Camera on the helmet IS still the best! I will tell you why....

[finless]

OK, with all the camera talk here lately I am saying that on the helmet is best and I have tried it all!

Why? Because it's freakin boring to watch "the road" in a video for more than about 2 minutes!

Then let me add, without audio (voice) where you can at least add something interesting to the video about where you are and what you are showing... it's just boring folks... Well... good for you maybe.... but not interesting for anyone else to watch.
Anyone remember watching the old "slide projector" pictures of someone's vacation? BORING!

So with that said I am posting a video I created for a ride I went on yesterday with my Spyder Riders of America - Los Angeles chapter.
Yes, it is edited a lot to reduce 5 hours into 13 minutes. But this will show WHY it's best to have it on the helmet.

Why again? Because you can show people the scenery and things around you! If you just want to see the road... well OK but most find that boring after a few minutes.

I am not saying this is a great video or anything spectacular. Just showing that on the helmet gives you the ability to do so much more with riding video than mounted on the bike.

Now, if you are doing video for yourself and like just seeing "out the windshield" of your personal ride, fine... I am sure that will be fine for you.

BUT, if your kind of "Hollywood" and want to share with others... Nothing worse than having someone watch a video of the road with no audio and no idea of what they are looking at!

So do you want to share your videos and make them at least a little interesting? Then this is my opinions after using cameras for 2 years now and wanting to share or Vblog/motoblog with folks... If you have NO desire to do this, then this may not apply to you...

____________________________

Now onto why I think it is best on the helmet and why some "bobble heads" seem to think that won't work.

1) Bobble heads really need not worry. Most "sports" camera have 130 degree or more field of view. Because of this, movement is not anything like a video camera or phone! The field of view seems to make the movement not that bad.
2) You can turn your head, show scenery and other features of your ride you just cannot do with a hard mounted camera!
3) Even if you do not plan to share your video, having it on the helmet allows you to see things no hard mounted camera ever will. It's is looking where YOU are looking!

Now, should you decide to mount your camera on your helmet, it is important to know it is best to mount it near the center of gravity of your head! It you mount it on the top of your helmet, it will pick up much more movement than if you mounted it on the side, or in my case on the chin bar. I find after mounting mine on the top and side, the chin bar is the best place!

Finally...... No matter where you mount your camera and make videos... Long boring rid videos that just go on and on with no audio or anything telling the viewer what they are looking at... Are only interesting to you. Most won't watch much after 5 minutes if that.

__________________________

OK so I did this video for my SRA-LA club on a ride we just did yesterday.
I am not saying this is a great video! I am not saying I am an expert! Just saying if your going to do stuff like this.... I still think on the helmet is the best!

Oh and sorry for the snow bound folks! Welcome to SoCal in December



I hope this helps someone. Again my opinions are just that! Opinions

Enjoy,
Bob

[Bob Denman]

I've got turning the camera on, and shooting video (sort of) figured out...
Audio still has to be undertaken...

Oh! Our roads are pretty darn ROUGH back here... My noggin gets to rattling around, and I'd hate to make folks sick...
Is there any sort of editing feature, that can stabilize the images?

[finless]

I've got turning the camera on, and shooting video (sort of) figured out...
Audio still has to be undertaken...

Oh! Our roads are pretty darn ROUGH back here... My noggin gets to rattling around, and I'd hate to make folks sick...
Is there any sort of editing feature, that can stabilize the images?

Your head is a natural buffer of bumps and stuff! A hard mounted camera will always be worse in rapid vibrations than your head!

TRUST ME here... Been there done that!

Bob D., you will learn this over time the hard way I think... But go your own way... Just saying I have tried it all and still find helmet mount is best at removing rapid vibrations that drive a camera nuts...... My opinion.

Bob

[Bob Denman]

Your opinion is one that I've come to trust; thanks!

[bodymanpainter]

Great video Finless, and I agree on the helmet is the best place to
mount your camera. Takes a little practice to get it right but you
get the best results.
Toby

[PrairieSpyder]

I've received my camera, but haven't tried it out yet. I like the helmet mounting idea for the reasons you cited. I don't think I'd like the chin-bar, though since it looks through the windshield so much. With a modular helmet, though, that may be the best place to put it.

Thanks doing the research for us, Bob.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Now, should you decide to mount your camera on your helmet, it is important to know it is best to mount it near the center of gravity of your head! It you mount it on the top of your helmet, it will pick up much more movement than if you mounted it on the side, or in my case on the chin bar. I find after mounting mine on the top and side, the chin bar is the best place!

