Action Cameras

[brumby33]

G'day members,

After watching countless videos on Youtube & FB on Tour Cycling and the captions they get on their videos has inspired me to start looking at an action camera just to capture some of my rides and learn how to document, edit a short film, mainly just for myself but if I get reasonable at it, might load it up on the tube for fun.
I'm a complete novice though and still trying to get my head around the digital photography thing but I thought that it's worth learning. I did a quick search on the forum for similar topics but anything I found besides the fly 6 types of cams was hard to find or info outdated for the current models out there.
I did a bit of browsing today at Good Guys as they had a Go Pro sessions (i think it was equivelent to the sessions4) which had wifi and blue tooth and waterproof without case for $218 which I though would be a good starting point..all the Go-pro 5's were $400 plus and now they have a go-pro 6 available at JB HiFi. I wanted to do some more research before purchase so I went to JB and they also had a Sony range, Nikon as well as Kaiser Baas which price wise and feature wise good value at $299 for their highest model with 4K ability. Not much internet info on the kaiser Baas at present and I don't know it's origins but sounds pretty German to me.

Has anyone here recently delved into action cams and which did you buy and why?

I don't know if I'd experiment with the underwater ability with these cams at first but will probably try it eventually. Just about all action cams available except Go-Pro must have a water case with camera inside whereas GP is water proof uncased for 10 metres or so.

Should I go with the cheaper model or spend extra to get the Hero 5 sessions at $399 which is a huge jump in price?

My Father brought me an el-cheapo action cam a few years ago but it sh*t itself after the first outing on the motorcycle..that was only on the bitumen...never took it off road...I think it would've desintegrated if I did Couldn't upload any image out of it.

Any advice would be welcomed....before I take the plunge.

Cheers

brumby33
(Dave)

[AUbicycles]

Hi Brumby33

Before jumping in - ask yourself what you want to get out of it. If you think about road cycling or MTB and watching footage from a single perspective, it can get tedious. In the early days it was new and more exciting, but videos for others (public consumption) do better when you see multiple viewpoints. That means different camera angles so actual onboard footage is only one part of it.

You will also notice over time that at the start it is interesting to watch your video capture, but then it gets boring (unless awesome things are happening). Short snippets work best and you will be looking to getting variation though different riding locations ... or anything that offers the viewer 'new'.

If you want a camera for 'evidence' or to occasionally capture something that is exciting, the Fly6 and Fly12 are well suited along with affordable models from the well-known brands. In fact, if it is just for capturing situations, some cyclists opt for very cheap mobius cameras.. just go through the "Video Cameras - who uses one" thread.

If you are looking for better footage, then take a closer look at the camera specs. The latest Go Pro is fairly good while Garmin, Sony and other brands can trail behind in quality. But capturing good footage is also influenced by mounting and stability... so the best camera will still capture bad video if it is badly set up or in bad conditions.

For bikes, it is all about mounting. Body mounts give you more stability but also a very specific perspective (chest / head). Bar or bike mounted cameras have extra vibration through the bike that are harder to manage (with respect to watchable video).

Personally I would always go for a waterproof solution - it is peace of mind and even better when it doesn't need an additional bulky waterproof case.

For overlays, look into Garmin software I forget the name but they have a free software where you can put in overlays from other data you have captured (cycle computer).

As with most technology, "Now is never the right time to buy" because as soon as you buy any technology, the price of what you have drops and they will probably release something newer. As a practical solution, if you can borrow and test a camera that is a good start to understand what you want from a camera and what you want to produce.

Hope this helps a little...even if there are now definite answers.

Christopher

[brumby33]

Thanks for the reply Christopher, Yeah I basically want to learn how to use an action cam for some rides for when I eventually get into some touring but combined with other footage from my fuji bridge camera which does pretty good video and my mobile phone which isn't too bad either, then place content on my computer then somehow edit it into a vlogging video is what i wish to eventually accomplish.
Yes I'm hearing you in regards the waterproofing and is why I'm leaning towards the sessions 4 Go=Pro as it doesn't need a case for waterproofing.....that's a good thing if I get rained on. I'm also going to get one of the chest strap for mounting as I think it'd give a better view than a helmet cams which i think look silly anyway but also if you're turning your head to look at stuff, the video tends to be all over the place.
By watching a lot of touring videos, I'm fascinated by the skills of those who put it all together, it's a lot of hard work really while you place the camera, ride down the road towards and away from the camera then have to go and pick it back up....especially those who walk up a hill to get an ariel view of you riding down the road....I tips my hat to those guys who take the trouble to tell their story.

So i may just get the cheapest Go-pro sessions and see how i go.....worst that can happen is I waste $218 lol

It'll just be for my personal use at first till I get better at it.

Cheers

brumby33

[RonK]

Capturing the video is about 5% of the effort.

The rest lies in the editing, which is a creative art. It is difficult and time-consuming to produce even a short clip that is interesting enough to entice others to watch it.

