Reviews

Shimano Sport Camera

Popular pro camera ideal for capturing cycling videos

If you’ve been enjoying the on-bike footage from within the peloton that appeared during the course of the last two seasons, chances are you’ve been appreciating the work of Shimano’s Sport Camera.

It’s the same camera we spotted Simon Yates’ putting to good use at his debut Tour de France in 2014 and it’s continued to be a popular choice of camera as we’ve been hooked up to some great inside-action of the biggest races unfolding.

It’s easy to see why, too, as with the ability to shoot up to 1080p video or a lesser 720p at a much higher 120 frames per second, it’s ideally suited for fast-paced sports like cycling. It’s also, as we’ve said, easy to mount – at 7cm long and 4.4cm wide you can stick it under the saddle, on the bars or even on your helmet without it being intrusive.

Shimano’s Sport Camera also, quite frankly, looks great and the fact it’s smaller means more opportunities for mounting it hidden on the bike.

Shimano’s Sport Camera also, quite frankly, looks great and the fact it’s smaller means more opportunities for mounting it hidden on the bike.

Speaking of weight, it’s 86g and given the unit itself is IPX8 waterproof, you don’t need a cover in all but the worst conditions. IPX8 means it’s protected against submersion, but we still wouldn’t recommend dropping it in a puddle…

One other cool feature is the ANT+ connectivity, which will allow the camera to connect to your heart rate monitor, power meter or similar sensor and display those values overlaid on the video.

Price: £239
Website: Shimano
UK distributor: Madison

But don’t forget, if you tell everyone about that 500watt effort you put it, they’ll be able to see if you were telling the truth when you show them the video.

Another nice touch is the ability to control the camera from your smartphone over Wi-Fi. On there you can use the phone as a viewfinder – useful as the camera doesn’t have a screen – as well as change video and photo settings (the camera can take 3 megapixel photographs too).

Battery life is competitive and claimed to be around two hours, although that will change depending on which settings you’re using – lower resolution and frame rate will result in better battery life.

Charge time is said to be about twice that (four hours), so you can charge it up of an evening without any trouble.