Contour has introduced five, sport-specific Mount Kits for Snow, Bike, Moto, Outdoor, and Helmets. These kits will make it much easier for shoppers to purchase the right accessories for their preferred activity and offer the optimum mounting combinations in one easy package.

These kits are inspired by Contour’s athletes and sports and feature these benefits:

• Easy to Buy by Sport: Each Contour Mount Kit contains mounts designed with your chosen sport in mind, ensuring a great experience no matter what your activity.
• Easy to Use: Contour mounts are versatile, reliable, and easy to use. Whether your sport involves mud, dirt, snow, freezing temperatures, high speeds, heavy gloves, a helmet or all of the above, Contour Mount Kits will perform to your sport’s demand.
• Includes a Carry Bag:Each kit includes a Weatherproof Carry Bag to help keep all of your gear organized. The bag is compact and fits easily into a small backpack or camera bag.
• Cost Effective: Each mount kit offers a 30% saving compared to buying each mount individually.

Snow Mounts

Bike Mounts

Moto Mounts

Outdoor Mounts

Helmet Mounts

At first glance the updates on the new GoPro HD HERO2 may look subtle, but they really are revolutionary rather than evolutionary. The camera almost looks exactly the same on the outside as earlier Gopro HD Heros but there are major differences inside the case. There are numerous exciting new features including HDMI out and mic input. In fact other than the enclosure the HD Hero2 is a completely new camera.

Here are the big improvements in the HD HERO2:

HERO2 Unboxing

What’s Included?

There are 3 packages available for the HD HERO2: Motorsports, Outdoor, and Surf editions. All of them come with the following:

Each package comes with it’s own set of mounts, all of which are fully compatible with each of the cameras (which are exactly the same).

What’s New?

New HERO2 features

On the Outside

Upon initial inspection of the camera, it might not look much different, then you start to notice subtle changes. The first thing I noticed was that there are LEDs on 4 sides of the camera, making it much easier to see if the camera is recording. No longer will you hear the oh-so-common phrase, "Is the red light flashing?"; of course this doesn’t help much when it’s helmet mounted, but that’s what friends are for! After further inspection you’ll probably notice the difference in ports; the component port is gone and in its place is a HDMI port for watching that sweet sweet creamy HD goodness directly on your 60" plasma, oh yeah! The component cables that came with the HD HERO would allow you to watch videos directly on a HDTV, but most TVs don’t accept 1080p via component, so you were stuck at 720p. Also HDMI cables carry audio through them as well, so there’s no need to plug in 5 different cables anymore. You’ll also find a handy, little 3.5mm microphone jack! GoPro fanatics have been requesting that one for a while now, good work GoPro! The possibilities are endless: Wire a microphone in to your helmet for voice notations, down by the engine of your motorcycle to cut out wind noise and increase engine noise, or even just route it somewhere protected to reduce wind noise and increase audio clarity.

The biggest change for me is the new menu interface. Gone are the days of cryptic codes and numbers! The LCD resolution has been increased and now the menu system features full length words that let you know what you’re doing. I got pretty familiar with the interface on the original HD HERO, but it took me a long time, and the learning curve was fairly steep. The new interface makes changing settings drastically easier!

 
Close up of the new menu

Video

Moving on to the internal functions of the HERO2 reveals a ton of new features! The new sensor has a new faster f/2.4 lens to match, and boy does it make a difference! Though the resolution hasn’t technically increased, the videos are much sharper, all 1080p is definitely not equal. Colors are more natural to boot! The most noticeable change in the video quality department is the low light footage, it is absolutely astounding. Without a doubt a huge difference from the HD HERO, noise is reduced drastically, colors are more natural, and the image is just plain sharper. No comparison in that regard. Another change that is going to make users very happy is the ability to change the field of view, regardless of resolution. Whereas in the past the GoPro’s field of view was 170° at 960p and 720p, and 127° at 1080p, the HERO2 allows you to select between 170°, 127°, and 90° in 720p and 1080p! This opens up endless possibilities, it’s like having 3 lenses in one! There are also 2 new framerates available. In 960p you now have the option of recording at 48fps, and if you want super high motion resolution but don’t care as much about video quality, you can shoot 120fps in WVGA mode (848x480), a cool feature for sure.

