XTX video
 

Here's a little video I put together of my XT660X.

No hooligan antics, no wheelies, stoppies or burnouts so if that's what you're looking for don't bother, but some pics of my bike and some riding footage. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxteOeIENkE

Enjoy, and votes are welcome if you like it.

Cheers,
Dave.

Nice footage.

Nice vid :) and the roads towards the end ov the vid look mighty fun :p

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

Cheers, thanks for the comments guys :)

Yeah, thought I'd show a mix of roads, some dual carriageway, some A-road, and a bit of nadgery back-lane stuff where the XTX really comes into her own. Living in Gloucestershire, we're blessed with some great roads to play on round here and some nice scenery along the way. :D

Shame about the wind noise picked up by the camera, but I've added a wind muffler to the microphone now, so hopefully next time around the sound will be slightly better.

Here's a question: do you find that the playback seems to make you look as though you are riding much faster than you really are? I ask because after a recent 'near miss' in my car* I have bought a very cheap dashcam to record my wanderings. This has a very wide angle lens and it seems to increase my apparent speed by about 50%, and makes a car close in front look miles away.

I'm pretty interested in getting a bike cam, and I like the video quality of yours. Now on the 'consider' list. Thanks.

* approaching traffic lights with a light-controlled ped-x, a young lad watched me approach, full eye-contact, and then stepped out when I was about ten feet away. Full emergency stop, ABS, the lot. Lights green for me, red for him, but if I had hit him (or worse) who would have believed a mere motorist against the word of a pedestrian?

Good video well done!! You certainly need the Kev fork mod as I cannot believe how soft your front forks are!!!! Cheers

Hi Black Dog,

The Drift is a near-fisheye lens giving a wide 170deg field of view, which is where the X170 got its name from. The perspective is different from the human eye, which is why it appears distorted. I’m sure you’re right, it does make it look you’re going faster, and this is probably due at least in part to the scenery whizzing by at the edges of the picture, like peripheral vision.

However, IMHO I would say that on-bike video footage is primarily for enjoyment rather than for optical accuracy, and having the scenery whizzing by gives a more involving viewing experience.

The fish-eye distortion is most noticeable at the edge of the picture when passing tall lamposts and under bridges, they seem to “bend” as you go past them. Take a look at some of my other bike videos and you'll see what I mean. (To find my other videos, use the link above to go to my video, then click on my avatar photo or the username link. It'll take you to my Channel where you can browse my other videos).

One advantage of a wide-angle lens is that it allows you to capture all the action without worrying too much about where the camera is pointing. Other cameras having a narrower lens will produce a picture with perspective closer to the human eye, but then the camera setup becomes important, it needs to point in exactly the right direction otherwise you'll miss some of the action. Not too difficult if the camera is mounted on the bike, but harder if it’s helmet-mounted.

There are lots of great action cameras out there, but some things I like about the Drift is its all-in-one compact design, the excellent range of mounting accessories it comes with, and especially the built-in colour monitor screen, which firstly allows an easy-to-use and very intuitive user-interface, and secondly makes camera set-up a breeze, plus you can review your footage while still out on the road.

The X170 has been superseded by several other Drift models like the HD170, Stealth, and most recently the Ghost. The newer ones are more compact (but no lighter) and offer higher-def, but they’re much more expensive, and the video files generated can be huge. Cost was a major factor in my decision. If YouTube is your target audience, why not skip the HD versions, go for a more basic model and save yourself a wad of cash. As you said, the video quality of my X170 is pretty good and I agree.

Cheers,
Dave.

Oh, and if you do want to record speed in your video, you could always postion the camera to capture your speedo too - but be cautious if you should "inadvertently" stray over the speed limit! :)

Thanks for the reply. Mine is a sub-�25 job, so nothing like the quality, but good enough for what I want it for. I'm not really interested in YouTube, but more for my own pleasure. The one I have has a 120 degree lens, and the wide-angle effect is very obvious. As you say, things to the side seem to rush by and people who have seen the footage I have made have said it looks like hell riders, even though it was deliberately a calm and legal drive. Also, you can be sitting on the rear bumper of the car in front, and the footage makes it look as if you were miles away.

The device in the car can't be angled to include the speedo, which is probably a good thing. No way do I intend to incriminate myself! But on the bike it might be interesting. Good to hear about the mounting options too. I might well look out for one like yours, as the quality is easily good enough for my purposes. You're right about the built-in screen for setting up. Mine has one and I use it all the time. I can't understand how you could set one up without it.

No probs mate, you're welcome. I don't want to turn this thread into a "what's the best action camera" but there are loads out there. Have a browse on the net for recommendations and reviews. Here's a good place to start:
http://www.actioncameras.co.uk/

Good luck with your hunting, and we look forward to seeing the results your efforts once the weather bucks up a bit :D

Cheers!