{"id":12380,"date":"2014-04-20T20:27:54","date_gmt":"2014-04-20T19:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unsponsored.co.uk:\/press\/?p=12380"},"modified":"2015-04-26T09:57:26","modified_gmt":"2015-04-26T08:57:26","slug":"contour-roam-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unsponsored.co.uk\/press\/contour-roam-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Contour Roam Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Natty Cordon tells us about the Contour Roam in her Contour Roam review. Enjoy.<\/p>\n

Good footage for a good price<\/strong><\/p>\n

Contour have never been the obvious choice if you\u2019re choosing a camera for kayaking, but having recently re-emerged under new management, the company has a lot to offer any badass on a budget. <\/p>\n

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I recently read a review of Contour\u2019s top-of-the-range camera, the Contour +2<\/a>. I am a firm believer that you get what you pay for with action cameras, but if you\u2019re after a camera that delivers quality footage for a fraction of the price, then the Roam 2<\/a> is a great way to go. Here\u2019s why\u2026<\/p>\n

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WHAT COMES IN THE BOX?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Roam 2<\/a> retails at about \u00a3150 on Amazon<\/a>. It comes in an attractive box that contains everything you need to get going with your new camera:<\/p>\n

Contour Roam 2 camera with built in battery
\n4GB Mico SD card with adapter
\nLens cap
\nTether
\nUSB lead
\nProfile adhesive mount
\nRotating flat surface mount<\/p>\n

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Overall, Contour provide you with a really nice package. The camera looks good and feels well-made. The mounts that are provided are super versatile and were all I used for my first year of owning the camera. You will want to buy a Micro SD card<\/a> with a greater capacity for filming, such as a SanDisk Ultra 32GB Class 10<\/a>, but it\u2019s nice to be able to start filming as soon as you open the box.<\/p>\n

HOW EASY IS THE SET-UP AND OPERATION?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Contour have clearly focused on simplicity with the Roam 2<\/a>, claiming that it is \u201cthe easiest-to-use camera on the market\u201d. They are probably right! To start recording, you simply move the slider at the top of the camera into the forward position. The added advantage of this over a button is that you can feel whether the camera is recording or not, thus waving goodbye to those classic shots of you crumpling up your nose as you try to tell whether your camera\u2019s little red light is flashing. <\/p>\n

There is however a price to pay for this simplicity. Unlike the GoPro<\/a>, you cannot use the Contour to take stills at the same time as taking video footage. I found this quite frustrating at first, until I realised that the high frame rate of the video footage means that you can take relatively high-quality snapshots. Alternatively, if you\u2019re not bothered about getting video footage, you can use the free Contour Storyteller application for Mac or PC to set the camera to continuous photo mode which will take a shot every 1, 3, 5, 10, 30, or 60 seconds. <\/p>\n

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WHAT’S THE VIDEO QUALITY LIKE?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Contour Roam 2<\/a> will shoot full HD 1080p videos, just as the Contour +2<\/a> does. The shooting mode, frame rate, video quality, white balance, contrast, sharpness, exposure and audio settings can be changed using Contour\u2019s Storyteller application, although I tend to leave most of these settings on Auto which seems to do a good enough job. Storyteller will also tell you how your changes to the settings will affect your battery life and recording time which is a useful feature.<\/p>\n

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If you\u2019re anything like me, then all of the jargon about resolution and frame rate won\u2019t really make a lot of sense on its own. What it means is that the camera delivers clear footage and generally performs much better in poor light conditions than cameras in the same price range. Here are a couple of videos that were shot in the contrasting Chilean and British light conditions (bear in mind that the quality of the videos was much better before they were uploaded to Youtube). <\/p>\n