best position for a video camera

fishcake

got a Veho Muvi camera and have been trying a few different positions - bars, helmet, camel bag strap but can seam to get the right position.

On the bars there's too much left/right movement
on the helmet Im worried about smacking it on a branch

anyone else use a video camera?

Got any suggestions

Cheers

Anonymous

I don't have a camera, but I like watching the videos, and as a viewer, I hate handlebar cams, they're just too shaky over slow or technical terrain.
I've seen some good shots mounted on the downtube, I think, which looked great.

But the best angle as a viewer I reckon is either headcam, or "chest" cam.

Most important thing of course, is to make sure that it's not pointing up at the sky, or down at the ground the whole time.

ride_whenever

Side of helmet means you won't smack it on stuff.

x-isle

Best angle I've done (and hoping to do it again at Llandegla on Sunday) is on the top tube as seen here;

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/22888/

I think it's a great shot of the forks working and really shows the element of speed.

Also, as it's on the frame of a full-sus, it's probably the most stable part to mount it as the wheels are doing all the movement.

I find mounting it high up on a helmet reduces the element of speed because the things going past quickly are a long way away.

rhyko7

i love the helmet cam mounted on helmet looking back at the rider behind

Anonymous

x-isle wrote:

I find mounting it high up on a helmet reduces the element of speed because the things going past quickly are a long way away.

You just need to ride faster :twisted:

Seriously though, that is a great angle, but I'd like to see it mounted a little bit more towards the front, so your knee doesn't get in the way.

x-isle

Yeah, just a bit difficult. I originally tried that but my knee kept hitting the camera.

I also wanted to get the rear brake lever in shot so you can see the dabs on the brakes.

Anonymous

x-isle wrote:

Yeah, just a bit difficult. I originally tried that but my knee kept hitting the camera.

I also wanted to get the rear brake lever in shot so you can see the dabs on the brakes.

It does look pretty good, but it also obscures a great deal of the trail ahead.

.blitz

x-isle wrote:

Best angle I've done (and hoping to do it again at Llandegla on Sunday) is on the top tube as seen here; http://www.pinkbike.com/video/22888/

As yeehaa said a little too much knee action but otherwise it's a great video - one of the few I could watch over again. Good stuff on the Chase 8)

fuzzyfreak

OK, I have done a bit of research on this myself. I have a bullet cam which I have always mounted on my helmet. The only problem is this is not a wireless cam and needs to have the camera (recording device) and the battery pack running down my back into my backpack. It involves some tape and zip ties but works well so long as you test the angle before setting off.

I did the Peaks once and ended up with an hour of footage of looking at the ground and not being able to see the horizon, the horizon is very important - more important than the height. Unfortunately the cam moves when you move your head and if you get the angle wrong you can ruin the whole footage because when cycling or riding a motorbike, you tend to look down every so often - the advantage of course is that you record everything you see - things to the left and things to the right.

See here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiG16LcTghQ (forward to about 3:50)

Note: I have a problem with the cam getting white over time - I think this had something to do with sweat and moisture - it was fine indoors.

Just don't do what I did, gave the cam to my brother who went off, only for me to come hurtling down a trail, into a ford with 1 foot of water which threw me over the handlebars in a spectacular mid air spin - as my brother had the cam and was about 500 yards ahead, all you hear is him panting and a very distant cry!

I have also tried mounting a digital camera on the handlebars, this was my preferred option because I could see what it saw very easily and the angle is fixed straight ahead, on the horizon. Unfortunately I broke the camera due to the vibrations - it shook the optical unit and had to be replaced (luckily under warranty) - but not before getting this footage - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OetRZpgyyI

The disadvantage as you can see is that a digital camera does not have a high enough frame rate to capture the speed and some (like mine) do not adjust to the changes in light - which is why you see white out occasionally when the trees cleared. Your cam on the other hand is a video recording device so you won't get this problem but if you are going to mount it on the handlebars, just make sure it can take the bumps!

Lastly, I have included the hand held option - again this was with my Canon Digital Camera as opposed to a video camera but I much prefer this for those on-bike and mate shots - however as you can plainly see, shooting and riding do not go together at all - however I found it made for a great "Predator" style effect and with the appropriate music worked well - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBsRVzUo65s

If anybody wants to add me on Facebook - I have more video on there.

I am hoping to one day buy the VHOLDR which I would hope can be mounted on the handlebars without the vibration problem above.

breezer

Sure ive answered this question about 50 times but anyway, some videos from my testing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHAPty2WMt4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeD4BOL2U2s

fuzzyfreak

Great stuff breezer, no handlebar or helmet footage though.

Where is that trail? Friston?

breezer

Bar mount is a 100% no go unless you are going in a straight line else its all the place and just makes you sick watching. Here is a helmet mount one I did, the problem is you need to do your helmet up super tight to avoid any shaking ie this has a fair bit in but you can see when firmly mounted to the bike it was rock solid. The rear facing one which was Friston wasnt as solid as it was on a plastic saddle bag clip which moved a bit. Other problem with helmet mounting is aboslutely no sensation of speed unless you are following another rider

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpDVZwNCqFo

fuzzyfreak

Yeh, see how you, as the viewer, want to look up at the horizon?

Mancunianfightingcat

there's a few vids in my signature, most with the camera mounted under the downtube looking through the forks, there's also one one the swing arm looking back.
I've since modified the front mount so the forks don't intrude into shot as much. I'm also experimenting with mounting the camera on the shock mount looking forward so you can see the shock working and the trail ahead, but at themoment there's too much bike frame in shot too.

As has been said, bar mount is cr@p and I think helmet mount is poor too, your body's movement takes away too much of the sense of speed and change of direction/gradient. If you think about when your riding, your head stays pretty still, but the bike moves about beneath you a hell of a lot.