HD HERO and HD HERO2 video comparison

Still Images

The upgraded image sensor on the HERO2 now produces 11MP photos, as opposed to 5MP on the original HD HERO. The difference isn’t obvious when first viewing an picture, but as soon as you zoom in on a photo it’s pretty clear. A picture can be cropped much more tightly and still retain sharpness.

Using the HD HERO2

If you were familiar with the original HD HERO, then you won’t find using the HERO2 much different. You still power it on and cycle through menu options using the front button, the top button selects menu options and of course starts and stops recording, as is tradition. As mentioned above, navigating the menu is now much easier, due to the English language menu.The camera still uses the same incredibly durable housing as the last generation, so all parts are compatible there.

Mounting

The HERO2 uses the exact same mount system as the HD HERO so all your old mounts will still work just fine with the HERO2. No other point-of-view camera system has as many mounts available, there are very few limitations as to where you can mount this puppy!

Battery Life

The HERO2 uses the same battery as the previous generation, and battery life is the same as well. You can generally record 2.5 hours of footage on one battery charge, though it can vary depending on the temperature. Very cold temperatures can negatively affect battery life. Of course you can always use the Battery BacPac to double your battery life!

Viewing

You can view your recorded footage directly on a HDTV via an HDMI cable, or on a SDTV via the included composite cables. Of course you can always pop the memory card in your computer, or plug it in via the USB cable. And of course there is the ever popular LCD BacPac, which allows to review footage in the field, at the expense of battery life. A new addition to the line of BacPacs is the upcoming WiFi BacPac (more on that below) which will allow you to view videos on a wifi equipped smartphone, tablet, or computer.

 
The Battery and LCD BacPacs

WiFi BacPac?

The WiFi BacPac is an upcoming (April 2012) attachment for the HERO2, with limited compatibility with the original HD HERO. This is going to be a truly revolutionary item in the field of wearable video. There are two main functions, the first is the wifi function, this will allow you to wirelessly broadcast video at a claimed 250ft, you’ll be able to pick up the video on a wifi equipped smartphone, tablet, or PC. This means remote monitoring, the holy grail of point-of-view video. The potential uses are endless! You’ll be able to broadcast live video for others to watch, or set up your smartphone as wireless viewfinder, I’m sure the GoPro community will come up with some awesome uses for this feature. The second function is the remote control, it will allow you to control a bevy of functions on the camera, from a great distance. The remote has a small LCD that will let you see the recording mode, and allow you to see what setting you’re changing. What’s more? You’ll be able to use the remote to control up to 50 WiFi BacPac equipped HERO2s with a single remote, for some awesome Matrix bullet time-esque footage! We’ll have more coverage of the WiFi BacPac after its release.

The upcoming WiFi BacPac and remote control. 

Conclusion

The GoPro HD HERO2 is, without a doubt, a worthy successor to the original HD HERO. The many upgrades result in an incredibly powerful camera; and at it’s low price point will make it a tool accessible by professionals and hobbyists alike. The video quality is incredible, and in my opinion the low-light footage is worth the upgrade alone! Having a selectable field of view is also one of the HERO2’s strongest points. Throw in the increase in framerate, 11MP sensor, HDMI and microphone ports, easily readable menu, and GoPro’s stellar reliability and durability record, and you have one very well rounded helmet camera. There are few negatives however: The buttons are still the same size and in the same position, so it can be difficult to tell if you’ve pressed the record button when wearing gloves. In addition, the recording confirmation beep is still pretty inaudible if you’re in a loud environment. The fact that the same housing and size was kept can be construed as a negative, it is still pretty boxy; however some might argue the other way as it retains cross compatibility with many parts of the original HD HERO. The biggest complaint from me is that GoPro still has no first-party solution to the underwater focus issue (though rumor has it that one is in the works); and some existing aftermarket flat lenses have an isssue with contacting and applying pressure to the camera’s new internal lens at depth. These are really minor complaints, as far as I’m concerned.