I think what you really intend to say is center of movement, or pivot point. The CG of your head is above the pivot point which is more like near the center of your neck.

I agree 100% that a static straight ahead view is boring, as is the entire video if one is not careful. I liken the advent of the GoPro to being a reincarnation of the old style 8 mm home movies. Most them were BORING! Might be valuable for archival research if you are a truly notable person when you die, which is probably only about 1/100 of one percent of us all!

I'm going to try to reinvent my GoPro mount with the panning feature. It worked not too badly when I used it except it was too low. Got a lot of good views of concrete barriers and guard rails! But I avoided having the windshield in my videos. I still haven't had time to fully edit my videos coming home from Spyderfest. I'm trying hard to avoid the boring aspect. Since I don't have audio track on them, which I agree will add a lot to the videos, I'm imposing text messages on them every once in awhile.

[ThreeWheels]

Drift Ghost S on my helmet

[finless]

+100 threewheels!
Before I had a GoPro I had a older model Drift HD and yes, the side of the helmet was perfect for that model!

Bob

[TEWKS]

A repost of the vid I made out in Lake George. Guilty on the length of it and no talking. I think the scene changes & music helps a bit. What are you guys using for your camera settings? I still need to work on that just so I can get to the "your video sucks" point!


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R1R0VMeRNUs

Pat

[finless]

A repost of the vid I made out in Lake George. Guilty on the length of it and no talking. I think the scene changes & music helps a bit. What are you guys using for your camera settings? I still need to work on that just so I can get to the "your video sucks" point!


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R1R0VMeRNUs

Pat

Your video looks good quality wise. Too much helmet in the view though.

As far as setting, I use 1920x1080 60fps. 60 fps help remove motion blur or high speed blur / smearing.
However youtube when uploaded always drops the frame rate to reduce file size.
Thus when you convert the video using software on your PC you convert it to 30fps and use the remove motion blur function if you have that. This uses info from the 60 fps when converting.

But your video looks good in that area.

Bob

[DakotaRae]

OK, with all the camera talk here lately I am saying that on the helmet is best and I have tried it all!

Why? Because it's freakin boring to watch "the road" in a video for more than about 2 minutes!

Then let me add, without audio (voice) where you can at least add something interesting to the video about where you are and what you are showing... it's just boring folks... Well... good for you maybe.... but not interesting for anyone else to watch.
Anyone remember watching the old "slide projector" pictures of someone's vacation? BORING!

So with that said I am posting a video I created for a ride I went on yesterday with my Spyder Riders of America - Los Angeles chapter.
Yes, it is edited a lot to reduce 5 hours into 13 minutes. But this will show WHY it's best to have it on the helmet.

Why again? Because you can show people the scenery and things around you! If you just want to see the road... well OK but most find that boring after a few minutes.

I am not saying this is a great video or anything spectacular. Just showing that on the helmet gives you the ability to do so much more with riding video than mounted on the bike.

Now, if you are doing video for yourself and like just seeing "out the windshield" of your personal ride, fine... I am sure that will be fine for you.

BUT, if your kind of "Hollywood" and want to share with others... Nothing worse than having someone watch a video of the road with no audio and no idea of what they are looking at!

So do you want to share your videos and make them at least a little interesting? Then this is my opinions after using cameras for 2 years now and wanting to share or Vblog/motoblog with folks... If you have NO desire to do this, then this may not apply to you...

____________________________

Now onto why I think it is best on the helmet and why some "bobble heads" seem to think that won't work.

1) Bobble heads really need not worry. Most "sports" camera have 130 degree or more field of view. Because of this, movement is not anything like a video camera or phone! The field of view seems to make the movement not that bad.
2) You can turn your head, show scenery and other features of your ride you just cannot do with a hard mounted camera!
3) Even if you do not plan to share your video, having it on the helmet allows you to see things no hard mounted camera ever will. It's is looking where YOU are looking!

Now, should you decide to mount your camera on your helmet, it is important to know it is best to mount it near the center of gravity of your head! It you mount it on the top of your helmet, it will pick up much more movement than if you mounted it on the side, or in my case on the chin bar. I find after mounting mine on the top and side, the chin bar is the best place!

Finally...... No matter where you mount your camera and make videos... Long boring rid videos that just go on and on with no audio or anything telling the viewer what they are looking at... Are only interesting to you. Most won't watch much after 5 minutes if that.

__________________________

OK so I did this video for my SRA-LA club on a ride we just did yesterday.
I am not saying this is a great video! I am not saying I am an expert! Just saying if your going to do stuff like this.... I still think on the helmet is the best!

