Dog harness for Sony action cam turns Fido into Fellini

EVER since billionaire Nick Woodman invented the GoPro people have been strapping action cams to just about anything. But what happened when this groodle gets into the action?

WHEN it seems like every second 14-year-old skater dude has an action cam at the ready, it’s hard to get excited when yet another new point-and-shoot-the-action device hits the market.

But when Sony announced the release of its second-generation action cam at the International CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas earlier this year I sat up and took notice.

It wasn’t that bit in the blurb about the improved lens (a ZEISS Tessar 170-degree wide angle lens) and the better megapixels (now 16 megapixels, up from 11.9), although that was good news.

It was the picture of a dog wearing a special action cam harness. As the proud owner of a groodle (golden retriever cross standard poodle), or golden doodle as they are known in America, this was a piece of technology that I needed to test — as I said in the email to Sony that instant.

If “Man films action video with golden doodle at play” isn’t a great headline, then you can push me over a cliff right now — assuming I get to film it all on an action cam on the way down. That’s a good headline too.

My idea to strap an action cam to my dog is hardly new.

For one thing, ever since now billionaire Nick Woodman invented the GoPro, people have been strapping action cams to just about anything with the “no proof, no glory” motto.

It would be interesting to see some sort of graph that correlates the rise of the action cam with the rise of self-injury through acts of adrenalin-fuelled stupidity.

For another thing, I’ve been down this track before. Eighteen months ago, when required to test the Muvi Atom action cam, I taped it to my dog’s collar and gave it a shot.

Camera, action ... Gizmo the Groodle demonstrates the shake-with-a-twist technique during the swim leg of his day at the park.

That first experiment resulted in mixed results. Sure, there was video to see, but it was mainly pointed at the ground and was like someone had taken all the action shots from a Jason Bourne movie and given them a double shake before showing them.

The advantage of the Sony harness for its action cam is that you can position the camera securely on the dog’s back.

Before you rush out and buy one of these, it’s recommended for dogs weighing 15kg or more. The camera sits up fairly high on the dog’s back and if you were to strap it on a Dachshund, for instance, you’re risking a top heavy rollover.

In all wearable technology, the comfort depends on the individual, whether you’re trying on a pair of Beats headphones or strapping an action cam on to a dog, but our dog didn’t seem to mind the presence of a couple of extra straps.

<b>Introductions from a dog’s view ... this photo was taken shortly before these two became more intimate in the “nice to meet you” way. </b>

We found the easiest way to secure the harness was to strap it to his normal chest harness, although you can put the front strap just straight around the dog’s chest.

If your dog is sitting up or standing proud, chances are you won’t see much but the back of his head or perhaps the sky (as we found out when our dog squatted to do what a dog needs to do in the middle of shooting the video).

But as soon as the dog starts walking and the head drops, the angle of vision is enough to see just enough of the dog’s head to give it some context.

There is a an adjustment on the mount which lets you tilt the camera up or down.

Unlike the previous model, this Sony Action cam is splashproof although, to be safe, I popped it in the waterproof case before letting it loose in the dog park.

The action cam comes with the live-view remote, a wrist-worn device with a 1.5-inch colour LCD that links to the action cam via a wi-fi connection.

You can imagine many situations where wearing the remote would be handy. One of the limitations of any action cam is that you can’t see what you’re filming if it’s strapped to somewhere such as the top of your helmet.

But in terms of the dog park, given the remote viewer only works if it’s up to 5m from the camera, I decided not to worry about it.

Instead, I strapped the camera on to the dog, pointed in what I hoped was the right general direction, and told him to have fun. He did the rest.

Two-way perspective ... journalist Rod Chester takes picture of his dog. Gizmo the Groodle takes a picture of him.

One of the tips I soon discovered is that you might have to adjust the camera every now and then, with a quick sprint around the park enough to have the harness sliding a fraction.

Another thing to consider is where your dog is going to wear it. If they are likely to do some play wrestle in a pack, it’s probably best to leave it off because a camera jutting off the back of a dog could get in the way, either damaging the camera or, worse, damaging a dog.

That aside, the results are brilliant. Not “thanks for the Oscar” brilliant but “life through the eyes of a dog” brilliant.

Although, technically, I should probably have converted the movie to black and white, or at least muted the colours, for true dog-vision.

You can opt for the interval mode on the camera which shoots stills at 1 to 60 seconds. I just popped it on Movie mode and grabbed a couple of stills off it later in Quicktime Player.

Shake, shake, shake ... drying off, from a Groodle’s point of view. No passers-by were injured in the taking of this photo, although they might have got wet.

My (very) basic iMovie skills allowed me to edit the video down from the original 20 minutes to about three.

I could have done something to reduce the camera shake using a feature of iMovie, but I felt it added authenticity.

I’m pretty sure The Bourne Identity director Paul Greengrass would approve.

Gizmo, my groodle, loves long walks in the park. Now I’ve got the video to prove it.