Looking for small POV useable cameras with sync/genlock 4 3D

[Basicam]

Does anyone know of other small (not Go Pro) POV useable cameras with sync/genlock available, (and possibly with audio in). Fixed focus OK. Price range up to ~$700 each but cheaper better, to a point.
My standard def. helmet cams into interlaced Pal digital8 tapes, as .avi, is not working out so well, I'm going for good quality HD now.

If anyone can offer budget oriented suggestions and improvements to cheap dodgy home 3D video setups and processing, please do so. I'm looking for smallish head mountable HD cameras, into separate recorders (SD chip or tape, or other?), with 60fps, 1080p or 720p, medium - wide angle, at least shower / dust proof, if not ~1m waterproof or more.
I've looked at Vio, Rad20 HD, GoPro, & some others. Still looking.

Bullet styles I've seen with batteries & SD card on board seem heavy, & unreliable, & no sync.
With 2 on your head, + helmet, its not so fun.
Some you must upset to access battery & card, then re-align exactly somehow in the field.

And to assist in more good home made 3D production, can someone invent an induction coil based genlock system to stick to the outside of the waterproof cabinets of hermetically sealed recording units.
- A circuit and coil slipped inside camera's cabinet, wired up and sealed (using camera's battery/power); similar waterproofed coils velcro'd to outside, used to sync 2 or more cameras via an oscillator circuit or whatever, powered by 6v - 12v in a small sealed waterproof box. Must not interfere with video signals.
Just a thought, from Basicam.

[cybereality]

Would love to help, but I have no idea what product would fit those needs.

[Skaven252]

Hi Basicam,

Please reply me your assessment of 2 X VIO's in 'do it yourself' forum

VIO POV.HD used to be quite the flagship, but I think the competition has raced past them. They haven't updated their model for ages, nor have made any announcements about any new models for quite a while... yet. You can now find newer, next gen cameras that are cheaper yet produce better looking footage than the POV.HD. But POV.HD is one of the very few available "tethered bullet" models, which allow you to both have a tiny imaging unit (easy to mount) and a viewfinder screen. It's also pretty rugged and I found it easy to head-mount firmly with the mount kit that came with it.

POV.HD uses variable framerate when recording. It's, to be honest, a real biddy to sync. Also, when it gets low on battery, it starts dropping more frames. The recording unit could use an update more so than the imaging unit I think, the imaging unit is pretty good quality and capable of more than the recording unit lets it do.

None of the action cameras in the market actually genlock. Not even the GoPro 3D housing. The "sync cable" doesn't actualy sync the cameras, it only estabilishes master/slave control so that both cameras start with one button. Any camera that responds to a wireless remote does more or less the same. As in, if you buy two POV.HDs, you can start them simultaneously with one remote.

TL;DR: No action cameras that genlock exist (except very old CCD cameras with NTSC resolution). I hear CMOS sensors are really hard to get in synced phase, and that's why the very few dual sensor 3D camcorders like the JVC GS-TD1 are so expensive.

In the future, you might try the (very expensive) Racelogic Video VBox 2. It has synced 720p cameras with global (not rolling) shutter.

I've gotten pretty good results by shooting 1080p 60fps with the Sony HDR-AS15 cameras. The high framerate allows for a smaller sync error in post edit, and their framerate seems quite steady. Great image quality too, in par - if not better - than the more expensive GoPro Hero3 Black edition. They are a bit difficult to mount though. They have quite good onboard sound (including a stereo mic in) but it flattens the dynamics quite heavily. If you want good sound, you might want to rig your mic to a dedicated compact audio recorder, like a Zoom H1.

If you manage to mount the waterproof housings firmly, you can take the cameras out of the housings for data transfer, then put them back in without upsetting the alignment (much). But the housing muffles the sound a lot, and makes the external mike inaccessible.

[Basicam]

Thanks Skaven252 for your VIO experience. I thought as much with lack of sync as to their 3D ability generally. And they emailed me "not for 3D", but I still like the idea; if only they had 720p120 capability, or even higher FPS, to ease synchronisation, and were serviced outside the USA.
I'll start a new thread with my camera research results. Thanks again.