A first attempt at 3rd person filming - north wales AM

ilovedirt

So this is my first attempt at 3rd person self-filming, done on my go pro. Went for a bit of an XC/AM ride yesterday in the sun, thought I might as well share, enjoy!

Redhog14

I thought that was rather good actually, just the right length. It would be good to add a little helmet or handlebar footage of you riding it at the end just to bring it together. Nice. I got a GoPro for my birthday and have only used it a couple of times, will get it out this weekend

Briggo

Yeah I like it, isn't it a pain in the backside though having to keep going back for the camera? I'll try it one day.

ilovedirt

Redhog - cheers, yeah I thought of putting some helmet mount clips in there, but I forgot the mount. Maybe next time. I'll probably try a downhill one next time as well.

Briggo - yes it was! haha

Blind Danny Johnson

Nice! Some really cool shots. I'm seriously thinking about getting a go pro but was worried about 3rd person actually. How did you line up the shots? I see Contour has an app you can use on iPhone to line up the camera, is it same with go pro?

ilovedirt

I kinda just pointed it where i wanted it to look really!...

Redhog14

The aperture (?) on the lens means that you get a wide angle shot all the time, it is not as narrow as a normal camera, but you may need to fart about with the depth of your shot i.e. how far away the camera is from the subject this is quite technical though and involves something called "walking", not for the typical cyclist I just ordered an upgraded SD card hope it arrives before my trip to the borders this weekend!

paul.skibum

I tried this last year and liked the results (watched yours at work so dont know if you put on music) - I tried to tell a little story with mine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9HK2G5n0nU) of me going out for a short post work ride. Sorry I have posted a link to this twice today now.

The hiking back and forth is a bit of a pain but on the ride I had plenty of daylight and enjoyed playing around with angles and what not, seeing what worked and what didnt (can only tell when you get home though). I think if you tried it with a playback able machine it might become more labour intensive and drawn out as you'd try to perfect things rather than just making do witht he shots you get.

ilovedirt

Redhog14 wrote:

The aperture (?) on the lens means that you get a wide angle shot all the time, it is not as narrow as a normal camera, but you may need to fart about with the depth of your shot i.e. how far away the camera is from the subject this is quite technical though and involves something called "walking", not for the typical cyclist I just ordered an upgraded SD card hope it arrives before my trip to the borders this weekend!

Yeah definitely, I don't have a tripod/tripod mount or anything, so I was fairly limited in where I was actually able to put the camera (on top of various rocks/trees etc). Like you say though, it has a very wide angle, and it's worth having it as close as you can get it. There's definitely room for improvement.

delcol

i think you done a really good job,, you had no dead time, the shots linked nicely, the angles were ok.. (it's all about angles get creative) the video flowed well,,,

try doing it with 2 bags of slr camera equipment lenses tripods camera bodies etc.. sure it is a time consuming job and it can get annoying but look at the end result,, evey c**t and his dog is putting bad pov video up these days just look on you tube..

at least the 3rd person gives a better indication of what your riding...

well done good video,, i look forward to seeing some more.. and think angles angles angles..

EH_Rob

The aperture controls the size of the hole in the middle of the lens, but does not control image size. Guess it's just a wide angle (short focal length) lens? Nice job with the video.

ilovedirt

delcol wrote:

i think you done a really good job,, you had no dead time, the shots linked nicely, the angles were ok.. (it's all about angles get creative) the video flowed well,,,

try doing it with 2 bags of slr camera equipment lenses tripods camera bodies etc.. sure it is a time consuming job and it can get annoying but look at the end result,, evey c**t and his dog is putting bad pov video up these days just look on you tube..

at least the 3rd person gives a better indication of what your riding...

well done good video,, i look forward to seeing some more.. and think angles angles angles..

Cheers! I'm planning on getting a small tripod and mount for it so I can get a bit more creative with the angles. Wouldn't mind getting an actual video camera at some point so I can do some proper filming, but we'll see.

delcol

you can acheive good results with a cheap video camera..
this was filmed on a cheap shitty £125 sanyo xacti. but hand held not on a tripod.
so was this hand held.

this one same cheap camera but tripod mounted,, more of an experiment than anything... but to give you an idea,, you dont neccessarly need expensive equipment to get good results..

ilovedirt

Some good videos there, I wouldn't spend mega bucks on a camera, I'd like something with some sort of screen though really...

paul.skibum

You can get a tripod adapter mount for the gopro and one of those little tripods (I have a tiny tripod with velcro straps to tie it to stuff, weighs peanuts and cost a similar amount). That's my plan for the summer coming - want to get a proper little handicam as well,

ilovedirt

Aye, that's what I'm looking at getting. Sadly, peanuts is all I have in my bank account right now!

bluechair84

Quite liked the vid. Some great scenery. I'd consider upping the contrast in post ed though as some of it seems a bit washed out. And, can you tie some string to the camera so when you've ridden off it follows you? like they do with land-rover tracks to get them out of swamps
As for all you go-pro fanbois, my favourite game is camera top trumps - Kodak ZX5, 1080p, 720p@60fps, waterproof to 3m, shockproof to 1.5m (both without the need for an additional case) and it has a very crisp LCD screen. Just bought a second one for 50 quid. Boom!

Redhog14

Gutted: I went down to Dumfries and Galloway at the weekend armed with a new SD card for my Sanquhar to Wanlockhead loop... and left the GoPro in the feckin car! Next time!