Bottom Line: The GoPro HD HERO2 is a fantastic successor to the HD HERO and I have zero qualms with recommending it to anybody that is looking for a point-of-view camera for pretty much any activity, even existing GoPro HD HERO owners.

A really cool perspective looking “inside” an old delivery van:

Last week I talked about the amazing macro lens included with the Olloclip, today I’m going to talk about the fisheye lens. The fisheye is the largest of the three lenses included, and has an incredible field-of-view; it is seriously wide, I kept having to ask my assistant (AKA Dad) to move back as he was in the frame even though he almost behind me! Fisheye gives a very distinct look, I’d say this is the first lens to try of the three, as it gives the most initial ‘wow’ factor. Some people aren’t fans of the distortion it causes, personally I really like the curved lines and huge field of view it gives you, not for every photo of course, but it is a cool effect to have once in a while. Having such a wide field of view can be very helpful; if you need to capture a whole room shot for example, a normal wide angle lens would just not cut it, but the fisheye would allow you to capture 3 corners, roof and ceiling of a small room. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

Fisheye view of canyon:

I took the Olloclip on a recent hike and got some great photos. There is a really cool trail near my house that I like to hike on occasionally, it starts at the top of a large dam and basically follows the top edge of a deep canyon for a couple miles. The coolest part is the “car graveyard” as we call it, in the forested section of the trail. In the ‘30s and ‘40s the area was logged, so people would just drive up to the steep incline above the cliff and push their cars, wheels, washing machines etc. down the edge of the incline. Fast forward 60 years and the forest has reclaimed the area. It makes for a very eerie setting, great fodder for the camera, especially with a fisheye lens! You’ll be walking through the forest, and all of the sudden you’ll come upon an old delivery truck with a tree going through it, or even find an old studebaker on a cliff’s edge. It’s a very unique area, perfect for testing out new camera gear!

Cool perspective on an old car in the woods:

Below are some images that I took with the fisheye lens. One thing that I don’t like about fisheye lenses is that their image circle doesn’t fill up the whole sensor so you’re left with a circular image in the middle with black borders around it, this of course comes with the territory and is necessary to display that wide of a view. On a few of the photos below I’ve provided examples of images that have the image circle issue corrected, via lens correction, cloning and a little cropping. Thanks for tuning in!

An old car before correction in photoshop:



Use the lens correction filter in photoshop, perhaps clone in some areas in the corner, add a little crop and voila!:



My dog Dexter after applying the same treatment to the image above:

Today I am going to talk about macro photography with the iPhone. There are several products that offer external lens systems for the iPhone, but my favorite is the Olloclip. It’s an extremely clever 3-in-1 lens system that clips on to the corner of the iPhone 4 or 4s. It has a wide angle, fisheye, and macro lens all in one little device. The largest lens is the fisheye, flip it around and you have an awesome wide angle lens (approximately double the field-of-view of the standard iPhone camera). The macro lens is actually part of the wide angle lens assembly. Simply unscrew the wide angle lens in the direction of the arrow on the lens barrel. The macro lens is set perfectly within the olloclip and will be flush with the clip when the Wide Angle lens is removed. Place the olloclip back on your iPhone and move right in on the subject. It is extremely compact, you barely even notice it in your pocket; therefore it’s possible, and recommended, to bring it everywhere your iPhone goes (which is likely everywhere you go as well).

The macro lens is pretty much awesome, it can get some seriously up-close shots. When I said "move right in on your subject" I meant it, literally, only a centimeter or so away. This results in some spectacular close-up images. There is a little bit of a learning curve when first using the macro lens, but once you get to used to it, it’s pretty amazing. At first I couldn’t believe how close you have to get to your subject in order to focus - it’s seriously close - however, the end results are larger-than-life images from a perspective the naked eye just can’t capture.

