Drift Innovations has released an HD helmet camera, a hands-free sports action camera which films in full HD and has a playback screen and remote control.
Mainly for personal use, HD170 offers 1080p HD video from a camera designed to be mounted to a helmet, bike frame, or just about anywhere, via a full range of mounts for mounting the camera to handlebars, a helmet, goggles, and a head strap.
Sporting a 1.5-inch LCD screen, wireless remote control, a 170-degree wide-angle lens and 4X digital zoom, the company claims the camera is a first in hands-free action camera technology for SA.
Warrick Kernes, director of Action Cameras SA, says: “It is the only helmet camera of its kind to be able to have an external microphone plugged in. It has a mic on it normally, but the external mic is useful for people overlaying commentary over the video or wanting to avoid wind speed on the built-in mic.”
The target market is mountain bikers, motorbikers, skydivers, motorsports enthusiasts, and people doing snow sports.
“The two outstanding benefits of the HD170 are the screen and the remote control,” says Kernes. “Never before has an HD helmet camera allowed for a user to be able to preview their video to help align the perfect angle before shooting. The remote offers extreme ease of use.”
There are a few downsides, though, according to Action Cameras. The HD170 is larger in size then other helmet cameras at 133mm x 33mm x 51mm. For having the screen on the camera itself this is a necessity.
The waterproofing of the HD170 is rated at 0.5 meters so this camera is more for the user who wants it for biking or other land sports and does not want to have to worry about rain storms or mud.
If filming in 1080p HD the files are large and may slow down older computers making it difficult to edit. However, Kernes says HD170 has the option of reducing the video from 1080p to 720p or even WVGA video quality.
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