Oh and sorry for the snow bound folks! Welcome to SoCal in December



I hope this helps someone. Again my opinions are just that! Opinions

Enjoy,
Bob

What type/model of video camera are you using that has the audio option.

[machead]

Hey Bob,

Have you done any FPV or any video with your helis?

--Allen

[Pirate looks at --]

OK, with all the camera talk here lately I am saying that on the helmet is best and I have tried it all!

Why? Because it's freakin boring to watch "the road" in a video for more than about 2 minutes!

Then let me add, without audio (voice) where you can at least add something interesting to the video about where you are and what you are showing... it's just boring folks... Well... good for you maybe.... but not interesting for anyone else to watch.
Anyone remember watching the old "slide projector" pictures of someone's vacation? BORING!

So with that said I am posting a video I created for a ride I went on yesterday with my Spyder Riders of America - Los Angeles chapter.
Yes, it is edited a lot to reduce 5 hours into 13 minutes. But this will show WHY it's best to have it on the helmet.

Why again? Because you can show people the scenery and things around you! If you just want to see the road... well OK but most find that boring after a few minutes.

I am not saying this is a great video or anything spectacular. Just showing that on the helmet gives you the ability to do so much more with riding video than mounted on the bike.

Now, if you are doing video for yourself and like just seeing "out the windshield" of your personal ride, fine... I am sure that will be fine for you.

BUT, if your kind of "Hollywood" and want to share with others... Nothing worse than having someone watch a video of the road with no audio and no idea of what they are looking at!

So do you want to share your videos and make them at least a little interesting? Then this is my opinions after using cameras for 2 years now and wanting to share or Vblog/motoblog with folks... If you have NO desire to do this, then this may not apply to you...

____________________________

Now onto why I think it is best on the helmet and why some "bobble heads" seem to think that won't work.

1) Bobble heads really need not worry. Most "sports" camera have 130 degree or more field of view. Because of this, movement is not anything like a video camera or phone! The field of view seems to make the movement not that bad.
2) You can turn your head, show scenery and other features of your ride you just cannot do with a hard mounted camera!
3) Even if you do not plan to share your video, having it on the helmet allows you to see things no hard mounted camera ever will. It's is looking where YOU are looking!

Now, should you decide to mount your camera on your helmet, it is important to know it is best to mount it near the center of gravity of your head! It you mount it on the top of your helmet, it will pick up much more movement than if you mounted it on the side, or in my case on the chin bar. I find after mounting mine on the top and side, the chin bar is the best place!

Finally...... No matter where you mount your camera and make videos... Long boring rid videos that just go on and on with no audio or anything telling the viewer what they are looking at... Are only interesting to you. Most won't watch much after 5 minutes if that.

__________________________

OK so I did this video for my SRA-LA club on a ride we just did yesterday.
I am not saying this is a great video! I am not saying I am an expert! Just saying if your going to do stuff like this.... I still think on the helmet is the best!

Oh and sorry for the snow bound folks! Welcome to SoCal in December



I hope this helps someone. Again my opinions are just that! Opinions

Enjoy,
Bob

Bob, this is really nicely done, and as you said, it really s boring to watch just the rode ahead, but truth be told, it is really boring watching any ride that you were not on. It just goes on and on and on........and really is quite boring. Add the fact that you played "Highway Star" by Deep Purple three of for times, and it really gets boring. But from the videos that I have seen, this is by far the steadiest picture I have seen, but I could not watch more than 3 minutes, and as I hit fast forward, I kept hearing Highway Star! Nice job! But nothing is like being on the ride itself!

[Motorcycledave]

By Bobs video, mounting your camera on your helmet on the side is the best option
the new SENA 10C is a winner it is an all in one unit that "JUST WORKS" and it comes with everything
you need. check out my website or SENA for details. call me for the super price.
Ride Safe
Dave

[NorCalBud]

Nice video Bob! I enjoyed it a lot. Not to be contrary to Pirate, but that's my jam!!!
I don't currently have a cam, but am considering asking Santa for one. What annoys me most about a lot of Ride Videos is Wind Noise. I'd rather have it silent than listen to that. I have noticed that your vid has almost no wind noise while others have a ton. Is that due to where your cam is placed or just road speed? Do you happen to know what accounts for that difference?
Thanks.

[finless]

So this is my setup.

GoPro Hero 3+ black.
I prefer it over the GoPro 4 as battery life is better and I don't need some of the other video format options. You cannot get this model anymore new because it overlapped the GoPro Hero 4 and thus for marketing reasons the removed it from the line up. It's the best GoPro right now in my opinion.

