Which Helmet Cameras Are Best For Skiing?
Gone are the days of Dad holding the family camcorder in one hand, both ski poles in the other and trying not to fall over while capturing those would-be magic moments. Helmet Cameras are here and provide the ability to film your family ski holidays hands-free while you just focus on having a great time!
When looking for a helmet camera for skiing and snow boarding a few features rise in priority above others. First of all you need something that is going to give decent quality video and not over-expose in the bright conditions – you don’t want to spend hours filming and then not be able to identify people or places when you play your footage back.
Clearly, small is beautiful here and the smaller the better. No-one wants so lug too much kit up and down the slopes and what can seem quite light in your hand can actually be fairly weighty when mounted on your head. Having said that, attaching the helmet cam to your helmet or goggles are the obvious choices but some great footage can also be achieved by mounting it on to a ski poles or the front of a ski or snowboard.
Remote control of the camera is really useful: just a simple record and stop button saves lots of fiddling about the main helmet camera all day. In addition, some remotes have a special ‘tag’ feature which allows you to digitally mark great footage. Due to the very nature of skiing, you are likely to have a lot of footage on ski lifts so this tag feature really cuts down on the editing time back at the chalet or home. A quick tip – make sure the buttons on the remote are large enough to press with ski gloves or mittens if possible. Some remotes work on radio frequency (as opposed to infra-red) so they don’t need to be line-of-sight to operate which can also be an advantage.
A wide angled lens also provides great advantages: with previous narrower angled cameras it was difficult to gain perspective of the speed because the lens only saw the slope in front of you. With a wider field of view you will not only see what is in front of you but also the scenery around you. This truly puts the speed in to perspective and with a beautiful panorama your footage will be much more watchable.
Finally, if you aren’t likely to stay upright all day, make sure it is waterproof!
Irrespective of which helmet camera you choose, it is best to buy lithium batteries – they last longer than other batteries, they weigh less and are built to perform in extreme temperatures. Regular batteries can freeze at the top of a mountain.
By: Warrick Kernes
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Filed under Recreation And Sports by on Jul 4th, 2010. 