MC Video: How to....

[tshelfer]

I've been interested for a couple of years in trying my hand at creating video while riding. I recently realized I had a spare ram mount lying around, so I bought a ball camera mount to go with it. I connected the mount to the handlebar at the crook of the bar, only 4" outside the clamp. I took an ancient Sony digital camera (circa 2003), screwed it onto the mount, hit the record button, and hit the road.

The results were, well, underwhelming. Lots of vibration from the handlebar. Some expected distortion from the windscreen. And frankly, even without the distortion, the focus was awful - this old Sony is autofocus only and clearly couldn't distinguish between the windscreen and what it should actually be focused on.

So, I'm throwing this open to suggestions - equipment and techniques - to you who have shot successful video. Here, in no particular order, are a bunch of questions:

• Do I need a dedicated action video camera such as a GoPro? Will all conventional cameras with video mode give the same bad results?
• Since I don't have any good attachment points outside the windscreen area, are there available cameras that either have a manual or infinity focus mode, or whose tiny little camera brains "get" the windshield thing and know how focus beyond it?
• Maybe the real question is, am I going to get any kind of watchable video without a helmet attached camera which (1) gets outside the windscreen area and (2) uses my body as a shock absorber?
• I noticed on Amazon that some cameras have image stabilization mode. Do they work for my current handlebar setup?
• If I use a helmet-mounted camera, how the heck do I know if it's pointed in the right direction in the first place?
• So finally, the big broad overarching question: So if I need to buy something, what do you recommend? Camera and attachment apparatus.

Bear in mind I'm not filming the next "On Any Sunday." I just want some video that's fun & actually watchable. And it would be nice if the cost of this were under, say, $200. And don't feel obligated to tick off answers, in order, to my exact questions. I think you can get the gist of what I'm looking for, so please enlighten me.

Ready, set, go.

 

[Rudy]

I use a GoPro Hero 5 Black, mounted on the chin bar of my helmet (Bell Qualifer DLX Blackout).

This video is from my Colorado trip about a month ago. This is straight from the camera to my computer to Youtube, no editing, color correcting, etc. Watch in HD to get the full effect. I recorded 1080p @ 60 fps.

I chose a Hero 5 Black because it can record in 4K. If you are just wanting basic video that looks good, something like a Hero 4 Black would work just fine. I can't speak for using a regular camera, I only have experience with the GoPro line.

 

[SL350]

Rick and I ride together a lot and he has shot some GoPro video of us and it's great. Can't say I've paid much attention to cameras lately but I can vouch for the results. We had it in Big Bend and it took great video along rough roads like Black Gap. I don't know the tech that fixes vibration but it does work well.

 

[blupupher]

Handle bar mounted get a little more vibration as well as road shock compared to a helmet mount, but better cameras can compensate.
I like helmet mounted also because it is more fluid than solid mount. On the helmet you see where the rider is looking, when in corners it looks more natural also.
Most cameras have an app to connect to your phone to check the view, but once you do it a few times, you tend to know where it is pointed.

IMO, find a cheap action camera with at least basic stabilization. get some cheap mounts off Amazon or e-bay. See if it is something you like doing, and if so, move up from there.

Just a few example vids I have done:
One of my first, it is with a $60 Activon Gold action camera mounted on my daughters helmet. It came with a mount that I put on the top of her helmet, not ideal, but it works.

Here is one I did with a GoPro 5 black just the other day, even was playing with using a separate audio device to record my voice. Camera is chin mounted on the helmet, and using my bluetooth headset to record sound to my phone.

nothing amazing, and still playing around with it. But you can see the video quality is better on the gopro (although the audio sounds cruddy, but better than through the camera itself). There are other cameras with equal video quality for less, but I don't know a lot , I got my gopro on sale a few years ago.

I had mounted the Activeon camera to the bar, and it focused through the windshield just fine. I never uploaded any vids from it because as said, I did not like the point of view. Now maybe if I got into splicing video and such to change it up I may, but I am not doing anything like that.

there are a couple more vides on the bike as well on my youtube channel, but nothing worth really mentioning.

I actually got the gopro for safety. I am recording anytime I am riding (most all my rides are less than the battery lasts (~1 hour)). I told my wife if I am even in an accident, find the camera to see what happened.