If you are not the creative type, it's probably not worth the expense and effort invested.

I suggest you start by making some clips using the video devices you already have.

[brumby33]

Somehow Ron, I don't think Hollywood has much to worry about

[RonK]

Somehow Ron, I don't think Hollywood has much to worry about

Me neither. I have a number of video devices which are pretty much redundant because I don't have the creativity to produce (what I consider) an interesting clip.

What I can say is that onboard video quicky becomes boring, but it takes a good eye for location and some time to set up for ride through shots if you are travelling solo.

I’ve been considering a follow me camera drone but have not been able to convince myself that I would use it enough to justify the cost. But it would make ride through shots much easier and add a new dimension to the perspective.

[Arbuckle23]

I keep dreaming of doing something similar, but have the creativity of [insert dumb animal name here].
Any camera I bought would quickly be consigned to the "it was a good idea at the time" cupboard.

Never stops me from dreaming what I could do, if only, though

[trailgumby]

I got bored with action cams pretty quickly. To be effective in your use of time you need a few so you can capture different angles without having to do over in multiple takes, and then you have to invest time in the camera set up before the take. Beforehand there's faffing around with charging, waterproof housings, anti-fog inserts and the like, and the battery life is so short.

It all just gets in the way of the experience of the ride.

And then as RonK says, you have to edit the capture, add music (from free or PLR sources so you don't get caned for copyright infringement) and the effort to reward ratio to produce something bearable just gets too high to sustain my interest.

I still run FLy6 and FLy12 cams on every road ride. Their effort quotient is dramatically lower but they're for a different purpose altogether. The only time that video gets shared is when the constabulary has something noteworthy they need to act on.

[Mozziediver]

Garmin software is VirbEdit.

I use my camera as a dashcam rather than for Youtubey stuff. I have an old Virb Basic cam and an Etrex 10 GPS, both Garmin product and only occasionally do an edit overlay.
But I like VirbEdit, the overlays are easy to use and adapt, and it integrates the GPS and video nicely, even if these need to be synced from different devices/ files. I've also used it with footage from an Olympus TG Tracker, and after converting the GPS file to GPX using GPSBabel free software, all went well.
Latest software version is about 5 IIRC. I use v3.x though, because later versions make an additional low res copy for fast preview. It works fine, but chews up disk space even faster than 1080p videos and increases the download process.

[madmacca]

dcrainmaker.com has some extensive independent reviews of a number of action cameras, as well as drones and some gimbal mounts.

[brumby33]

Thanks everyone for their advice and input and as a result of what you've written, I've decided for now to hold off buying an action cam for the time being till I gather some more info and as advised, May just use what I have already and see if I wish to expand on them.
I' m in no rush anyway and yes I probably should've posted this in the Does anyone use video cameras thread,whilst i did a quick search on info, I totally forgot this thread till I seen it come back up in my New Posts search...so sorry for that additional thread.

Yes some of the action Cam of just riding the bike with no commentary or music is boring....all you hear is the creaking of the bike...or is that the rider's knees

It's those who make the really good bike touring videos of all different angles and stuff are obviously pretty educated with it all...especially the editing part....

So I might just channel that money into more bike stuff instead....thinking a Brooks saddle

Cheers

brumby33

[cjrich]

I use a couple of different action cameras for different purposes with different mounting options (mostly stem cap and chest mounts). I have a Drift Stealth 2 that I mostly use on solo longer rides as a safety camera as it has 3hr battery life. I also use the Drift or my GoPro Session for group club rides mostly to capture still pics and short videos to post to my clubs FB page, they seem to enjoy them.
The stem cap and chest mounts give a good view on the bikes cockpit area which add prospective to the shot. I like the GoPro Quik app which has a cool editing feature which creates a short video collage from your selected pictures and videos.

[vaypaz]

Pretty hard to go past the GoPro Session imo. With a K-Edge combo mount it fits in nice and discretely under the Edge, and the mount makes it super easy to take out and do selfies while riding. The still photos arent amazing and probably not good enough for a print, but they are just fine for social media or Strava. On rec rides I just set mine to take a photo every 2 seconds and take a look while eating my lunch after riding to see what I caught.

[cancan64]

I have a camera had been playing about with it for bike packing...you get easily inspired with the videos that are out there... I have a couple of mounts that can be easily moved about and have been experimenting on rides incl a mini tripod, stop...set up camera..ride past...go back and remount camera... then with a decent trip last weekend and having to do some night riding thought this was the chance to put it all in place... then realised that I ride on tight time frames so didnt want to muck about moving cameras, doubling back for shots and my brain wave of an idea of talking to the camera at some ungodly hour of the morning when I am trying to dodge rocks, trees and mud didnt seem that appealing after all, let along having to edit when I got home so left all the gear behind.
I may still play around a bit on some social rides but in reality I have just watched my clips and then deleted them... none have made the editing software yet