Camcorder on Motorcycle

I found two possibilities to shoot a video by a camcorder while driving my motorcycle: Mounting the camcorder to my knee or mounting it to the tankbag.

The camcorder is a Panasonic SX30EG S-VHS-C with electronic image stabilizer. It can correct shaking (A) but not rotations (B). But the image stabilizer is designed for rather stable images and not for rapid movement. If used on a motorcycle, it leads to a rather jerky video, because the stabilizer tries to fix the image for a moment and then moves further. So I switch the stabilizer off to get better results.

The camcorder is powered by an 12V/4.8V DC/DC converter connected to the motorcycle battery.

Meanwhile I mounted an additional fisheye lens, which has the advantage of a greater view and a more stable image.

1. Camcorder strapped to my knee

I straped the camcorder to my left knee by its original shoulder strap, adjusted it to driving direction and fixed it additionally by a short strip of tape against wobbling and rotating.

Photos:

Video captures with camera on left side (attention, last one is 9,5MB):

Video captures with camera on right side:

Video capture looking backwards:

The videos look relatively fast due to the small distance to the ground. The mirror and indicator don't disturb as much as the windshield in case 2. It's funny to watch my hand opening and closing the clutch.

2. Camcorder mounted to the tankbag

For my first tries, I took a box (yellow on the first two pictures), stuffed it with some tissue, put in the camcorder, cut in some holes to access it, closed the box with tape and strapped it to the tank bag by rubber bands. But later, I always left the box away. It is possible to strap the camcorder to the tankbag driectly, too (third and fourth picture). Unfortunately, even if the camcorder is positioned as high as possible, the windshield is rather big in the view. By the way: If you wonder, what that little device behind my windshield is, take a look on my GPS page. You'll also find further video captures there.

Photos:

Video captures:

Rolf Schlagenhaft, accesses since 4th Sep 2000