Passes & Canyons Blog

I mentioned on Tuesday that I was testing some video sunglasses that come equipped with a video/still camera and microphone, for use in the manner of a helmet cam. After using them a bit I have to say my assessment is mixed.

    Shot with my Nikon

First off, if you want to see some video I shot, riding through the colorful beauty of Red Rocks park just west of Denver, click this link here. It will open Windows Media Player or whatever the default application is on your machine. I tried to embed the video here, but the WordPress blog software is apparently known for making that difficult.

    Shot with DigaSpy in still photo mode

Now, as long as the window that opens matches the size of the video it’s not a bad image. Originally it opened for me at nearly full screen and looked terrible, but then I realized the video is only 640 x 480, so I shrunk the window to approximately that size and the image, though obviously smaller, was far better. Yes, you can get helmet cams that record in HD but you’ll pay a lot more for them than for the DigaSpy, which is what it is I’ve been testing.

    Shot with the DigaSpy in video mode

That’s right, the name is “DigaSpy.” As Tony Ibarra, the CEO of Digatron tells me, the camera-glasses were originally marketed for covert surveillance purposes. It was only after he started getting some interest from motorcyclists that they realized there was a whole other potential market.

The other mode offered by DigaSpy is still picture mode. Either by pressing a button on the frame of the glasses or clicking a half-dollar-sized remote you can also shoot an individual-frame still photo. Initially Tony gave me the low-end model with a .3 megapixel image. I quickly found that to be totally unacceptable so he swapped me for the top-of-the-line model with 2 megapixels. That was definitely an improvement, but with even cheap digital cameras having higher resolution than that these days I just can’t see a lot of use for this. Yes, you can shoot pictures from on your bike as you cruise along, and that would be a strength. But at least for me and for my purposes, if the shot is that good it’s worth it to me to stop and pull out the Nikon. It may be a different matter for you.

Just so you can see the comparison I’ve put up three shots of the same scene. The first was shot from a standstill with my Nikon. The second was shot from a standstill with the DigaSpy on still photo mode. The third was recorded on the DigaSpy in video mode and I captured the image from the video. I’ve done color correction and sizing just as I always do with images I intend to use.

The DigaSpy also records audio and in a calm environment the sound is good. If you view the video, however, you’ll see that on the bike you just get constant wind noise. So if you wanted to walk around at a party filming your friends it would presumably work quite well. Watching the video from the bike you may as well turn off the audio.

I know that Tony wants to crack the motorcycling market, so my hope is that they will continue developing this product and overcome the shortcomings I’ve identified. If it looks like it will meet your needs now, you can purchase the DigaSpy from Digatron. The .3 megapixel model costs $149 and the top-of-the-line model is $229. Plus, there are two intermediate models.

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This is going to be interesting. Earlier today I picked up a pair of glasses equipped with a microphone and digital camera, for testing on my motorcycle. They’re like a helmet camera except they go on your face like any glasses. And they have both clear and dark lenses, so the name on the box is “Video Sunglasses.” The brand is DigaNET.

The way I see it, these things have a lot of potential. Many times I’ve ridden through Glenwood Canyon and wanted to get pictures for the website that do it justice, but the only way to do that would be to stop on the highway–not a safe move. A helmet cam has come to mind more than once.

Plus, when I’ve been out shooting pictures for the site, on more occasions than I can count I have ridden along thinking “That might make a good shot” but by the time I’m saying that I’m already blasting past the point. How nice it would be to just see the great view, look at it, and presto, it’s been photographed.

So anyway, I’m going to be testing these things in the next week and will have a report for you soon after. The first thing I can tell you is that they won’t work with a full-face helmet. I tried and there is no way to get them on after you have the helmet on or to put them on before donning the helmet. So that’s an issue. Maybe the manufacturer can come up with a design that does work with a full-face helmet. I’ll be doing my testing with my half-helmet. Obviously, if you don’t wear a helmet there’s no problem at all.

One other interesting thing about these glasses: They were originally designed with covert surveillance in mind, and it is only due to interest shown by motorcyclists that the company has turned their attention in our direction. They contacted me via the Passes and Canyons website asking if I wanted to carry their ads on the site. I said I want to test this thing. And that’s how we got to where we are now. Stay tuned.

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