Finally able to cut wind noise and be able to voice over while riding my motorbike :)
Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure my contour is out of warranty because of this mod.
I basically opened the unit (*carefully) and un-soldered the microphone, and resoldered 2 wires in place. I enlarged the existing mic holes so I could route the wires through. And then I resoldered the mic to the end of these two wires.
I'll most likely redo this again with a cleaner single, black encased +- wire where it will be soldered to a connector, so you can hook up any mic.
I just route it into my helmet and stuff the mic behind a cheekpad.. It sounds great...
Check out a video by onboardcamera.it on here to see a vid. He gave me the tip to do this mod.
http://www.vholdr.com/node/280...
But here it is in its WIP glory:
Cheers,
Sphinx
WOW! This is what I want and need!
ah, as a metal band once wrote.... 'pedigree butchery'
a good job well done, im not that brave me ;)
Sphinx,
You are opening creative flood gates with this. Mount the camera on the dash of a car and put the mic in the engine compartment or near the exhaust? I am curious if you were talking while riding the bike if that would be audible (this would be nice when catching the crash scenes on the bicycles and snowboards). I might sacrifice my camera if I see some more good stuff.
Yeah, I have upgraded the mic wire to have a female 3.5mm audio jack.. My helmet has a permanent mic in it now, and I just plug them together when I mount the cam.
Here's a test vid: http://vholdr.com/node/32239
I'll be making a tutorial on how to do this, next week probably.
Love your video!! Did you ever get a chance to make that pic or video tutorial?
Wow, great idea!
Sphinx,
New here. Haven't even received my camera yet. Should come tomorrow. Anyway, was reading yout post and was wondering, would this mod work on the VHoldR? I assume the basic electronics are the same, but orrect me if I'm wrong. Do you recommend using the facory mic? Or, do you have another option you prefer?
I am comfortable around a soldering iron and most electronic components. Sure would be nice to see some how-to photos however.
Later this summer I will be making an extended trip by motorcycle. So, modifying the camera in such a way as to remove most of, if not all of the wind noise would be beneficial to the video I hope to be shooting.
Hi Cruizer,
I don't know for sure if it is the same with the vHoldr camera, but I'm almost positive it works the same way.
As far as reducing wind noise, I find that having a foam earbud cover works great. Also, where you place the microphone matters alot. I place the mic slightly above and to the side of where my mouth is in the helmet. This way there are no pops.
I shot some video of me riding on a longer trip doing some spirited runs through the mountains. I have a little bit of static from the wind at speed above 50, but nothing too bad. I still get the engine sound decently, and my voice crystal clear.
Hope this helps.
BTW.. I will be making a video tutorial and posting on here.. Just need to get my editing software up and running.. Right now my Premiere hates AVCHD...
Great mod. I may look into something like this.. What is really needed it a blue tooth option :)
I used to use a bullet cam with a long mic lead and the only place to really get great results at high speed was under the tail cone above the exhaust.
example.
Well done, clean sound without the wind noise. i am really taken aback by the excessive wind noise pickup of the standard HD. i was going to dismantle as you have done and encase the internal microphone in its own fluffy surround as on all good recordists microphones, but it would it would probably not be enough. So remoting it sounds best again.
Sphinx and update on your video tutorial on this?
Just did the mod. Works beautifully!
sorry about the video tut guys... my frigging machine isn't editing video correctly. Hence not even being able to edit any contour videos. I saw someone else on this board actually do a photo tutorial. He did a pretty decent job at it..
I'll post more pics of my actual setup and mic in a day. Got my digital camera back. :)
cbdane, great test video! We live in the same part of town!
Some pictures of the setup:
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when my guarantee is expired I will do this also. the sound is very good.
awesome, that is exactly what i am going to do. you didn't by any chance take pics of soldering did you? just curious what it looks like before tearing mine apart.
Very nice work. Thanks for all the pics.
Anyone taken apart the original VholdR? I've taken mine apart to the plastic shell, but the two halves do not want to come off easily. Don't want to force anything. I think the VholdR has a lot more to gain with an improved mic setup like this!
