Compact Camera Mount Testing ( Featuring Saracen Ariel 143 )

I've had a number of forays into the world of video in my time. These have involved everything from filming skateboarding events with a classic Sony VX-1000 to hanging out at the British Snowboarding champs with a Fuji bridge camera. In recent years I have played around a fair bit with action cameras with the trust original Vholdr ( now Contour ) attached to my bike lids.

I've never really got the quality I would have liked ( though lets not forget the net has had to catch up a fair bit in recent years ) and fell out of love with all the editing that was needed to make a good movie.

So honestly I am not really sure why I decided to make a mount for my trusty Sony HX-9V compact camera out of a Joby ballhead and old lighting bracket ( shhhh it's from a competitor brand ).

I'm probably not going to use it much as I really do like this little compact and I don't think it will like being treated like a crash test dummy. However the first results were pretty impressive.

Three lines down Style Cop at Cannock Chase on the awesome Saracen Ariel 143.


Saracen Ariel 143 - Cannock Chase - Camera Mount Test 1 from Tim Sadler on Vimeo.


Saracen Ariel 143 - Cannock Chase - Camera Mount Test 2 from Tim Sadler on Vimeo.


Saracen Ariel 143 - Cannock Chase - Camera Mount Test 3 from Tim Sadler on Vimeo.

Now I just think what I could do with a Sony Action Camera ...

Stile Cop Downhill Headcam Footage

Ok it has been a fair while since I wacked up and good headcam footage, sorry about that! Not to worry though I now have a new memory card ( killed a cheap one at Moelfre Downhill Uplift ) and I even have a mount for my XC lid. So you should start to see a bit more from the Vholdr cam this year ( trying to currently work out how to mount it on the bike for some of those arty shots ).

For a quick test of the new memory card I got this footage from Stile Cop Downhill trails on a very hot evening this past week ( 27 degrees + no wind + body armour = nasty smells ). Just click here or the above image to check it out ( and for the music references you must have owned a PS1 with Gran Turismo in the 90's! ). For those of you who know the trails, you will notice I am taking the easier lines, but in my defence I am still fettling with the bike set-up and I was on my own! Anyway on the movie you will see the Red Route, Black Route and the Wonderland and Ridge Lines from 'The Dark Side'.

If you haven't ridden at Stile Cop, it is part of Cannock Chase in the sunny Midlands, easy to get to from the M6 and can be combined with a jaunt around 'Follow the Dog'.

Worth taking a bouncy bike and padding up though!

Full review/guide of the Vholdr and new Commencal MiniDH to come...

Llandegla - The Dark Episode

Vholdr Test

Managed to get the Vholdr fitted to my Giro Remedy helmet with a little bit of clever sticky foam trickery ( all those years outfitting kayaks must have done me proud ).

Here is the first test: click here

Up a bit, round to the left a bit??

Vholdr - Headcam from Heaven?

Watch out trail monkeys, I've just got my grubby mitts on a Vholdr Headcam to play with for a little while.

Check out the killer spec and results you can get here

I'm going to be mounting this bad boy to my DH helmet this weekend, just in time for a trip next week to Cwm Carn and an Uplift day

And if you want to buy one, hit up the main crew at Madison here

As the cliché goes...'Watch this space!'