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Drift HD170 video camera discount
I am working with a distributor and can get a good discount on the awesome Drift HD170 video cameras. I can get them to you for $280 plus a bit of shipping (I will charge cost for shipping).
I have been jumping one of these for the last few months and it ROCKS! Great low profile design, rotatable lens for different mounting options (or to switch between head-up and head-down jumping), wrist mounted remote control (great idea!!), full 1080p HD gives approx. 120 degrees wide angle. 720 HD gives approx 170 degrees!! Swoop pond proof! Also has a screen for reviewing video / sighting in. This is a great price on a great camera - I believe these will replace the GoPro as the best mini HD cameras for skydiving.
Give me a shout if you are interested.
Nick
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Re: [freeflynick] Drift HD170 video camera discount
GoPro is better. Better video and audio quality and less jello effect. There are many videos out there that compare the two.
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Re: [ee1] Drift HD170 video camera discount
I have seen many of the comparison videos, and I have seen the videos I get from the HD170, and although there are slight differences, the quality of both cameras is very high. Even on my 52" at home it has amazing clarity and I am very happy with it.
Where I see the Drift having the huge advantage is in its design. I have read at least one fatality report where a protruding GoPro was the suspected cause, resulting in a bridle entanglement and impact. I have always been a big proponent of smooth, snag-free camera gear, and the GoPro is the worst I have seen. It is just asking to be snagged! Check out the photos for comparison......
Plus the GoPro has no screen which makes sighting-in and review impossible.
The wrist mounted remote for the Drift is a great idea and makes those last minute camera brainfarts much easier to deal with in freefall!
The rotational lens is also a great feature - just rotate it 180 when headdown and everything is the right way up again.
So - before making blanket statements about which is better, you need to look at the full picture, and for me, safety and function trump any perceived slight benefit in image quality.
drift_1.jpg
GoPro.bmp
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Re: [freeflynick] Drift HD170 video camera discount
freeflynick wrote:
I have seen many of the comparison videos, and I have seen the videos I get from the HD170, and although there are slight differences, the quality of both cameras is very high. Even on my 52" at home it has amazing clarity and I am very happy with it.
Where I see the Drift having the huge advantage is in its design. I have read at least one fatality report where a protruding GoPro was the suspected cause, resulting in a bridle entanglement and impact. I have always been a big proponent of smooth, snag-free camera gear, and the GoPro is the worst I have seen. It is just asking to be snagged! Check out the photos for comparison......
Plus the GoPro has no screen which makes sighting-in and review impossible.
The wrist mounted remote for the Drift is a great idea and makes those last minute camera brainfarts much easier to deal with in freefall!
The rotational lens is also a great feature - just rotate it 180 when headdown and everything is the right way up again.
So - before making blanket statements about which is better, you need to look at the full picture, and for me, safety and function trump any perceived slight benefit in image quality.

The quality on both is good, not great, or even close to it. Like I said, GoPro has better video/audio quality, and less jello which is one of the worst flaws on video cameras using rolling shutter.

Yes there was fatality because of GoPro not many weeks ago, but it's not to say that it wouldn't have happened with HD170 too.

Screen = useless. It's so tiny you can't see shit from it and you definitely don't want to "review" the jump from that, at least I wouldn't. There are laptops for that.

Remote = useless. You push record from the camera before you jump and stop after you have landed. There's no need to make that process any more complicated.

Rotational lens = useless. If you want to flip your video verticaly, you press one button on your editing software. You ain't gonna rotate that shit in the mid air while skydiving when you change head down because it is not going to move exactly 180 degrees on that situation and the video is going to end up fucked.

So just like many other camers, it offers a bunch of useless functions and lacks there what really counts and what it was made for; video quality.

Sure its shape is safer, but that's about it.
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Re: [ee1] Drift HD170 video camera discount
Rotate the lens in freefall? Of course not. But being able to rotate 90 degrees is very usefull for shifting from top mount to side mount, pressing a button on your laptop will cut off half the picture.
Jello is a result of using CMOS sensors, which all POV cameras use, so they all have jello to some extent, but with a good mount it is negligable. Of course you can get better results from a bigger camera, but that isn't the point of the HD170, GoPro etc.
The screen is far from useless. Of course you can see better on a laptop, but you can see a jump fine on the screen, and it is very useful for sighting-in the camera when mounting it, a real PITA with a GP.
The remote is very handy - some cameras are tricky to turn on with gloves etc, and we all occassionally forget to turn it on, so the wrist mount makes that easy in freefall. Also much easier to turn it off after opening and back on for landing. I like it and so do others who have seen it.
And I find it almost amusing that you add safety as a foot note......it's way above "jello" on my list of priorities.

http://reviews.mtbr.com/blog/drift-hd170-point-of-view-camera-videos-lee-lau
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Re: [freeflynick] Drift HD170 video camera discount
I have to agree that beeing able to rotate the lens is a good thing, perhaps not if you only use it as a helmetcamera.
I use a ContourHD and sometimes i attach the camera to the cowling of our cessna.
It can be done without the a rotating lens but finding a spot on a airplane that has 0 or 180 degrees mountingoption with a good view is hard to find.
You could build a mount for the camera, but it is much easier to just rotate the lens. Tongue

But there is a downside, if someone kicks you in the head on exit the camera wont rotate Crazy (yes it has happend to me)
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Re: [Hellis] Drift HD170 video camera discount
Hellis wrote:
But there is a downside, if someone kicks you in the head on exit the camera wont rotate Crazy (yes it has happend to me)

Fortunately I tend to be flailing so wildly on exit that no one wants to get close to me, so it's usually me doing the kicking! Tongue

Fortunately the camera/helmet combo (see photo) that I am ordering today looks pretty kick-proof......can't wait to try it out!
drift_1.jpg
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Re: [freeflynick] Drift HD170 video camera discount
freeflynick wrote:
Rotate the lens in freefall? Of course not. But being able to rotate 90 degrees is very usefull for shifting from top mount to side mount, pressing a button on your laptop will cut off half the picture.
Jello is a result of using CMOS sensors, which all POV cameras use, so they all have jello to some extent, but with a good mount it is negligable. Of course you can get better results from a bigger camera, but that isn't the point of the HD170, GoPro etc.
The screen is far from useless. Of course you can see better on a laptop, but you can see a jump fine on the screen, and it is very useful for sighting-in the camera when mounting it, a real PITA with a GP.
The remote is very handy - some cameras are tricky to turn on with gloves etc, and we all occassionally forget to turn it on, so the wrist mount makes that easy in freefall. Also much easier to turn it off after opening and back on for landing. I like it and so do others who have seen it.
And I find it almost amusing that you add safety as a foot note......it's way above "jello" on my list of priorities.

http://reviews.mtbr.com/blog/drift-hd170-point-of-view-camera-videos-lee-lau
Jello is result of using rolling shutter, not CMOS sencor. GoPro deals with this annoying problem way better.

Everyone should have tested and find the best angles for their cameras before they go to jump. It can take a bit more time to adjust with no screen on the camera, but that's not an issue at all since it takes so little time to adjust the angles.

So you say that remote is good because jumpers forget to push record button before they jump and when they remember their camera is not recording, they can press the button in freefall? That's one of the most stupid things I've read here.

With camera mount like in the picture you posted, you can't change the angle of the camera like you can with other mounting solutions, like the one GoPro uses.