The audio is a Sena GoPro backpack. This gives you a MIC from your Bluetooth helmet which is a Sena 20S headset but will work with pretty much any Bluetooth headest so Sena says.

Since I wear a modular helmet, there is no wind noise and MIC is very clear. The MIC as you see also picks up general ambient sound like the radio.

The Sena BT backpack gives you a new case which works with all GoPro mounting options.

This is how I mounted my camera.



Bob

[finless]

NorCalBud, here is a Motoblog / Vblog video I did on the freeway so you can hear even at highway speeds all still works great!



BOb

[finless]

Bob, this is really nicely done, and as you said, it really s boring to watch just the rode ahead, but truth be told, it is really boring watching any ride that you were not on. It just goes on and on and on........and really is quite boring. Add the fact that you played "Highway Star" by Deep Purple three of for times, and it really gets boring. But from the videos that I have seen, this is by far the steadiest picture I have seen, but I could not watch more than 3 minutes, and as I hit fast forward, I kept hearing Highway Star! Nice job! But nothing is like being on the ride itself!

Agree with "if you were not on the ride" it might be boring for "some". But as you see some do like it. Also local SRA-LA people that did not go on the ride seem to like it so they got to see what they missed. But people with no interest I can see them getting bored.

As for Highway Star. I was playing the entire album Machine Head on my iPod. So after editing 4-5 hours of video down to 15 minutes, you got what was playing in those scenes by pure chance. I did not play that song over and over on purpose

Bob

[TEWKS]

Your video looks good quality wise. Too much helmet in the view though.

As far as setting, I use 1920x1080 60fps. 60 fps help remove motion blur or high speed blur / smearing.
However youtube when uploaded always drops the frame rate to reduce file size.
Thus when you convert the video using software on your PC you convert it to 30fps and use the remove motion blur function if you have that. This uses info from the 60 fps when converting.

But your video looks good in that area.

Bob

Thanks for the tips, Bob!

Pat

[markyodo]

Just wanted to post my opinion. The bike mount is still the option I prefer and I am actually pursuing options. I personally don't prefer the distractions of the driver and motorcycle in video. The audio recording can be done without the camera near the rider through the mic.
This winter I am putting together a remote pan and tilt device that will give me the ability to do 360 sweeps with the gopro. I can take extended video of the scenery and still maintain focus. There are plenty of really small kits available both wired and wireless to fit the bill.
I guess I am just going for a different style. I will post details as they are available if others are interested.

With that being said, I really like your videos finless, both on and off the Spyder. You have a way about you that keeps me engaged no matter what your doing.

[asp125]

Helmet mount, bike mount, it really does not matter. The main thing to remember is to vary your points of view, and like the example, intersperse it with some still shots. Anything is boring if you only have one kind of viewpoint. For instance, a low to the ground mounting could really emphasize the speed. A tail gunner position gives viewers something to look at instead of empty road or the back of that camper you're following for miles. Mix it up a bit, that's the key.

If you are running a helmet mount, edit out the quick shoulder checks and rubber-neck moves and instrument checks, the jerky movement is hard to watch. I realized this after skiing with a helmet cam, nobody wants to see your knees or the sky.

[JerryB]

Hi Bob,

Re: Camera on the helmet IS still the best!

Just some FYI; anyone wanting more info/details on 'how-to' on mounting a GoPro on a helmet, just go out to your nearest skydiving facility.

For experienced jumpers, nearly ~80% of them have GoPros on their helmets.

Also, there are probably staff freefall photographers who jump these setups 5-10 times a day.

Just go up to the manifest desk or whatever they have and tell why you are there and what you would like to talk to them about. I am very sure that most facilities will be very helpful.

Jerry Baumchen

PS) Hey, who knows, you just might end up making a jump.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

This winter I am putting together a remote pan and tilt device that will give me the ability to do 360 sweeps with the gopro. I can take extended video of the scenery and still maintain focus. There are plenty of really small kits available both wired and wireless to fit the bill.

Any links you can post? I'm interested in conjuring up a pan capable mount, better than the one I used this past year. If something on the market makes more sense than building one I'm all for it.

[DrewNJ]

I agree that helmet mount is better, especially on the Spyder. While on my 2 wheel bike the vids were decent as you leaned through the turns, the Spyder vids were flat out boring, similar to mounting it to a car.
We've recently been running some sena 10c headsets and the video from the helmet is great!

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk