Bodycam and Harness review

Review: Simon's new bodycam.

TL;DR: imperfect yet will suffice for my purposes.

I dipped my toe into the water with a test of this $20 chest harness and $30 bodycam, both prices including postage from Aliexpress.

The chest harness is a Telesin and it's perfect. Well constructed, comfortable and came with a variety of fittings and attachments.

The bodycam is a Jozuze MD11, one of numerous cheap models available on Aliexpress. Here are the pros and cons.

Pros:
• Acceptable 1080p video resolution
• Acceptable audio quality
• Lightweight
• Simple to configure and operate
• Motion sensor
• LED lighting

Cons:
• No video stablisation
• Poor contrast response
• Flimsy materials
• No WiFi or Bluetooth connectability
• No external microphone support

In the video you'll hear a creaking noise when I step. It was caused by one of the buttons being ill-seated, a problem I solved after shooting this video with a piece of sellotape.

The absence of video stabilisation is the primary drawback. It's barely noticeable if I'm standing still or turning around but if I'm walking the shakiness is huge. I used Kdenlive's stabilisation function to construct the video, concatenated the same clip first with stablisation then without.

In synopsis this isn't a camera that will ever produce much publishable content. But as an adjunct to main cameras and to record close personal contact with anyone inside my personal space it will definitely do the job.

I'll probably run this camera until it breaks or I tire of it. Hopefully by then I'll have learnt enough about bodycams from experience to spend a bit more on a model that fits my purposes or simply mount an old phone on this harness with the included attachment to achieve pretty much the same outcome.