Best gopro footage

alexthebear

Got to borrow my mates gopro for the first time yesterday, used the chest mount and although the footage is good it is more of my bike than the up coming track. Just asking you all what you have found to be the best place to fit one? be it on the top or side of your lid or a chest mount but think more about the camera while riding.

pesky_jones

Did you line it up when you were off the bike then?

Sounds like you just needed to angle it up more...

PerformingMonkey

When I was last riding in Queenstown we hired a GoPro with chest mount but were told we would get a better angle if we mounted the device upside down. I am not very tall but we still only got the bars in the shot when riding without obscuring the main view of the trail ahead. I'll try and dig out a still this evening.

I don't have a chest mount back in the UK (mostly mounted on side of full face helmet) but my GoPro 2 has the functionality to film upside down without requiring manipulation of the footage later.

Cookeh

Mount it upside down, you can then manipulate the mount so that it points more upwards and so you avoid the bike shots. As an example, look up a channel called "rubberonrock" - rider is the President of Trent MTB and always mounts it as described above.

jimothy78

alexthebear wrote:

Just asking you all what you have found to be the best place to fit one?

Actually, the best go-pro footage I've ever seen was taken with the chest mount used backwards, camera mounted on someone's back, filming the rider behind. Because the camera is looking up at the rider, and the trail, it shows off technical features and the rider's reaction to them far better than any forward-facing viewpoint. Think of all those dramatic pictures in the magazines - the best ones are nearly always taken from in front of the rider.

BigJimmyB

Camera facing backwards is a great idea!

alexthebear

Loving the idea of facing it backwards, I couldn't do that for my mate as I'm a bit (a lot ) quicker than him but it 'll work the other way around.

Pesky it's the first time I've used one so just put it on made sure it was straight then rode. I don't think it helped that I'm not very tall and I was up on the peddals the whole way down.

It's a Hero3 silver I think so should work if turned upside down, some great suggestions cheers guys, will put these into effect and let you know the results

jimothy78

alexthebear wrote:

Loving the idea of facing it backwards, I couldn't do that for my mate as I'm a bit (a lot ) quicker than him but it 'll work the other way around.

That's another advantage to the backwards idea. For the best video, you want to shoot the best rider (who also tends to be the fastest). Shooting forwards, this often means the cameraman struggles to keep up, and the better rider is just a speck diappearing into the distance. Putting the cameraman in front means he sets the pace, while the subject (the better/faster rider) keeps pace with him, can stay nice and close and a decent size in the frame. Basically, this means your riding buddy gets to wear the camera, and make you look good. Of course, you could always slow down a bit to return the favour...

brucie45

jimothy78 wrote:

alexthebear wrote:

Loving the idea of facing it backwards, I couldn't do that for my mate as I'm a bit (a lot ) quicker than him but it 'll work the other way around.

That's another advantage to the backwards idea. For the best video, you want to shoot the best rider (who also tends to be the fastest). Shooting forwards, this often means the cameraman struggles to keep up, and the better rider is just a speck diappearing into the distance. Putting the cameraman in front means he sets the pace, while the subject (the better/faster rider) keeps pace with him, can stay nice and close and a decent size in the frame. Basically, this means your riding buddy gets to wear the camera, and make you look good. Of course, you could always slow down a bit to return the favour...

Thats a brilliant idea, not something me and our riding buddies do! Deffo going to try that

alexthebear

SLOW DOWN!?!?!?!?!? Wtf are you talking about :shock:

I really like this idea and I'll be putting up my first footage and the new stuff side by side so everyone can get a comparison


Still laughing at the suggestion to slow down

cooldad

is the stuff you keep to yourself and don't inflict on the general Youtube population.

It's all boring unless you are Danny MacAskill.

alexthebear

cooldad wrote:

is the stuff you keep to yourself and don't inflict on the general Youtube population.

It's all boring unless you are Danny MacAskill.

Yup. All on a specific Dropbox account setup for me and my riding buddies so we can swap images and vids of the days ride. Until I'm setting Gee Atherton like times it's just me and my mates having a laugh, unless someone crashes then everyone is getting to see it

VWsurfbum

alexthebear wrote:

unless someone crashes then everyone is getting to see it

As it should be.

I use chest mount mainly but i have lots of other mounts to mix it up, top and side on the DH lid, bar and frame mounts.
Using the bar and frame mounts backwards is also a great view so you can see your expressions, shock movement or a lower perspective of the trail behind.

alexthebear

VWsurfbum wrote:

Using the bar and frame mounts backwards is also a great view so you can see your expressions.

If you could see my face normally you wouldn't be suggesting to see it while I'm grimacing in fear/anger/joy/amusement down a hill

Putting 2 mounts on the full face and getting a strap on (someone make the most of that ) mount for the XC lid. Does the orientation automatically sort it's self out when you mount it sideways or do you have to do that in editing? My mate was saying he can only flip the image on the camera itself by 180 degrees?

I was also trying to think of a way to mount it to the steerer tube or crown of the forks for a lower perspective

oxocube1

You wouldn't have it at a 90 degree angle on the side of a full face helmet. You just use an 'L' shaped mount to have it the correct way up or upside down (+/- 180 degrees).

And yea the best way to use a GoPro on the chesty is to mount it upside down and have it at a 45 degree angle to your chest. It looks like it is looking really far upwards when you're standing up, but once on the bike it points forward perfectly showing the bars and the trail ahead. You can flip the image 180 degrees in the settings on the camera itself, or do it in editing software afterwards.

The bar angle looking upwards at the rider is really good. This Video of my buddy and I from a Glentress trip shows that upward bar angle, chest mount, back of seatpost, and toptube just to give you an idea!

alexthebear

Awesome cheers oxo

2 things I've got from the footage - I am gutted Glentress is 9hrs from me and I don't think much of the facing the rider view loved the better angle from the chest mount though!!!!

I'd forgotten about the L mount for the side of my lid cheers

VWsurfbum

Remember the App, download it so you can change all the settings on the camera so you dont need to do it in editing.
Also helps with getting the right angles, and now it does playback, bloody awesome.
( remember to switch wi-fi off again as it kills the battery life)

alexthebear

Having to write to Gopro as the guy whos it is has forgotten his password so can't pair up :roll: Didn't realise the app was that useful though cheers again

jon1993

the key to a good gopro vid is multiple angles of both riders linked cleverly to some music. Here are mine any my mates videos let me know what you guys think....

our first go - head cam,front wheel cam, and off the bike as well plus plenty of scenery shots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50HiicJH_Y

bit of everything from the year some other forms of mounts on other things like planes jetskis ringos ect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLJx31tfcMI

upping our game this year got overhead cable mounts, 360 pole spinning head mount, plenty of other bike views.

ones i have seen that i really like...
a pole from the seat post like a pannier rack at a 45 degrees angle looks like someones following looks brilliant.
Go over rought ground and hammer your suspension mounted on the bottom of your frame and vid the suspension going up and down.
head mount, bar mount, seat post, inside wheel filming hub, off the side of where the mech is filming the rider behind.

hope some of these spark some ideas lol

alexthebear

Jon what editor did you use for those vids? Really good ideas there thanks

Soggz

On your knee...;)

alexthebear

Soggz wrote:

On your knee...;)

Nice original idea there until I fall off and either squash the camera or fudge my knee :?

jon1993

Credit where credit is due my mates the one that does all the edits but he has some very very good ideas for this summer with some much more professional looking shots so should only improve as well but thanks

jon1993

I am afraid I cant take credit for the editing, that's my mate but he uses power director he seems to think its pretty good but I believe it costs about £30-40