This is a true macro. You may have seen macro lenses described as 1:1 and wondered what that means, as at first it seems like things are much larger than 1:1 when using a macro lens. What this actually means is that things captured by a macro lens are as large on the image sensor of the camera as they are in real life. So if you had a fly sitting on your image sensor, a true 1:1 macro photo would result in that fly taking up just as much room in the image as it did on the physical sensor (pretty much the whole sensor, on smaller sensors like phone cameras have); meaning that you’d have a heck of a lot of detail. This macro lens is at least a 1:1, likely much more.

I took the Olloclip out on a hike a few days ago and got some seriously awesome images. The pictures come out very sharp and detailed, I was certainly wowed. There is definitely a little barrel distortion and some sharpness fall-off as you get away from the center, but that’s to be expected. Below are some of the macro shots I took with the Olloclip (click for a larger version). Enjoy! I’ll be back next week with some photos taken with the fantastic fisheye lens.

Here’s a macro of some multi-colored lichen I found on a rock while climbing dangereously close to a 60m cliff!



Everyday moss turns in to alien coral when viewed through the Olloclip’s macro lens.



Here’s a shot of the moss with the wide angle lens to show just how close the macro lens can get.



A close up of 50 year old rust.

Untitled from marko solo on Vimeo.

Our buddy Mark Sissons is featured on the home page of Huffingtonpost’s travel section. He talks about his wild time taking a heli skiing course in BC’s Cariboo mountains. Where heli skiiing used the be for rich extreme sports fans. These new courses are bringing a measure of safety and accessibility to advanced skiers who want to try their hand at heli skiing. He took one of our ContourRoam cameras with him and you can check out the footage above.
Mark tells us.

Helicopter assisted skiing and snowboarding in Western Canadian mountain ranges like the Cariboos, Selkirks and Bugaboos is hard to beat if you’re looking for massive amounts of varied terrain and unmatched snow conditions.

Now almost every skier can live their wildest downhill dream of riding in helicopters, dropping into a cloud encrusted virgin peak, drive through wide areas untouched by anyone else’s tracks. It’s like living your own Warren Miller movie, sliding between tree tips half buried in pristine, glistening white powder.

Check out our Contour Canada cameras section for more info on the Contour Roam.

As we at Pointofviewcameras are expanding our product offerings to service the burgeoning smartphone and dslr videographers, we scour the web for interesting products that our customers would be interested in. We often will buy a demo unit to try out. After testing in the field, some make it to our shortlist and we end up stocking them or they fail our criteria and they are forgotten.

The Mobislyder is one product that has come onto our radar that we think will be a good addition to our product portfolio. It meets our criterias for what we think smartphone videographers are looking for.

For the most part we have discovered smartphone gadgets for portable videographers must be the following:

• low cost: with smartphones either being free or $100 to $200 for a high end phone on contract; users do not want to spend several hundred dollars on a photo accessory
• portable: well, duh, the whole idea of using a smartphone for photos and video is the convenience factor so the accessories must be small and light as well
• sexy: the iPhone and Droids are high tech looking devices; nobody wants to put their fancy phone on a gadget that looks like it was cobbled together in a basement
 

The Mobislyder meets most of our criteria. We would prefer the device was less than $100 but it looks well designed and has multiple attachments so hopefully the build will justify the cost. For a track and camera dolly system it certainly is the most portable we have seen. It should be able to fit in a backpack or messenger bag. The round feet and rail system looks pretty high tech so it fits the “sexy” criteria.

The Mobislyder comes with several mounts:
-an articulated mount so it can be turned on an angle
-mobile device mount to fit the iPhone, Android and other smartphones; you can even use it with your camera case on
-1/4” standard mount for point and shoot cameras
-adhesive ball mount
-1/4” ball mount
For those Contour and Gopro camera fanatics among you who think this would be great for tracking shots in sports, yes, the 1/4” mount will work with those cameras.
We hope to order one in for testing and review very soon so watch for our upcoming blog post on the Mobislyder.

Contour’s newest style of mounts for Surfboards, helmets and poles have recently been announced with the Surfboard and 360° Helmet Mount now in stock!

