Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 51 total)
  • GoPro cameras, were they just a fad?
  • manlikegregonabike
    Free Member

    Recently I have haven’t seen as many of these little guys stuck on people heads, let alone people going out of there way to put a mount on their new lid. I have a HERO which is a great bit of kit but I don’t see why I would upgrade. Also with the rise of ‘MTB vlog’ videos I still don’t see people mounting them. Is this because every trail is recorded? Or was it just a fad?

    MrPottatoHead
    Full Member

    I suspect a lot of people now realise that most videos are incredibly dull in the hands of your average rider, in contrast to the gods and goddesses in all the GoPro media. I can’t imagine ever wanting to watch my rides back again or show them to anyone else.

    So yes, maybe a bit of a fad. I’ve certainly not used mine as much as I thought I would.

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    Certainly was for me, as above even if you put the effort to make a decent ‘edit’ it’s only going to be marginally interesting to you.

    I think the market is probably saturated for standard sports cams, the exiciting stuff is the drones and 360 cams but they’re expensive and less user friendly.

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    I was looking at a really good biking video only last week but it wasn’t someone trying to show off their skills, it was a bikepacking trip. I think they can still work for that type of subject.

    thegreatape
    Free Member

    My wife bought me one for my last birthday. Used it once. It’s sat in the garage since. It seems a bit ungrateful but I don’t really see the point.

    sportsnapper
    Free Member

    I use mine occasionally, but make sure I edit, change camera positions etc. Special video made last week as I was riding with my son and his son – so three generations having fun in the woods at Greenham Common 🙂 That was worth the time and effort.

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    My wife bought me one for my last birthday. Used it once. It’s sat in the garage since. It seems a bit ungrateful but I don’t really see the point.

    Same here, (I LOVE my Mrs & she’s very thoughtful) used mine 3 times in a year.

    manlikegregonabike
    Free Member

    That sounds fab (@sportsnapper), I have a little edit lying around I might share but that was a year ago. I never ride with it, I only use it as a fisheye lens when doing photography. Oh and my friend took it hiking in Sweden lately but I still don’t have the urge to ride with it. They seem to be expensive toys in the wrong hand. Think i’d rather take my mirrorless and a mini tripod out.

    seosamh77
    Free Member

    scotroutes – Member
    I was looking at a really good biking video only last week but it wasn’t someone trying to show off their skills, it was a bikepacking trip. I think they can still work for that type of subject.

    aye there was one I saw the other week abotu some guy doing the ht550 which was pretty cool, takes a lot of effort to do a decent edit think, and tbh you need to have a bit of personality if you are going to make something interesting to other people. videos of normal folk riding normal trails, without any narrative or storyline to some generic sound track is only really of interest if you are actually trying to recce a trail or something, even then first thing I’ll do it mute it!

    manlikegregonabike
    Free Member

    Oh that reminds me of that nutter that did ard-rock on a green Orange 5, crashed in fod and had multiple injuries.

    edit: Dave Jenvey!

    Davesport
    Full Member

    I was looking at a really good biking video only last week but it wasn’t someone trying to show off their skills, it was a bikepacking trip. I think they can still work for that type of subject.

    You got a link please Colin?

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    At least he’s got a bit of character though manlikegreg….

    As above, most average punters vids are shit.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Little from column a… Lots of people got bored of it fast- recording’s easy but actually making a halfway interesting video is work. I’ve done some stuff I’m pretty pleased with but I have countless hours of video I know I’ll never even look at.

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    Davesport – it’s the same one Seosamh77 mentioned

    [video]http://vimeo.com/235253936[/video]

    akira
    Full Member

    I use mine on holidays and biking. Quite nice to get videos of the boys and other family members

    scaled
    Free Member

    I use mine quite a bit, mainly for holiday type stuff though. Although that includes bike holidays.

    Giving it to the kids to mess about with round the pool has resulted in some quite entertaining videos 😀

    wilburt
    Free Member

    I have hours of footage, rarely if ever watch it. Turned a few bits into little films, I may watch those when I’m old(er).

    seosamh77
    Free Member

    that’s the very one SR! good vid that. 🙂

    timidwheeler
    Full Member

    Stop using it for video. Set it to take a photo every 3 seconds instead.

    manlikegregonabike
    Free Member

    Great vid SR!

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    In general the 1 min clips edited down from a weekend for instagram get more views and responses.
    I do full trail vids of places I don’t get to as often as a reminder of the trails before heading back especially where it’s not obvious which jumps etc are good or bad.

