels will provide enough stability to provide a good video provided the Camera on wheel is going over relatively flat terrain (much like the old rail car cameras).

Now your body goes up and down as you walk or run. It is the nature of the human body. Thus ANY body mounted camera will be affected by that up and down movement. Please note, this up and down movement is independent of the terrain, you have even if you are walking on a perfectly flat track. When biking most of this up and down movement do NOT reach your chest or head, for the simple reason you have a stable base with your ass on the saddle. You will have SOME movement in a chest or head camera when you are biking, but no where NEAR what you get if you were walking.

On the other hand the bicycle is based on the wheel, which provides a fairly constant movement with little up and down movement (independent of the terrain itself). Thus on a flat track you can achieve no movement up and down. On actual roads, you have runts, turns, potholes, curbs and other road hazards. These hazards move a handlebar based camera up and down, but less then if the camera is on your chest or helmet (and much less then if you were walking and the camera was on your chest or head).

If you have a front shock absorber, it will adsorb some of those hazards, but not all of them. On the other hand, the handlebar mounted Camera will provide a more stable base then anything on your body.

Now, your body on a bike will also be more stable then if you were walking, but the movement of your muscles as you bike will cause some movement of the camera, thus the camera most stable position in on the handlebars. It is NOT a good a a stationary tripod, but most cameras with video stabilization should provide a decent photo.

Here is a report on someone who has used Video Cameras on Bicycles:

Mounting the camera to the bicycle

Surprisingly, mounting the camera directly to the bicycle can result in very little apparent shake, if the camera has a wide-angle lens. The length of the bicycle's wheelbase and the rigidity of its frame avoid the nodding motion of a head-mounted camera. The camera must be rigidly mounted to the bicycle, though. A loose or flexible mount will amplify vibration.

Any camera mounted to the bicycle will lean with it in corners, and there are other bicycle motions which affect the image. These depend on how and where the camera is mounted.

http://sheldonbrown.com/image-stabilization.html

Just a comment you need the lightest camera on the most rigid mount to the handlebars for the most stable video. In the movies Wide Angle cameras were disliked for they had a tendency to make even thin people look "Fat". Thus the option of using a Wide Angle Lens and then cropping the photo to make it look more stable was NOT an option. On the other hand, unless you want to show your videos on a super wide movie screen, the photos from a wide angle lens are good enough. Thus a wide angle lens (and that is most lens in SMART phones, Cell Phones and Point and shoot cameras) is good enough if you mount it on your handlebars and it comes equip with even a cheap image stabilization system.