On the Road Again!

I have had a long and deep interaction with the support team for this camera and asked for a photo of the two Micro SD cards I had been using and getting all the problems. They are generic 8gb and 64gb versions.  After a few days they got back and said these aren't suitable for  their camera and that I should buy a "branded" version, e.g. Sandisk.  Or they could send me one. They also dismissed the fact that both these cards work in the Sony Cybershot (with suitable adapter) and in my Canon 1100D. I, of course, opted for the option of them sending me one. After all I have had it almost 6 weeks and been unable to use it! Plus the time limit for sending back via Amazon past weeks and weeks ago. So if it doesn't work, I am stuck with it! Okay it's only £40.......  :) In the meantime I had a hunt around the drawers as I was certain in one of the DSLR's we actually have a Sandisk one. Could I find it, could I buggery. So whilst I wait for the Wolfang compatible one...

After a few hours going around in circles I managed to find a page where I could bring up the subject of the "missing" 64gb micro-SD card.  I filled in a form on Amazon as the email address support@wolfang.co didn't work and the website was throwing up DNS errors. Today, despite me imagining I had bought the camera from the screenshot (in the previous post), I had in fact bought the basic package and that doesn't come with a "free" or "included" micro-sd card. My fault.  Odd that the screenshot I took was of the screen I click "buy now"!  Oh well. Checking back I see I was charged less than the price on there.  How does that happen on a website like Amazon?   So it's lucky that I had a 64gb card in the Sony DSC that I could swap out and replace with a 8gb memory stick.

Way back about five or six years ago I bought an action cam.  It was a cheap Chinese copy of a far more expensive piece of kit.  It was a pain to set up as it had a small screen on the back.  In the end I used the Ram mount that the gps goes on and all was well. Except the movies taken with it were really boring. There was no way to turn off the sound so all the "action" was accompanied by the rush of the wind.  Plus they were boring in any case. So it was put away in a drawer and to this day that version has never seen the light of day.  I might drop it off at the charity shop. Someone might want a small camera the size of a large box of matches. Some years later enter Denver AC5000W. Another cheap and cheerful version of the same basic camera design.  This one though has bluetooth so can connect to an app on a smart phone. Easier to setup but the results were just as boring and the rush of the wind was just the same. Social media is full of these vids and...

It seems to be a biker or road user, an action cam has become the accessory of choice.  Cyclists wear them to show how bad other road users are and bikers use them to show how their rides went. Mostly boring I expect!  If they are anything like my tests. I bought this one from eBay for £17 inc postage from China., It,is not much use for mounting to a motorcycle but perfect for the cyclist and their style of helmet. On eBay now the SJ4000's go from £16.99 to more like £44.99! I can't see the difference between them and mine, whatever the price. I bought it as a replacement for the Denver I bought last year.  The Denver kept going wrong and I keep it as a backup.  Dropping it on the garage floor didn't help.  Whereas the Denver was wifi equipped and has an app on my iPhone (and Android) to set up and view movies, unlike this one it doesn't come with small LCD screen. It comes with the waterproof case and I had to buy the plastic ball mount...

YAH! Today was billed as sunny and once the dog walking and lunch had been taken, I could get out on R3, I decided to have a ride to Dungeness and the Railway Cafe to have a cup of tea and at the same time test the camera. Lining it up with the app on the iPhone was child's play.  Rather than start at home I stopped on the back road on the marsh and did a short ride before stopping it. The iPhone app won't stream from the camera but you can download, With limited space on the phone this is not an option. I had to wait to get home and get them on the laptop and then have a look. Two of the four look all right but two seems to have been taken through a steamed-up lens or "soft focus".  The camera looked okay when I checked it out. Here's the first vid: The music is Joe Bonamassa "Slow Train".

The action camera market is massive and I have come late to it. Not wanting to spend too much on a camera in case it proved to be a fad, I bought this Denver AC5000W. It comes with loads of accessories and a waterproof case. To that I have added a RAM ball with a standard camera screw mount. I've tested in the house. This model comes without a screen on the back but a wifi link to my iPhone and an app. The app allows full functions to line it up and start recording.  Just need a bit of sun to get out on the R3 to test it.