Review – Initial Thoughts – Contour ROAM

 

When I began my series of posts on movement – I realized that it’s a difficult thing to see and understand while looking at a series of still photos or even video shot from a side view. So, I began a search for a wearable camera that could show the movement from the shooters POV.

The end of last week I chose my tool – the Contour ROAM wearable video camera system.

I purchased a system that was just one generation back, a $60 savings on Amazon over the current generation. The biggest difference – the new generation has a 60fps option where the ROAM has only 30fps. Not really much of an issue for what I want to do.

The camera is rechargeable with 80% charge in an hour and full charge in 4 hours. It does not come with a memory card – I added a 32GB MicroSD card and a rail mount adaptor to add weapons mounting capability and a head band. The system comes with a number of mounts as well as the ¼ inch standard camera mount in the bottom of the camera.

Custom software allows you to adjust the size of the video you want to take – larger size, more storage is taken up, etc. I opted for the 720P setting to begin with, we’ll see where it goes.

Audio pickup is simply excellent. I have built a short video of and “indoor range” trip in my office using the LaserLyte cartridge in my carry weapon. I’ll post that shortly to give you an idea of the quality of the video and audio. I suspect that outdoor, video in reasonable light, will be pretty good. Inside (amazingly crappy day today), mmmmm . . . not so much.

The camera is simply linked to your computer via a USB cable and video can be easily copied from the MicroSD card to your desired folder on your computer. It generates a .mov file that is easily displayed using QuickTime. There is free storyboard software available from Contour but I use Pinnacle Studio 12 Plus which I have grown to like very much.  A quick “look-see” at the home site for Pinnacle seems to show they are on version 16 . . . . heavy sigh.  Yet, I am very happy with Studio 12 Plus for my needs.

Once I have a few miles on the system, I’ll do an update but so far I’m pretty impressed with this little fella – especially considering the price. So, if you are interested in filming your progress on the range, a trip down the river in your kayak, your jump from 10,000 feet or just your latest paint-ball war, this system might just fit your needs!