BLUETOOTH AUDIO
Here we come to the Prism’s killer feature. While straight helmet camera footage with a built-in
microphone will almost always require some sort of over-dubbing in post-production (due to
wind noise and engine drone) the Prism can take audio from Sena (or rival) Bluetooth headsets.
The massive advantage of Bluetooth audio is that it allows you to narrate directly onto the video
as you ride. I constantly used the Prism as a method of taking video notes about things I saw, or
thought, while I was riding.
A Bluetooth connection also allows you to commentate live during moments of action. I
absolutely loved this feature because it creates footage that is far more interesting and
immersive without any need for post-editing. Or rather, that would be the case if I could train
myself not to be such a potty-mouth. Certainly few of my blue-tinged clips would gain a PG
rating in the cinema.
Kudos here must go to the absolute mastery that Sena have over the noise-cancelling effects of
their intercom system. My Prism was paired to their 20S helmet to helmet intercom which builds
on the many of the clever features offered by high-end rivals such as phone, FM radio and MP3
player integration.
I was shocked at the 20S microphone’s aptitude at cutting out wind and engine noise compared
to voice frequencies. During my trip I had a perfectly clear phone conversation with my wife
while she was driving at 70mph in England (on Bluetooth car hands-free) and I was riding a noisy
scooter at the same speed in Spain. The call quality was completely unimpeded by distance or
mode of transport. Remarkable.
When this Bluetooth audio is used as a track on the video clips, the voice clarity is almost
spooky, with other traffic and even the scooter engine note being a faint buzz in the background.
The only down-side of this microphone efficiency is that if you let the boom move far from your
lips then even the narration volume can drop to a whisper, however there are multiple options to
adjust sensitivity and even mix microphone inputs. Only once home did I read in the manual that
you can feed the microphone output in your earphones; which would really help to set a voice
volume. Studying manuals is not very ‘bloke’ but the fact I could soon work most functions
without thorough instruction proved that the Prism operating system is quite logical.
The other advantage of Bluetooth Headset integration is that the camera speaks to you to tell
you what it’s doing. A female voice tells you what mode the camera is in or if the battery is low,
giving you sufficient notification to swap another battery. It’s a brilliant feature, removing all the
guesswork associated with other brands on non-connected camcorder.
BATTERY LIFE
Stated battery life for the Prism is 2 hours filming with a live Bluetooth connection, but with the
camera switched off for stops I could usually get a day’s use from three batteries with recording
limited to notes and interesting riding sections. If you record ev ery part of your ride you will
chew through data cards (32GB microSD is maximum accepted by the Prism) and produce so
much boring footage that editing will be a nightmare.
A top tip for the Prism is to buy a universal 12-volt to 3.7v battery charger because this will
allow you to charge spare phone or camera batteries from the bike while you ride.
What’s that, you’ve bought an action camera / posh phone with just one permanently fixed
battery? Then you need your head examining. Swappable batteries are still the way to go…