Contour HD 1080p

If you’re looking for a helmet cam or a car-mountable camera, you’ve probably encountered the VholdR Contour camera. There’s already been a couple of versions of the camera; the original VholdR wearable camera costs about $200 and shoots in standard resolution video, and the ContourHD is selling for about $280, and shoots in 720p.


Now they have announced a new version, the ContourHD 1080, which shoots 1080p video, and will cost about $50 more than the ContourHD. It’s certainly an interesting camera, with it’s small size and laser aided focusing. On the down side, it has a fixed field of view (though on a helmet cam it’s not like you are going to be zooming in and out.)

Users note the following:
  • solid construction, seems robust
  • simple, light and easy to use
  • for outdoors, it produces good quality images
  • poor low-light capabilities
  • adapting to other camera mounts can be difficult
  • poor sound and no video out

If you’re looking to do active shooting, it’s certainly worth considering.

I’m currently looking at trying to mount a video camera on a kite rig. The Contour HD looks like it might work well for that, but I’m also drawn to some of the cheaper HD camcorders available that offer more features. The real question – perhaps – is how durable those cameras will be compared to the Contour HD.

Links
Vholdr website.
Sample video from 1080p: Base jumper
720p at 60fps : Jet Ski

Engadget: Hands-on

Amazon: VholdR 1200 ContourHD Camera

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