I am back to it. Recent research done and videos watched on the very, very good stabilization of the GoPro 7 Black, made me reviving this idea. There is footage available of normal bicycles travelling on the street with cam mounted to the bike frame instead to the driver, and images nevertehless are - smooth, stable. Also, mountain bikers show videos with this cam where thewy mounted the cam to their chest or hemlmet or arms, and again accieving previously unseen image stability when gpoing into the rough. GoPro has its issues, my research showed, but this trick names hypersmoothing - they mastered this one, really. Especially with the latest firmware update. They advertise the Seven as the Gimbal-killer - I start to see some of the truth in that slogan.
The festival of joy and love is close, and today I decided to love myself and gift me enjoyment, so I dived deep into my pockets, and bought the cam, plus some basic stuff. More of it is coming, hopefully before the christmas shutdown: cables, charger, mounts, memory cards.
Did not now completely what to expect. As a reminder, I was looking to shoot longtime movies of my bike tours, and then editing them at home, offline. At the same time I wanted to avoid the social media stuff and always-online enforcement that GoPro demanded ni the past. I did not know what memory size would translate into what playing length, and then the problem with power.
I had a rough start this afternoon. Some things did not work as I learned on the web, for example manual offline updating of the firmware. Impossible on Linux and on Windows, since the cam and its card do not allow external files being moved to them, they allow me only to export from them. I needed to use the smarttphone app, which again did not go smooth, but finally I managed to get it done, and then deactivated all the special rights the according app demanded to track me. So far, so good. Latest firmware update is live. Smartphone can connect to the camera, if wanted (for control or as a monitor). and since some months GoPro do not force the user to create a user account and hand them rights to watch all their private content. I can edit the wav files and mp4 files offline, like any other such files, with according software. Should even be possible under Linux. There must even be software and codecs allowing to burn normal Tv-DVDs.
So, obviously file export also worked flawless. I now know, depending on resolution and colour and light conditions, that 1 minute takes 500-800 MB in 4K. I most likely will use lower resolutions of 2.7 16:9 or even 1080, with frames of 60 or 120, I must test and check the results. With 64 and 128 GB cards I can achieve what I originally aimed for: hoursd and hours of recording time.
Next issue: power. The cam eats batteries like I eat
Haribo Goldbären. I am a Haribo bear killer, and the cameras has a deep-rooting blood feud with batteries. To my great relief I tested and found out that the cam can be run with external powerbanks, even better: it does not only charge by it, but operates fully even if I take the battery out and leave the slot open. That is relevant not only due to the longer operating time, but also because:
The cam has a known heat problem, and by the feeling of the case in my hands I think it is both the processor working and the battery decharging that create lots of temperature. The battery material probably also stores and saves the heat better, making it more difficult for the inside of the case to cool down again. With the battery taken out of the equation, my outlooks look brighter again. With the wind when driving, even more so. In spring, not summer, I again win some degrees.
So, it looks that if technology works stable, I will be able to record hours and hours indeed, by strapping a powerbank to my bike and connecting it with a cable to the cam.
Next I must check whether there is a way to get it work ing on the bicycle battery. I ordered an according cable (USB-C to USB-B 2.0), and then will connect it to the bike computer which has an output connector - it works with my smartphone (navigation software in use), I must see whether the output is good enough to maintain the camera.
The camera is not too good in low light, so I could not test a lot today regarding images and videos, but what I was able to do, is stunning, an eye opener. Unfortunately the GoPros have now a reputation of occasionally breaking down or freezing, so it is not the most reliable piece of kit, needs to be given a cold reboot (battery out and in and rebooting it when it has frozen). I aleady had one freeze today, but did a lot of button dancing, so... how it will be if just switched to record and then let it running on, I will see. This is the big question mark for me that remains: reliability, software stability. Energy is solved this way or the other way, and memory is solved as well.
Just this one box more to tick, and I am through!
Mounting kits for both bike frame and body are hoped for before end of this week. That was all an awful lot of money, but I am optimistic now. Not totally, irresponsibly optimistic, but optimistic. It really looks as if I can get things working like I wanted them to. I even already had watched a short 1 minute clip I shot for testing in VR, via Virtual Desktop and then a virtual cinema, watched in up on that huge screen.
This kind of technology holds risks and invitations for abuse, it makes me scream and curse at times - but when I race in Assetto Corsa or Raceroom, or when it works out well like today, I certainly also realise that it also holds miracles and wonders.
This boy goes to bed very happy today.
.P.S. Physically, the little case has a satisyfying, heavy feel to it, solid and well-manufactured. It looks light, but it seems to be quite robust for sure.