Contour has suddenly gone out of business

[Nick]

Strange and sudden closure. I picked up a Contour ROAM2 last year and managed to get a few nice looking videos out of it. Leap years beyond the Tachyon XC camera I had before that.

I suspect cocaine, hookers and mayonnaise were involved in the closure.

Mayonnaise ... bahaha

 

[fbrissette]

Having used both its really not that strange at all, the GoPro is a much better product all around. From size, to specs, etc the Contour was second fiddle.

I have to disagree. I have used both extensively. The contour has a much lower profile and is awesome for side mounting. The rotating lens makes it incredibly versatile. Little to no inertia when mounted on the helmet. The one push button is fail safe with gloves. No case means zero fogging problem. What the contour was lacking however is the image quality. It was definitely sub par compared to the gopro and sony action cam, and that's why I don't use it anymore (it sits on my 9 year old helmet).

Gopro 3 is an incredible camera but the form factor is bad for skiing. When top-mounted, it is definitely a hazard when tree-skiing and the inertia is pretty bad since it sits too far from the helmet.

My goto cam is the sony action cam. Side mounting is a must for me as well as image stabilizationwhich the gopro does not have. Stabilization makes a huge difference on image quality. I assume the gopro 4 will feature image stabilization since it is becoming more common (see garmin Virb).

Give me the action cam or gopro 3 image quality, image stabilization, with the contour form factor, and it would be the perfect cam for me.

 

[dmc]

Side mount and low profile is huge for me as well..
I can imagine myself ripping the GoPro off my helmet any number of ways...

 

[crank]

Naa, you knock against a few low hanging branches and then you learn to duck.

 

[fbrissette]

Side mount and low profile is huge for me as well..
I can imagine myself ripping the GoPro off my helmet any number of ways...

I've never owned a gopro but I got to test one extensively for one week. I've hit the gopro enough (several times in the chairlift and hitting low branches in the trees) to determine it wasn't for me. It is a tough little bugger cause it sustained a few major hits without any damage. Could not get use to the inertia of the head-mounted camera, and it was difficult to find the optimal angle for the best footage since there is a lot of hinge movement with any hit. The contour was always mounted rock solid at the right angle.

I love the sony action cam, but I had to engineer a fixed side mount using gopro parts.

Still looking for the perfect cam.

 

[dlague]

Could not get use to the inertia of the head-mounted camera, and it was difficult to find the optimal angle for the best footage since there is a lot of hinge movement with any hit.

I have a GoPro and tried on the helmet and the glades were tough when ducking under branches (sometimes pissed me off) and depending on how my helmet was positioned also effected it. I use a chest mount or a hand held telescopic camera mount!

One camera that I am considering is by Drift Innovation - check them out! I have seen a few around and a friend has one. It can be side mounted and has a built in LCD.

GoPro has a solid product and I thought Contour did too. However, many other companies are jumping into this market and that may drive innovation to fast for smaller companies.

 

[Johnskiismore]

That's too bad, love the Contour camera, just have to take really good care of the one I have

 

[Hawkshot99]

I am a huge fan of GoPro persoanlly I own a Hero2, a driftHD, and a old epic. I find the gopro takes the best footage out of all of them and its not even the latest model they make. The drift is easiest to use while skiing with gloves on but the remote on the hero3 could change that. The only thing I dont like about the gorpo is mounting on a ski helmet. I much prefere a smaller lipstick, but the gopro can be used for so much more than just a helmet cam. I use mine on my motorcycle and water sports such as water skiing. Then there is tons of othr mounts to basically put them anywhere.


Sent from my SGH-S959G using Tapatalk 2

 

[gmcunni]

in the news.

http://unofficialnetworks.com/buy-contour-124920/

 

[fbrissette]

One camera that I am considering is by Drift Innovation - check them out! I have seen a few around and a friend has one. It can be side mounted and has a built in LCD.

I like a lot of things about the drift. However, most of the comparison footage I have seen clearly show the sensor/lens combination to be quite inferior to the Gopro3 and Sony action cam. Does not do 60p at 1080 either.

Check this video. Put it in HD and watch starting at 1'20'. Pretty obvious that the gopro has better sharpness, details and contrast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QZYaestBcw

The new standards are: image stabilisation, GPS, 1080p. The new Garmin VIRB has all of this (plus a screen) but image quality is unknown and it is on the large side. The newly announced second version of the Sony Action cam adds a GPS and a watch (with a screen) for framing. AFAIK, the sony and gopro 3 share the best sensor (sony exmor sensor). As I said earlier, expect the gopro 4 likely to be announced this fall to bridge the gap with image stabilisation and GPS.

 

[mlctvt]

Good news for Contour users! Contour is back in business. Their website is up for sales.
http://contour.com/

article on Contour
http://www.photographybay.com/2014/01/09/contour-is-back-in-the-action-cam-business/

 

[fbrissette]

Clarke Capital won a bid to buy the company back in October and is pushing forward with a new marketing strategy in 2014.

I am a big fan of contour, they have the best form factor and the rotating lens is incredibly versatile for mounting.

However, what they need, way before a marketing strategy, is better image quality and image stabilization. They are way behind GOPro3 and Sony Action cam with respect to the former and the image stabilization of Sony gives spectacular results for skiing.

Sony's new model (no case needed) is awesome. Problem is that mounting options absolutely suck.
http://store.sony.com/pov-action-cam-zid27-HDRAS100V/W/cat-27-catid-All-Action-Cam?_t=pfm=category

New sensor and image stabilization and I'm going back to Contour.

 

[gmcunni]

should be seeing them any day now on Steep and Cheap!

I'll grab one if I can get it for $100 ...

$150 on woot today. . . http://www.woot.com/

 

[wa-loaf]

$150 on woot today. . . http://www.woot.com/

Picked on up off of TheClymb for the same price this winter.

 

[gmcunni]

Picked on up off of TheClymb for the same price this winter.

happy with it?

 

[wa-loaf]

happy with it?

For the price it's great. Really like the form factor and the video is good enough for my needs. I made this video with it:

 

[Cannonball]

For the price it's great. Really like the form factor and the video is good enough for my needs. I made this video with it:

Nice! And especially nice song selection.... subtle move choosing a song off the album "the woods"!