Freestyler...

Introduction

Swann are an Australian company best known for their security cameras and systems, but they have been slowly entering the home/domestic market with a few products for every day use.

Their latest entry to the home market is the Swann Freestyle HD camera, a small video/still camera that you can attach to yourself or your bike/boat/bag/helmet/etc. to capture your adventures in the great outdoors.

The Freestyle comes bundled with most of the accessories you should need, which is a refreshing change - so many gadgets like this don't include everything in the box as standard.



You get a selection of mounting brackets (with adhesive and velcro pads to stick on to things), a detachable LCD screen, a waterproof case, a remote control, a carrying pouch, cable to play video on your TV, mini USB cable and a power adapter.

The camera is nice and light, about 80g without the LCD screen, and around 100g with screen attached. It's about 6cm by 5cm by 4cm.

In Use

Very easy to set up and use. There aren't loads of options to choose from (because a small sensor like the one in this camera is not going to give you much choice) so it's all about point and shoot, or point and film. A flick of a switch to turn it on, one button to record a video, another button to take a still shot.

If you want to use the waterproof casing, you need to leave off the LCD screen, if not then it's helpful for previewing and reviewing. If the casing is on, you can still operate the buttons through the casing, or use the optional remote (which you can clip on somewhere) to control it.

You can choose from the various mounting brackets to stick it to things, but because they use adhesive pads, you'll need to ensure that the things you are sticking to them are things you own, or use more innovative methods to attach the camera. I think I would have liked a rounded style clip (like you attach a bike light to handlebars with) as well.



I must admit I didn't really test its water resistant capabilities (IP68, about 20m underwater) as I didn't really want to push my luck (it's not good form to be sending non-functioning cameras back to PR companies!)

I've given it a go in a few different situations, including a quick hand held film of the Olympic torch relay passing by. This video was shot with my left hand, whilst my right hand was taking still photos with another camera. It was then imported into Windows Movie Maker for a quick trim, and then uploaded to YouTube - YouTube has an option to fix "wobble" in your videos so I let it do its stuff. And you need this as the camera has no image stabilisation of its own.



And if you're really testing how much wobble you can get away with, shoot a video when you're bouncing on a mini trampoline as part of a world record attempt:-



Given the size of this unit I think the quality that it produces is pretty good. If you're using it in action situations I think the results will be just what you need, and you're certainly not going to want to put your DSLR or camcorder in the firing line if you're careering down a hill on your mountain bike at 30 mph...

Every Gb of video shot lasts around 10 minutes (at 1080p, 30fps), so you can get around 5 hours on a 32Gb microSD card - the camera battery itself lasts around 2 ½ hours. There's also a mode to make it split your videos into separate files, so you can record an hour of video and it will split that into around 4 or 5 separate files.

Conclusion

A nice bit of kit for around 200 pounds, particularly given that so much stuff is included with it. I would have liked another bracket for bike mounting, but that's my particular area of interest. It's most suited to outdoor sports type uses, for situations where normal cameras would be too endangered.

The video quality is good without being stunning, as are the stills. Just don't get attached to the idea of using it in the dark - it struggles in low light situations, as you would expect from a camera with such a small sensor. The footage is still usable, it's just not great. Again, it's not designed for night shots, light painting and all that stuff, so don't be worried about that.

The remote is a handy add on too, very good for controlling the camera if it's mounted on top of your cycle helmet or rucksack for example. The range is around 2 metres. If you want to navigate around the menu for some of the finer points of the settings, you'll need to attach the LCD screen, but you can easily operate the unit without it too.

If you want to catpure your action-filled life for posterity, this should fit the bill nicely!