Contour+ | Evolving Consumer

Contour is Back

It has been quite the wild ride for Contour – maker of action sports cameras. The company was on a roll, and then suddenly called it quits. Earlier this month the company announced that it had completed a financial overhaul, reorganized and improved its distribution.

It made the move from Seattle to Provo, Utah and the company said its financial outlook is solid with key retailers.

“The aim is clear—we want to create a world class company to support this world class product,” said Danny Lysenko, CEO of CONTOUR. “While recovering CONTOUR’s position in the market, we’ll continue the long tradition of being at the forefront of innovation and bringing to market beautifully simple, yet ultimately professional cameras.”

Contour Official Website
[Via Transworld Business: CONTOUR Returns to POV Camera Market With New Ownership]

Contour Coming Back?

Contour, the maker of the rugged wearable cameras, suddenly shut down last summer, but now the company could be making a return. The company posted via its Facebook page:

“Happy holidays to all and thank you for continuing to support Contour. It has been a difficult time, as you may have read, but we are getting closer to having the website and customer support up and running. Stay tuned for new announcements. In the meantime, we see lots of demand for storyteller, you can find it here. Thanks to Joe Agustino.”

Happy Holidays indeed for those who love Contour.

[Via BikeRumor: COMPANIES IN LIMBO – CONTOUR COMING BACK?]

ROAM2 Wherever You Want

This month GoPro announced a new action camera, and that follows introductions into the category by Sony and JVC. Not to be left behind Contour has announced its ROAM2 camera, which it proclaims to be the simplest camera on the market. It offers instant on-record, and the frame rate has been up to 60fps at 720p. It can record at 1080p at 30fps as well.

The ROAM2 features two lasers on the side of the 170-degree wide angle lens to make what is being recorded. This is a novel alternative to a view finder and for those who are engaged in some activity like downhill snowboarding or mountain biking it might be a good way to know what’s in the shot. The ROAM2 is waterproof to one meter without separate housing, so it can handle a little water for sure. Continue reading ROAM2 Wherever You Want

Contour Doubles Down

While Sony and JVC have entered the rugged action camera market this year, and GoPro seems to be going towards and IPO, Contour Inc. has essentially doubled-down by announced its next-generation action camera, fitting called the Contour+2. The wearable camera will be available this fall for $399.

The form factor hasn’t been changed much, but that’s because there was really nothing wrong with it in the first place. Clearly Contour knows that change for changes sake isn’t the way to go. But while it may look the same this time around it offers a new shooting mode of 120 frames per second in 480p resolution. This isn’t close to HD by that ultra-high frame rate will be ideal for anyone who looks to do a “super slow motion” cut. The company has promised the “highest quality action video, ever.” Seeing will surely be believing. Video after the jump

WingmanHD Video Camera Catches the Action

Athletes are capturing some amazing video. Biking on the trails; catching waves; skating some big tricks. Capturing the action while in motion, rather than filming when a friend rides by from a stationary position, adds to the authenticity of the video. It also requires some specialized equipment. That doesn’t mean, however, that you need to spend a lot of money, or have a film degree, to pull off some amazing video.

Delkin Devices just released the WingmanHD, a waterproof, 3-ounce action camera. The company claims the HD camera capable of shooting 1080p video is the lightest on the market at 3-ounces. The comparable Contour HD helmet camera weighs 4.3 ounces, as listed on Amazon.com. The weight for the newly released GoPro HD Hero2 camera was difficult to find.

The WingmanHD is powerful with a 1.5-inch LCD screen; 3x digital zoom and universal mounting system. The screen allows you to view what the action (if the camera is positioned where you can see it) and also has a playback mode so you can review video even before you get back to your computer. The camera comes with an 8 GB MicroSD Memory Card, rechargeable battery that provides 2.5 hours of recording time, a helmet mount, vented helmet mount, bar mount, wall and auto charger, a pwer and data USB cable, component cable, wrist strap and user guide. Continue reading WingmanHD Video Camera Catches the Action

ContourROAM Lets You Take it on the Go

Traveling the wilds should be dependent on where you feel comfortable taking your camera. To that end Contour has released the ContourROAM, a helmet mountable camera that will let you roam where you want to, roam around the world.

It features the same rugged cylindrical aluminum body and swiveling lens of the Contour+ and ContourGPS models, but unlike those travel capable cameras this one can be taken in the water, and it is waterproof to one meter for up to 30 minutes. So it is good for getting wet and wild but still isn’t meant for deep sea diving for extended underwater excursions. Continue reading ContourROAM Lets You Take it on the Go