360 bike cameras

[philled]

I've been thinking of getting a camera for my bike to take film in case if an accident. It would need to be 360 to make sure it's covering all directions. I don't care about 4k video quality.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

And where do people usually mount them? If they're on the handlebar the rider could block the rear view so do they normally go on your helmet?

[Jmuzz]

I'm not sure it's a thing, I'm yet to see anyone doing 360 bike videos besides my own I played with with my Samsung360 camera and some mountain bike stuff.

I have a set of Fly cameras for bike crashcam duty which covers front and back with two cameras. It's still the only real off the shelf option.

I have a cheap little SQ12 camera I got to evaluate and would rate it as good quality as the Fly6.
But it has no proper battery, needs external powerbank. And not waterproof at all.
I would rate them as a ghetto diy crashcam if someone wanted to retrofit into a torch housing or something though.

Eventually China direct will be selling viable waterproof, 5hr recording time crashcams and bodycam for $50. Not happened yet though.

[Cycleops70]

I think you might find the battery life an issue unless you only do relatively short rides.
I've seen a few youtubers use them, but I think I'd probably recommend a couple of front/rear mounted cameras.

[pj]

If you have the money a Garmin VIRB seems pretty good.

This youtuber uses one, the 360 bit is around 25 second mark, pretty cool.

[AUbicycles]

Philled,

Most sports action cams have lens curvature and so you may bet 120 degrees front and 120 degrees back. This is a gap of 60 degrees either side however for the majority of action you want to capture, you have enough.

The problem with a true 360 degree camera is your body will be in the way if mounted on your bars... and you will miss the crucial rear view.... so you do need to have two cameras. You could run a 360 degree camera on your helmet, but the weight is annoying and the angle (from above) is also not the best.

4K is not required however the quality has to be sufficient and the mounts good to pick up acceptable video quality.

[opik_bidin]

if only they have invented those drone cameras that can follow us and take a helicopter view...

[AUbicycles]

Actually, this type of drone behaviour is available. It is called “Follow me” and can be placed at a certain location (ahead, side or behind) with a few other programmable variables and do exactly that.

You can get some fantastic footage but the two limitations if the tech are the reliability and, of course, battery life ( <15 mins for average drones).

On the road you would have to consider dealing with obstacles (e.g. tunnel), wind and larger vehicles such as trucks that could blow or knock a drone out of the air. A best case solution would easily detatch, be smart an aware of surroundings and be fairly tiny (in addition to solving the other challenges). But it is an interesting idea that again shouldn’t be required if cycling was safer.