Contour has announced a new partnership with Japan based Cerevo, Inc. to sell their live-streaming device, “LiveShell” to the US market. LiveShell is a complimentary device to the Contour+ Camera enabling owners to broadcast their experience live to the web via wireless or wired networks. Contour+ along with Cerevo LiveShell offers the only hands-free video solution that an broadcast live to the web!

A simple HDMI cable connects the Contour+ to LiveShell to bring real-time video broadcasting straight from the camera to the Ustream website. Collaboration among these three innovative companies delivers high-quality, live-broadcast video for the first time in the hands-free video market, letting adventurers share point-of-view footage as it’s captured. In addition to automatic sharing via Ustream, people can manually configure the Contour+ & LiveShell combo to broadcast live on other video platforms.

FAQ’s

What is the resolution of the broadcasted video?

• Max resolution is 4CIF format, which is 704x528 lines of resolution (standard video).  Lower resolutions are also available.

Where can I broadcast my Contour+ video?

• Customers can broadcast their Contour+ footage live to USTREAM.com.
• The Liveshell is the 1st “USTREAM Compatible” device in the world.
• Simply create a USTREAM account and configure the Liveshell to broadcast to that account.


How does Liveshell connect to the internet?

How is this different or better than the competition?

• No competitors in the PoV camera space offer a solution that allows broadcasting live to the web. 
• Current HDMI-to-Wi-Fi encoders are complex, difficult to setup and cost thousands of dollars.

Where can I get more information about Cerevo and Liveshell?

• At Cerevo’s website: http://shell.cerevo.com

Combined with the existing Contour Connect mobile App for iOS and Android, the combined solution will allow you to preview your shot, adjust settings, and start/stop recording all wirelessly via BlueTooth. Additionally, with the Contour+ connected to a monitor via HDMI, your smartphone will become a remote to start/stop playback right on the display screen.

Contour will be launching on Android first followed by other mobile operating systems. The App is slated for availability in April 2012.

FAQ’s

How does it work?
ContourGPS and Contour+ use a connect view card (sold separately for the ContourGPS camera) that enable the camera to connect to your mobile phone.

• The user needs to download the free Contour Connect Mobile App. Visit help.contour.com for full directions.
• User turns on the BT on their camera and opens the mobile app. The default view is to see what the camera sees.
• User can press the record button and the camera will begin recording. To stop recording the user has to press the same button in the app.
• While in record mode the user can not change the settings or use any other features of the app

What Can I do with the Contour Connect app?

• Preview what your camera sees so you can align the shot
• Change the camera settings in real-time including video/photo modes, audio, lighting, and GPS
• See the memory card and battery status on your camera while in preview mode
• See the status of your GPS signal while in preview mode
• Start/stop recording of your Contour camera through the app
• Control HDMI playback for the Contour+

The Contour+ is left on a general setting in order to match the HD HERO2 as Mark Zealand takes a spin with both cameras in Vancouver, B.C.

The latest version released this morning is 1.34, provides the following improvements:

• Tuned White Balance to provide a clearer white tone and reduce potential for yellow to show in video.
• Improved tones and vividness of color tones.
• Made White Balance more consistent across different Video and Still Photo Modes.
• Improved sharpness in Still Photo Mode.
• Support for version 1.5 of the mobile applications
• Continuous file naming

To get the latest firmware make sure your battery is fully charged and follow the instructions to download and copy firmware to your camera and install it.

Contour+ Firmware 1.34

This dude has one seriously cool dog. Check it out and watch as his little Jack Russel Terrier tears up the dirt jump track behind her owner on his mountain bike. Now that’s man’s best friend! He captures all the action on a GoPro HD HERO.

The latest version is 1.06 provides the following fixes:

• Performance of the microphone has been improved.
• When taking still pictures, the camera will take the first picture as soon as the Record Slide Switch is slid forward. Then it will wait for the designated time period before taking the next picture.

To get the latest firmware make sure your battery is fully charged and follow the instructions to download and copy firmware to your camera and install it.

ContourROAM Firmware 1.06