I've cracked open a couple.. its not too difficult, but you do likely void the warranty.
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OK used this post as a guide for my conversion and am very happy with the results.
Do I still have wind noise, yes, I think there will always be a certain amount of wind noise, specially inside a motorcycle helmet, otherwise riders would never wear earplugs. I used to get quite a bit of harmonic interference from the engine with my 1st attempt. Then I redid the procedure, using high quality connectors and encapsulating the microphone with Pratley Putty in such a way that only the face of the mic is open. I must say that made a huge difference.
Anyway I made a high speed test with the conversion I am happy with and at 200km/h on the freeway I could still actually hear my voice over all the other noise and please note that I spoke normally and not louder than I normally would.
For me this is good enough, for some others out there you might want to get it even cleaner, don't really know how you can do that without eliminating all the noise from your helmet ot maybe using a mic like the seal use.
Here is my results:
http://www.vholdr.com/node/460...
WOW, this is great, I am going to be using the ContourHD camera for Lifeboat shout footage and was wondering how I can get the sound from my helmet - as we have a speaker system in the helmt for coms with the coastguard.
Any chance you can do that tut please, with photo's of opening the camera up and solder points ect please?
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SSILB Main Website = www.sandownlifeboat.com
SSILB Facebook Fan Page = www.facebook.com/profile.php?i...
make sure you dont submerge the camera though :)
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Hi David,
I dont intend to just yet, I am penciled in for beta testing of the waterproof housing, so thats when it will be fully tested, pending on the weather on Sunday, is when I make my choice to take it out on the ILB and give it a spin, as winter sets in over the coming weeks and have some great ruff weather :P
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SSILB Main Website = www.sandownlifeboat.com
SSILB Facebook Fan Page = www.facebook.com/profile.php?i...
Here is a guide someone did that was floating on these forums:
http://ifraggle.com/2009/07/09...
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Is there water proof mics out there???
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SSILB Main Website = www.sandownlifeboat.com
SSILB Facebook Fan Page = www.facebook.com/profile.php?i...
Here is my version:
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very nice
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http://www.vholdr.com/video/ex...
Quick test video - External Mic.....NO wind noise, I placed a mic near the pipes.
The Vholdr people must get this problem solved. If a mug like me can fix the problem surely they can. Come on Guys.. Hey Nate...Don't delete this post too please. The camera will work fine (2nd cam for me - video issues)
Hey oz,
I hear ya and we have been working, but one solution does not work for all (I'm not sure our base jumpers would want a hanging wire..). I don't see any reason to delete your post, you're all good and so was that video.
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Nate
VholdR Support
support@vholdr.com
Nice audio fix OZ... If you can get the mic away from the cam into a still air pocket it make the vid come alive.
BTW, go ATGATT , it'll help keep ya in one piece. :)
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Cool info. I'm considering doing this. Is it possible to have the female Mic adapter inside the unit, so the plug is flush?
Also possible to have the internal mic still connected so if you don;t want to attach the external mic the internal one still works. I guess the only issue would be to have the internal mic switch off if an external one is attached, possible?
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I've looked at one of the HD cams that were apart, and it did'nt look like enough room inside for the female jack, tho possible a 2.5 jack may fit.
But you could mount it on the front of the cam above the LED - below the lens... don't think it will be in the way of anything .
There are jacks ( n/c- swithched )that will disable one side if a male is plugged in ( think of the radios/mp3 players that disconnect the speaker when earphones are in )
Something like this would mount on the front - http://www.mouser.com/ProductD...
So the internal mic is on unless you plug in an external.
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Nate the base jumpers want to hear the wind...That's what their gig is all about. They don't need an ext mic surely.
tommcac13...thanks mate....wait till I put a good mic on it instead of the Nokia earpiece used as a mic.
Savage...I think someone on the forum has made a flush female 3.5 mod. Also, I have a MINOX DVR cam that does exactley what you are suggesting in relation to an internal mic that gets switched out once you plug in an external mic. It's a nice cam, but has a lot of cables, battery pack for the cam etc,etc.
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i copied your idea (thanks) and here is what i got:
http://vholdr.com/forums/conto...
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