So, in conlusion, frame mounted is best!

x-isle

Mancunianfightingcat wrote:

So, in conlusion, frame mounted is best!

Yep, as I said, the frame is the only (almost) static item.

I have another one with the camera mounted at the front of the top tube. Video isn't the best footage and sorry for the cheesy beginning. However, with the shots of the bike at the beginning, you can see where the Dogcam is mounted.

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/23809/

fishcake

After trying bar mounted and helmet mounted I agree frame mounted is the best option
Iam now going to have to come up with some kind of bracket / mount

will post some footage when I have some

Cheers

Anonymous

I've just thought of a cunning plan. I have lugs for mounting a bottle-cage underneath my down tube (stupid place), which could be an ideal place to mount a camera - in summer obviously, the winter mud would just cover it in seconds.

Northwind

I wouldn't say bar mount is a no-no, it can give a really dramatic video with a good sense of speed and impact, quite dramatic. It's not a smooth or steady mount but then, that's the problem with helmet mounts, they're so smooth that it seems like you're floating. You do need to watch how you mount it- if you put it out on the bars you get a horrible left/right yawing effect, but if you mount it on the stem so that the lens is over the steerer, that's not a problem.

Anonymous

It's the rapid left-right-left-right that annoys the crap out of me on handlebar cams. Sticking it on a stem is not going to make that problem go away.

ChillyGetsTrilly

breezer wrote:

Bar mount is a 100% no go unless you are going in a straight line else its all the place and just makes you sick watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpDVZwNCqFo

This statement is definitely true, and i like your video. nice trail.

Northwind

yeehaamcgee wrote:

It's the rapid left-right-left-right that annoys the crap out of me on handlebar cams. Sticking it on a stem is not going to make that problem go away.

It does reduce it though, since the camera's moving less for each bar movement. I like the extra movement, it does make for a less nice video but it gives it a bit more of an impression of action, just like shakycam footage in a film. You can spend a lot of effort on getting a stable, high quality video and it just ends up looking slow and sterile.

Here's a wee demo, the mount was a total lashup so the camera's pitching a wee bit (I crashed in the freeride park 5 minutes before this and broke the mount! Annoyingly, the camera wasn't rolling...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgKvyELO8YE

Still, I don't think this is the best option, I just don't rule it out for when you want a different effect. I think possibly chest cam is still the best out there though I do like some of the frame mounts. If I ever get my horrible old ATC2K back I'll probably rig it with a frame mount/fork view to get a second angle.

Mancunianfightingcat

Northwind

Not a bad effort, Not too much side to side movement, however, you were going a t a fair rate, if you were on slower more techy stuff, I'm sure your bars would have been moving more.

fishcake

I managed to get my camera mounted to the front of the head tube between the bars and the top of the forks, using a hope light helmet mount and part of a reflector bracket.

these two videos are the result

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQPo8ys93PA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRYo6ax_g_8

any coments welcome
cheers

Northwind

Mancunianfightingcat wrote:

Not a bad effort, Not too much side to side movement, however, you were going a t a fair rate, if you were on slower more techy stuff, I'm sure your bars would have been moving more.

Ah but that's the trick, I wasn't In fact I was riding like a big nance, the camera position just gives that impression. I'll rig it up again some time for a techier descent and see how it looks.

Anonymous

fishcake wrote:

I managed to get my camera mounted to the front of the head tube between the bars and the top of the forks, using a hope light helmet mount and part of a reflector bracket.

these two videos are the result

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQPo8ys93PA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRYo6ax_g_8

any coments welcome
cheers

THAT, is excellent camera positioning. Best compromise yet I reckon.

SPIRO

yeehaamcgee wrote:

fishcake wrote:

I managed to get my camera mounted to the front of the head tube between the bars and the top of the forks, using a hope light helmet mount and part of a reflector bracket.

these two videos are the result

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQPo8ys93PA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRYo6ax_g_8

any coments welcome
cheers

THAT, is excellent camera positioning. Best compromise yet I reckon.

+1 - very good, dont suppose you have a pic of your set-up for those of us tempted to try the same?

bluechair84

x-isle wrote:

Mancunianfightingcat wrote:

So, in conlusion, frame mounted is best!

Yep, as I said, the frame is the only (almost) static item.

I have another one with the camera mounted at the front of the top tube. Video isn't the best footage and sorry for the cheesy beginning. However, with the shots of the bike at the beginning, you can see where the Dogcam is mounted.

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/23809/

Nice video, shame the bike and knees take up so much of the image, but you get a great sense of speed and lean. Seeing the forks work that much is great as well, never get to see them working like that from the saddle...
What surprises me most is how little the bike is vibrating or shaking - the image seems pretty sharp. The shocks must be doing a damn good job!

I want to build a little A-frame to mount the camera aside and behind the rider slightly and give a better impression of the riders movement around the bike. Trouble is the image will never be centered on the horizon with all that movement. Be a hard angle to get with much success...

willy b

Alot of bar mounted haters here :roll: Tried all sorts of mounts, but bar mount is just the best so far.

Frame mounting does look cool, but massively depends on your frame, and the weather/mud content.

One from today, or bars:
http://vimeo.com/7503872

Anonymous

willy b wrote:

Alot of bar mounted haters here :roll: Tried all sorts of mounts, but bar mount is just the best so far.

Frame mounting does look cool, but massively depends on your frame, and the weather/mud content.

One from today, or bars:
http://vimeo.com/7503872

Nope, still hate it. That rotating left and right drives me insane.

nicklouse

head or chest cam.

or on the head tube. bar cams have me turning of in seconds.