 

[_RG_]

There are folks out there making some remarkable videos... can't imagine how much time they put into it. That's kinda the unspoken part of this... editing, assembly etc. One of the biggest time killers I can think of. Takes some computing horsepower too. The jiggly camera problem shouldn't be much of an issue with any recent equipment. Even my junky old Drift takes care of most of it...unless doing stupid stuff like riding up the west side of Tincup pass. That's with helmet mount so ymmv. I'm not up on the latest equipment but whatever you get be sure it comes with a remote way to turn camera on and off. Feeling around for a button (with gloves) and asking folks if the red light is on makes for a long day.

 

[Meriden]

I used to use a ContourHD since I didn't like the square form factor of the GoPro. You can pick one up from Amazon used for about what you want to pay.

One thought though is that the camera is the least expensive part of the deal. There was always tons of boring footage that needed to be edited to make the final version watchable. Last year's laptop may pull it off, but to edit a lot of video you'll want something with some serious HD space, processor and RAM.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Process works like this.

1. Mount camera.
2. Dissatisfied with results, more expensive camera is purchased.
3. Buy $849.98 in accessories and mounts.
4. Image quality is better, but content is still terrible.
5. Take trip or do track day. End up with hours and hours of footage. All footage does not resemble the excitement you felt while riding it.
6. Spend hours and hours watching your video and writing down the spots where your nuggets of gold footage are.
7. Import video into editor. Wait a looooooooooong time for it to all import.
8. Spend a few days cutting and deleting and cursing and hitting undo button and then cut and delete again.
9. After realizing that you have mostly wind noise, you spend several hours finding appropriate background music to fit to the video.
10. Finally with a workable video and bg music you hit render. More waiting.
11. Upload video to youtube or facebook and wait.
12. People immediately pause the autoplay, never watch it but maybe hit the like button anyway.
13. The few people who do will immediately comment with "I'd rather hear the engine" "Too long, you need to cut it down" and "I can ride better than that."
14. Put GoPro in box and stick it in the closet for two years.
15. Sell GoPro and accessories for a huge loss.

 

[tshelfer]

I promise I won't bore you guys with hours of boring video. I may never even post any. But actually, I use a package called Shotcut that makes video editing fairly easy. I'd like to be able to turn on a camera during the more interesting parts of a Colorado ride, and present a 5-minute video montage. I have the juice to do that easily enough. But first I have to get some video to work with. I'm going to peruse your equipment suggestions & go from there.

 

[cheez]

I like my GoPro setup. Depending on your output goal, different setups will yield different things. I prefer the cam mounted to the bike; you may prefer it on your helmet. If you want to moto-vlog, helmet cam is a necessity (or multi cam) and external mic/headset are necessary. Throat mics are pretty popular.

The GoPro sticky mounts are ok but they fail a lot; use a lanyard; mine are mostly RAM ball mounts or rollbar clamps on engine guards with aluminum riser components. Below is a RAM ball on the handlebar clamp of my Dyna with my GoPro Hero 5 Session.

Here's an hour of my boring video...

 

[Tourmeister]

I think there are a few main reasons for making a video.

1. You use it as an evidentiary record for accident purposes like many commuters do. So editing and concerns about being boring are irrelevant. This is probably the easiest thing to do.

2. You use it as a personal record of your trips and adventures where it is not really intended for mass consumption by other folks. You can put as much or as little editing and post processing into it as you like. Length of the video might not be a big concern here either.

3. You can create it for the express purpose of showing it to other people, in which case you HAVE to make it very interesting and relatively short, like three minutes or less. Even that might challenge many of the current attention deficit generation If your videos are REALLY good and interesting, you might be able to get away with 10-15 minutes. Anything longer than that and odds are that very few people will ever view them unless you develop some kind of loyal fan base.

If you make a video that is simply footage of riding, the riding had better be pretty amazing. Footage of you cruising down any typical Texas road isn't going to cut it, no matter how good the sound track might be. There are so many people creating really good riding videos of amazing places. As a result, the expectations of viewers has gone up quite a lot, unless your viewers are just immediate friends and family.

If you plan to narrate, you need a "hook" or a story, something to get people interested so they have a reason to listen to you rambling. For example, say you are a history buff. You research an area and then ride through it, narrating about the history of the places being seen in the video. Whatever it might be, you would need some kind of theme that pulls people in and gives them a reason to want to know more. It should be obvious that doing it really well might take a LOT of time and effort!