VholdR ContourHD review

Consumer camcorders have been going HD for some time now, to the extent that you can even buy one for under £100. But the world of action cameras has been relatively immune to the spread of the format – the VholdR ContourHD is the only one we've come across.

It records 720p video at 30fps in H.264 MOV format and saves this footage to a microSD card installed under a rubber cap at the rear of the camera. A 2GB card is supplied with the camera, and this is good for storing around an hour of HD footage. This is certainly an impressive feat, but HD is by no means the ContourHD's strongest suit – it's packed with clever touches and thoughtful details that make it a far superior action camera to any other we've yet tested.

First off, although it's rugged and water resistant, it manages to stay very light indeed, weighing in at a feathery 116g. We attached it to a cycling helmet via the sticky surface mount supplied with the camera and hardly noticed its presence.

And it's also easy as pie to line up. With other cameras, it can be tricky to tell if you've got the camera level and pointing where you want it to. Not so the ContourHD: a pair of red lasers either side of the lens let you see precisely what the camera's directed at and whether or not it's askew.

Another help in getting the right action in frame is the super wide-angle lens. Instead of the rather narrow angle you get with most handheld camcorders, which only give you a 50° to 25° field of view, the ContourHD's lens has a 135° field of view – just like the fisheye lenses you can buy for digital SLRs.

The results all of this provides are nothing short of stunning. We tested the ContourHD on our cycle commute in and out of London and found footage to be clear and smooth, picking up good detail, even under streetlights at night. The wide-angle lens, as well as picking up plenty of ancillary detail, also lends a wonderful sense of speed to your action shots, with scenery streaming by in an impressive blur. There's even a 60fps 848 x 480 mode for when the action gets hectic.

Our one gripe is that we'd have liked more than just the two mounts – at this price we'd expect more choice than that – but otherwise there's very little to complain about. If you want to record your sporting exploits for posterity, and you're willing to part with 300 notes, the ContourHD is an absolute stunner.

Author: Jonathan Bray