I have been meaning to get a headcam for a while now, but watching the XGames a few weeks ago made me want one even more! They filmed some very cool footage there, mostly made even more cool by how steady the camera was which was always going to be a problem for a running based sport. Nevertheless I decided it was time to get one so I splurged on the new GoPro Hero2. Then I rocked around the ESOC Sprint O with it attached to my head (albeit at a really crappy angle, sorry!).
As the angle the camera needs to be at isn’t something I’ve perfected yet I decided not to upload any files that were too large, so the quality isn’t great. Thankfully attackpoint has a really great feature of being able to link your gps data to both a youtube video and a QuickRoute map which then gets overlaid onto Google Earth. You can see this for the ESOC Sprint O here: Prologue and Chase
The other thing I experimented with was the nifty bit of software Jarkko (of Routegadget fame) wrote to combine the video with a map overlay. I definitely didn’t get the config quite right but as it takes time to process I didn’t want to do it all again with such a rubbish quality video. It also makes use of a VirtualDub plugin called Deshaker to remove the shakiness of the video at the expense of adding a black border that wobbles about. I think it makes it much more viewable but it’ll be way more effective when I get a better camera angle.
I really just bought this as a toy and something to analyse my orienteering. I can think of a view other uses though.. I’d like to create some sort of promotional video (who for, I don’t know, ESOC?) with filming from the St Andrews weekend. I’m also keen to try out the WiFi addon for it that comes out later this year. Live streaming to the arena at O races, anyone?
In other news I set a new 5k PB at the Edinburgh parkrun last week, 18.59. Not super fast but definitely something to step forward from, especially as I now have a place in the Great North Run in September to look forward to!