It looks like an old-school SLR camera wrapped inwaterproof housing. But the ATC9K All-Terrain HD Video Camera, a new productfrom Oregon Scientific of Tualatin, Ore., is an HD-recording, shock-resistantshooter that's waterproof up to 65 feet underwater.
The $299.99 camera shoots video up to 1080p (1,920 x 1,080pixels at 30 frames per second) and photos at 5-megapixels of resolution. Ithas a microphone for recording audio and a fixed wide-angle lens with no zoom.A built-in laser pointer helps align shots.
Unlike many video cameras made for the outdoors, theATC9K has an LCD screen on back, letting you preview footage in the field. Thescreen is a 1.5-inch TFT color display, and the camera has a built-in speakerso you can hear the audio while viewing footage.
Oregon Scientific (www2.oregonscientific.com) offers theATC9K with mounting options including straps and suction cups for helmets, bikehandlebars, surfboards, snowboards, and more. The camera measures about 2 x 1.7x 4 inches and weighs about 7 ounces.
A bonus feature is the camera's built-in”G-sensor,” which measures the force of gravity during acceleration,deceleration and hang time. This allows users to download and examine thedetails of their “flight time” via gravitational data collected bythe sensor inside.
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The ATC9K has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack andit charges with a USB cable plugged into a computer or via a wall outlet. On afull charge, you get about 1.5 hours of continuous video recording, the companysays.
The camera has 32MB of internal memory. But you must usea microSD memory card to capture footage. It supports cards up to 32GB in capacity.
Next month, the company plans to offer an optional GPSmodule that can be plugged into the camera. Like the ContourGPS, which Ipreviewed earlier on the blog, the ATC9K's GPS hardware will allow you to mapyour location, speed and distance traveled. It displays this information usingGoogle Maps or Google Earth, and users can show their GPS data alongside thehelmet-cam footage captured at the scene.