Best Affordable Video Cameras for Filming Rides

[Texarkana]

I have been coveting a SoloShot or similar robotic camera, but their price is still more than I can justify spending. So I’ve been considering purchasing a small video camera that I could set up on a tripod to film my rides.

I’d prefer not to use my iPhone for a few reasons, chiefly battery life and video storage when filming an entire ride. Plus, I keep it on my body and use Equilab to track my ride time, speed, distance, etc.

Any recommendations? I would like to keep the price point below $100, which seems realistic. The cheaper the better, although I don’t want to purchase something so cheap that it doesn’t work for the purpose.

[clanter]

under $100… pawn shop?..

[wsmoak]

I am very happy with my SoloShot but it’s 1. not cheap and 2. a complicated piece of technology that requires patience and effort to get it to work correctly.

Just wandering around Amazon it looks like Sony has a refurbished model for $115 https://www.amazon.com/Sony-HDRCX240-Video-Camera-2-7-Inch/dp/B014X23ATS/ref=sr_1_5

The ones that are solidly under $100, I have never even heard of the brand names…

[Texarkana]

@clanter

under $100… pawn shop?..

Amazon has over 50 different video cameras available for under $100:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_price-asc-rank?keywords=video+camera&rh=n%3A172282%2Ck%3Avideo+camera&qid=1527187707&sort=price-asc-rank

I don’t think I was being unrealistic in my request.

Surely someone has experience with something in this price point?

[Texarkana]

@TheHorseMutterer

I bought a Polaroid Cube (the base model) for a recent dive trip and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of video it produced. It’s teeny tiny but has multiple mounts and can hook up to anything with the GoPro attachment point. I purchased one for about $50 with a waterproof housing, but with a few other accessories, you’d still be sub $100. I’m happy to share some video with you if you’d like to see it. I took minimal above water video, but I do have some. It’s just…nothing interesting that I want floating around the web.

I also am one of the folks who upgraded to a SS3 recently. If you’re interested in a barely used but ready to have it gone from my house and pay for some of my upgrade SS2, that might be an option for you. Not under $100, but I’m ready to have cash instead of camera at this point. Shoot me a pm

Thank you! This is helpful! I like the idea that I could use it like a GoPro, too. Question, though-- it’s so small, does it have a decent enough zoom capacity to be mounted to the fence and take high enough quality video for me to analyze my ride?

PMing you about that SS2…

[TheHorseMutterer]

Sent Texarkana some video via PM of the Cube in action - if anyone else wants some ideas, I can likely get some footage and post it.

I haven’t used it to video a ride or anything, but I was pleasantly surprised with the wide angle lens (I think it said like 130* or something?), so you may get some distortion on the edges, but I would think it’s a low-cost way to get some decent footage of a ride. Maybe not super fine tuning anything, but overall body work, etc. Battery life is only about 2 hours, I think. I’d turn it on after a warm up if you wanted a full ride captured to be on the safe side.

[TakeAChanceinVA]

You are going to get what you pay for, IMHO. You can set up a tripod with a cheap Sony camera and hit record and you are going to see your ride - providing you stay in a 20 m circle right in front of the camera and don’t leave the frame.

The allure for the Soloshot (and my preference - the Pixio) is that it will auto track and zoom so that you can work within the ring and it will zoom in when you are further away so that you can actually SEE in the recording frame and see whats going on.

If you are just a speck in the distance on a set camera - is it worth it ? How much can you actually see? Soloshot and Pixio are the first of their kind and the price point is a bit high right now, but its worth it. As technology improves and they become more common I could see the retail price coming down in the next 5 years, but right now they hold a monopoly on the auto track/auto zoom camera options.
If you can’t save up for one, pay a friend to hold the camera for you.

[Gloria]

I’m with @TakeAChanceinVA.

How are you going to use this camera? Is it just sit there and record? I have done something like this at a clinic when I couldn’t find someone to video tape me. The result was, let me just say, far less optimal. At the near end of the arena, the barrel of my horse took up the whole frame of the camera so I couldn’t see what I was doing. At the far end of the arena I was a speck. Due to the high quality of the picture, I was able to zoom in on my computer and the picture remains clear. That was a $1200 Panasonic, mind you. I seriously doubt the validity of a cheap stationary camera for your purpose, no penning, no zooming. You might be better off saving your $100 and upgrade to something that actually works later. Maybe looking for a used Soloshot2 or Pixio to do at least penning for you, and use your phone to do the recording. As to battery life and video storage. A fully charged phone should allow you to film your entire ride, and you should be able to easily transfer your ride to computer or Cloud so not take up your video storage. Or if you have a tablet, you should be able to use it to do the filming too.

[Texarkana]

OK guys, I really appreciate your suggestions. But I promise you I have done the camera-on-the-tripod thing before and achieved the desired results, which is just to get an idea of when I start doing funny things with my position (mirrors would be even better, but it’s not like I can have my boarding barn install them!). My mare goes beautifully in lessons when I have someone harping on me the whole time, but when we are alone, sometimes the wheels fall off the bus when I subconsciously start with my numerous bad habits. Seeing what I was doing after the fact is incredibly helpful for me. I just used to use a digital camera with video capability, but I’ve misplaced this camera over the years and the video quality was not great because of the age of the camera. Good enough to see when my position was starting to go awry, but even the cheapest newer cameras have better quality. I’m not trying to film sales videos or anything.

Again, don’t want to use my phone-- I use it for Equilab every ride and need it on my body to do so.

I’m looking into the Polaroid Cube now, as @TheHorseMutterer 's videos were very helpful. I think it may do everything I want and more.

[clanter]

@Texarkana

Amazon has over 50 different video cameras available for under $100:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_p…price-asc-rank

I don’t think I was being unrealistic in my request.

Surely someone has experience with something in this price point?

was not implying under a $100 was unrealistic…but at least at a local pawn shop you can put the thing in your hand and play with it some BEFORE purchasing, unlike the amazing Amazon purchase

My son’s drone would follow you recording the ride

[3rottenponies]

@TheHorseMutterer

I bought a Polaroid Cube (the base model) for a recent dive trip and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of video it produced. It’s teeny tiny but has multiple mounts and can hook up to anything with the GoPro attachment point. I purchased one for about $50 with a waterproof housing, but with a few other accessories, you’d still be sub $100. I’m happy to share some video with you if you’d like to see it. I took minimal above water video, but I do have some. It’s just…nothing interesting that I want floating around the web.

I also am one of the folks who upgraded to a SS3 recently. If you’re interested in a barely used but ready to have it gone from my house and pay for some of my upgrade SS2, that might be an option for you. Not under $100, but I’m ready to have cash instead of camera at this point. Shoot me a pm

I am going to send you a message!

[ParadoxFarm]

I use a Polaroid Cube camera as well. I have a metal jump cup set upside down on a fence post and I just stick the camera on with the the magnet. It has a pretty great wide-angle and gets most of my ride fairly well. Of course it’s not going to follow me around or get great close-ups but I can learn a lot from watching my lessons or my schooling rides from that video. The battery usually lasts a little over an hour. And the audio for a little tiny camera is awesome.