UKC

Mounting/wearing a Gopro or such like

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 Denni 11 Mar 2013
Hi folks,
I may delve into the delight that is some sort of camera for taking videos of my daughter when we take her skiing for the first time.

I have no idea about these things but it seems most people have a Gopro camera and I can get one relatively cheap from my mate in the States.

Looking online, there seems to be different views for helmet mounted and the chest rig thing.
I'll probably be going slow in front of my daughter while she holds my ski poles so maybe helmet mounted may be the way to go.

Anyone care to offer their opinion on their particular way of mounting and advantages/disadvantages?

Thanks in advance, Den

PS, I realise this Isn't exactly an exciting topic!
 krikoman 12 Mar 2013
In reply to Denni: Mine kept stopping in Poland this year only about -5C but it got too cold, apparently they don't like the cold!!!

I ended up using it downhill, then suffing it inside my jacket to keep it warm, but it died regardless after an hour or so.

Good video result quality wise but piss poor if it doesn't cut it in the cold.

And it sinks in water, so if it falls of in the sea, on your first time using it say, you burst lungs tring to dive down 10m to get it back.
 mullermn 12 Mar 2013
In reply to Denni:

On phone so apologies for the typing!

Take a small screwdriver as its hard to et the brackets tight enough to move on the choppy stuff / crashes (fun bits!) by hand.
Use the white 'nose plug' in the mount to dampen the vibration.
Take lots of short videos rather than 30 minute monsters as they're easier to work with and you're going to end up editing 90% out anyway.
Take spare batteries as they dont like the cold and think about a stand alone charger unless you want to run your evenin around swapping batteries to be charged.
If you can rig it on your ski boot you get some good shots that way
Higher frame rate and picture sizes suck up more juice, so if you're planning on just making YouTube vids then turn the settings down and get more play time (that said 60fps 1080p does look very nice).
Wifi also uses lots of power, in the end we just used the audio beeps to know what's going on.
Remember to check your angle and clear your lens frequently. Really annoying to realise you've been filming the sky or you've got snow stuck to the camera half an hour after your comedy crash!

Filming is easy, editing it in to something anyone wants to watch is hard...
 Martin W 12 Mar 2013
In reply to Denni:

> Looking online, there seems to be different views for helmet mounted and the chest rig thing.

I'd say go for helmet mounted if you wish to achieve the Tellytubby look (very popular in Val d'Isere this winter) and end up with lots of unusable/moition-sickness-inducing footage of the scenery whizzing past in random directions at high speed. A helmet mount also hangs your hundreds of pounds worth of camera out in a nicely vulnerable position in the event of a crash, or even tree skiing. (It also makes it a potentially tempting target for irate Parisians in the lift queue...)

For filming your daughter as I think you described I'd have thought a chest rig would be (a) more stable and (b) closer to her height ie you'd see her face rather than looking down on the top of her head (although that would also depend on how close in front of her you intend to ski).

21st century consumer-driven-neoliberal-capitalist-society answer: buy both and see which gives you the best results.
 woolsack 12 Mar 2013
In reply to Denni: This guy seems to have a good mounting worked out

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21745250
 meh 12 Mar 2013
In reply to Denni:

I doubt filming your daughter you'll have any problems with excessive snow spray but coating the housing in silicon spray is a good way to avoid it filming your own adventures.

If you can get someone else to film you a GoPro on a pole is pretty good for this sort of thing and more interesting than a fixed POV.
 krikoman 12 Mar 2013
In reply to Denni: Onthe head is great if you get it pointing in the right direction befor eyou start, we had lots of head skiing donw the slopes.

But it does give you the chanc eto look at what you're filming and a rough idea of what you might be capturing.

I filmed my mate on her snowboard which turned out alright but I had to ski not looking where I was going so I could follow her moves.

To be onest they are a big arse about but I wouldn't be without it when my daughter goes on her first trip.

Take some time to practice before you go though.

And don't forget your new catch phrase, "Am I flashing!!"
 Morgan Woods 13 Mar 2013
In reply to Denni: Get the bike mount kit and put it on your ski pole...much better for filming others than helmet or chest mounts.

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