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South America on Motorbike. CHDK good fit?

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South America on Motorbike. CHDK good fit?
« on: 28 / May / 2010, 10:43:01 »
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Hey guys,

Last year I rode a motorbike across China to Pakistanhttp://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=500053&highlight=dragons+arse

It was fantastic but I wished I would have had video or a time lapse from the either my helmet or the motorbike's point of view. My trip after Fall semester is from Wisconsin to the tip of South America and back. I am figuring out the best way to document this and am very interested in a CHDK option.

I know I can set CHDK to take pics every few seconds, but can I set it to switch to video and back with a remote? The idea would be to have a time lapse of the ride, but if something interesting pops up I can get some video also.

The trip will be around 50,000km. What are my options with CHDK using external power and storage? That would be a ton of AAs.

Thanks for your help!


 

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Offline reyalp

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Re: South America on Motorbike. CHDK good fit?
« Reply #1 on: 28 / May / 2010, 23:01:57 »
Hey guys,

Last year I rode a motorbike across China to Pakistanhttp://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=500053&highlight=dragons+arse
:o That's quite a trip.

Quote
I know I can set CHDK to take pics every few seconds, but can I set it to switch to video and back with a remote? The idea would be to have a time lapse of the ride, but if something interesting pops up I can get some video also.
Yes, this should be possible with some minor scripting.
Quote
The trip will be around 50,000km. What are my options with CHDK using external power and storage? That would be a ton of AAs.
Many supported cameras have an external power connector, and for those that don't you can make a battery pack shaped adapter. You can run this from the bikes electrical system with a DC/DC converter. You could also build a larger external pack to feed the plug. You'd still need to recharge, but a couple of NiMH D cells should be able to run the camera for days.

For storage I'd suggest getting a bunch of whatever SD card gives the best price/GB (probably 4GB these days). You may still need external storage depending on what settings you use for the stills and how much video you shoot, but having a bunch of cards means you are less likely to lose everything.

Not to turn you off CHDK, but you might also consider gopro http://www.goprocamera.com/ which can also do both video and timelapse AFAIK. The CHDK cameras all have a lot of moving parts, and aren't really designed to handle thousands South American roads strapped to a bike! OTOH, I know a lot of CHDK users have abused their cameras heavily without problems.
Don't forget what the H stands for.

Re: South America on Motorbike. CHDK good fit?
« Reply #2 on: 29 / May / 2010, 00:15:59 »
Thanks a ton for the info reyalp. I was looking at the gopro cams the other day. I especially like their durability and quality. My concern with it was not being able to switch quickly from stills to video. I would love to just shoot video the whole way, but managing that much data is daunting. At 720 30fps that would be at least 32gb a day, over four months 4TB, plus a lot of video and pictures from a 5D Mk II. Not sure what to do with all that.

 

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