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    If you like that HT550 video, it’s worth digging out more of Barrys work.

    sportsnapper
    Free Member

    The trouble with the older GoPros in the UK is the weather is not up to the promo clips that get shot in really sunny spots. And as soon as you take them into the woods you’re stretching the sensor. I used mine in Oz this summer and got so much better results than a lot of the footage I’ve shot in the UK.

    Timelapse mode is great – unless you were planning video and pressed the wrong button -I’ve had that happen a couple of times including last week (but it wasn’t me pressing the buttons!)

    Here’s the recent one of the family riding – it’s a bit long at 3 mins, but difficult to make it hang together any shorter
    [video]https://youtu.be/9eqEWsicDao[/video]

    rocketman
    Free Member

    I enjoy saying ‘GOPRO STOP RECORDING’ when I catch someone up

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    km79
    Free Member

    For me the time wasted spent filming and editing mediocre footage of me on a bike is better spent watching content from people who know what they are doing.

    nwmlarge
    Free Member

    I use mine more on holiday than riding these days.

    RDL-82
    Free Member

    Used mine only a handful of times on ‘big’ days such as Snowdon. The trouble I have is watching the footage back makes me feel funny. I guess it’s the perspective or something.

    Only use it around the kids now. Filming them when we are out or as a waterproof camera/time lapse solo shooting.

    Ultimately was a bit of a waste tbh!

    jekkyl
    Full Member

    ime Usual lifespan of Go Pro + user.

    1. Gifted/buy a go pro
    2. Take it out every ride for a week.
    3. Edit clips into a ‘sick edit’
    4. Realise that the ‘sick edit’ is a bit rubbish and only actually just shows some very mediocre riding down some very boring trails.
    5. Realise that using go pro whilst riding is actually far too much of a faff and not really worth it due to point 4.
    6. Leave go pro in drawer collecting dust.

    cantbikewanttobike
    Free Member

    again, only use mine to record rides with the kids.
    happy with that for what i paid for a go-clone, if id paid hundreds perhaps not so much!

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    https://www.pinkbike.com/news/fail-of-the-month-september-2017.html
    watch 7 or 8 and tell me why we don’t need more go pro

    jimjam
    Free Member

    Even a mediocre trail and boring riding can be made into a decent edit if you are willing to put the time in, and that means at least 3 (but preferably more) camera angles and a very tight edit. Obviously that takes a considerable amount of effort. And for what really?

    Then there’s the additional level of faff they ad to a ride. A friend used to hold us up at the top of every trail to get his gopro right, and then he’d never share the videos because he could never keep up 😈

    I lent mine to my tree surgeon colleague and he seems to get some mileage out of it doing little promo clips for his social media etc. It would probably bore other tree surgeons though.

    ads678
    Full Member

    I bought mine to take on holidays for filming when doing fun stuff with the family as it’s better than a phone. I use it quite a bit on Ski holidays, and when i’m riding with my son.
    I sometimes film some rides to see what it looks like and my sons wants to see what I’ve been riding if I’ve been up in the lakes or something.

    I suppose it depends on whether you bought it to make sick edits, but i wouldn’t say video cameras were a fad.

    makkag
    Free Member

    I stopped using mine as i had a tendency to crash when i had it on .. but definitely on the whole the vids were boring .. I however wish id have remembered it for a few trails out in verbier this year .. as it was the bestiest and fastist id ridden Spanish and Vortex .. before i crashed

    coolhandluke
    Free Member

    1. Gifted/buy a go pro
    2. Take it out every ride for a week.
    3. Edit clips into a ‘sick edit’
    4. Realise that the ‘sick edit’ is a bit rubbish and only actually just shows some very mediocre riding down some very boring trails.
    5. Realise that using go pro whilst riding is actually far too much of a faff and not really worth it due to point 4.
    6. Leave go pro in drawer collecting dust

    +1

    mooman
    Free Member

    Keep it on winter bike; don’t edit/save any footage unless it’s of some bad driving, abuse from driver … or something bizarre I have passed whilst out.

    Used it loads on recent cycling trip abroad. So much easier to take pictures on, and videoed some of the descents for my own viewing.

    When it’s off bike it’s in the car set on loop.
    So mine gets used.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    in contrast the 2 versions of capturing and sharing a weekend away solo for me are
    [video]https://youtu.be/y2iv-U_4tp4[/video]
    or

    Generally find the video more engaging

    eddiebaby
    Free Member

    Jesus Mike! You’d hate to have an extra inch your bars there! 😯

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    it’s apparently a massive 1m at the worst spot so huge 220mm to play with 😉

    You don’t need to set it to do pics every 3s either, VLC picks out some great screen shots from the vids

    rOcKeTdOg
    Full Member

    Every rider in london has at least one stuck on them somewhere for “safety” apparently

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 51 total)

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