If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Anybody video as they board?
I was wondering if anyone has ever used a helmet-cam or something? I know
it's silly but I just feel like trying it to film my friends as they go ahead of me. Any advice other than 'Get a life?' |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Anybody video as they board?
On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 23:38:53 GMT, "***DRAMA***"
allegedly wrote: I was wondering if anyone has ever used a helmet-cam or something? I know it's silly but I just feel like trying it to film my friends as they go ahead of me. Any advice other than 'Get a life?' It's not so easy to get nice smooth shots if you're hand-holding. You need to turn on the onboard stabalisation, but some work better than others. The Sony Steady-Cam is better than Panasonic's OIS (which is next to useless in these situations). You need to pre-focus and keep the camera out of the spray of the snow to stop droplets getting on the lens. You also need to practice lots. Helmets cams can work better as the head stabaliser, but you then need to be looking at the action rather than where you are riding. Depending on the terrain, this may be a problem. Also, helmet cams are all (so far) standard definition and full screen. If you have a high-def and/or wide- screen camcorder, then your helmet stuff isn't going to match your normal stuff. - Dave. -- The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky. http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow. Donek Sasquatch 162, Prior Pow 181, Burton Canyon 162 The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://www.vpas.fsnet.co.uk/rssFAQ/ |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Anybody video as they board?
I have a helmet cam that I have used a couple of times on the slopes.
Originally purchased for use while riding enduros and hare scrambles on my motorcycle, I took it to the mountain to see what the results would be. It works well, but don't expect any depth of field or much peripheral view. Dave is correct that it is standard def and full screen. The camera itself is a bullet-style, no larger than a fat Sharpie and mounts easily on the top of the helmet, connecting via a special a/v jack into a handheld which I keep in a backpack (ziplock baggie wrapped in a old T). I haven't taken a backside fall with the pack, but I would imagine that it would be painful so I limit use to those days when I am following the toddlers down and leisure boarding. The kids love to see themselves on video... I was a bit suprised with the quality, even at standard definition. It is also very surpising just how still you keep your head, whether it be on a bike or a board. I find the motorcycle footage in the woods to be much more true to the experience, as you have the trees to give the perspective of how much speed you are carrying. It is a little deceptive on snow; without any other skiers/boarders in the frame it appears that you are going much slower since the low def prevents you from seeing much of anything below your feet other than white. Again, Dave is correct that it helps to focus on the action rather than just looking down your lines the entire time......otherwise, you will have an 8 mm full of monotonous footage to pour over for only a few good clips. I will say that at times, I have left it on for candid moments on the lift or at the top of the slope. The pickup mike works well capturing audio, but one you head down it is full wind noise unless you have the mic buried in your jacket. Good luck, web address for the model I purchased two years ago is helmetcamera.com. Sean PS - I am by no means an audio/videophile...so please excuse my lack of vocabulary on this subject! "Switters" wrote in message ... On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 23:38:53 GMT, "***DRAMA***" allegedly wrote: I was wondering if anyone has ever used a helmet-cam or something? I know it's silly but I just feel like trying it to film my friends as they go ahead of me. Any advice other than 'Get a life?' It's not so easy to get nice smooth shots if you're hand-holding. You need to turn on the onboard stabalisation, but some work better than others. The Sony Steady-Cam is better than Panasonic's OIS (which is next to useless in these situations). You need to pre-focus and keep the camera out of the spray of the snow to stop droplets getting on the lens. You also need to practice lots. Helmets cams can work better as the head stabaliser, but you then need to be looking at the action rather than where you are riding. Depending on the terrain, this may be a problem. Also, helmet cams are all (so far) standard definition and full screen. If you have a high-def and/or wide- screen camcorder, then your helmet stuff isn't going to match your normal stuff. - Dave. -- The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky. http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow. Donek Sasquatch 162, Prior Pow 181, Burton Canyon 162 The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://www.vpas.fsnet.co.uk/rssFAQ/ |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Anybody video as they board?
***DRAMA*** wrote:
I was wondering if anyone has ever used a helmet-cam or something? I know it's silly but I just feel like trying it to film my friends as they go ahead of me. Any advice other than 'Get a life?' A friend has, but he was rubbish so he only ever got us disappearing into the distance . It was a good idea though because he had enough space and power to leave it on all day so if anything good happened, he would get it on film. The down side is that you need to be very close otherwise you can't really see what's going on. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Anybody video as they board?
LeeD wrote:
Tried a deep pow day thru trees with digital video cam.... Need some kind of steady cam setup, as up and down, besides sideways on each turn, has you dizzy watching the vid. Can you not get steady-ing software? I would have thought so. Maybe it works in groomed cord, but not much action there. Notice cam work on half pipes, cameraman is snowplowing his skis down the smooth center. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Anybody video as they board?
Thanks for the feedback. I've been to a couple of sites showing the
helmet-cam and it looks pretty decent. I do a lot of production so I can always add a 'film' or slight grain look to compensate for resizing it up. I tried the handheld last season and it looked like I was in an earthquake - completely unusable but did give the feeling of impending disaster, which can always be kinda fun. I guess I'll go helmet-cam and try that. Looks like it should work ok. My only problem is that I'm tired of waiting for the snow already...this Texas heat is enough already! "Octessence" wrote in message ... ***DRAMA*** wrote: I was wondering if anyone has ever used a helmet-cam or something? I know it's silly but I just feel like trying it to film my friends as they go ahead of me. Any advice other than 'Get a life?' A friend has, but he was rubbish so he only ever got us disappearing into the distance . It was a good idea though because he had enough space and power to leave it on all day so if anything good happened, he would get it on film. The down side is that you need to be very close otherwise you can't really see what's going on. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Anybody video as they board?
Ed Chilada wrote:
On Tue, 01 Aug 2006 18:49:55 +0200, Octessence wrote: LeeD wrote: Tried a deep pow day thru trees with digital video cam.... Need some kind of steady cam setup, as up and down, besides sideways on each turn, has you dizzy watching the vid. Can you not get steady-ing software? I would have thought so. It doesn't work so well because the camera is travelling - it can't figure out what's a wobble and what's simply the subject moving closer. Steadycam after effects work far better when it's a case of the guy with the camera being fixed, pointing at the same subject, but wobbling a bit. Possibly, but i would have thought writing an algorithm to determine what's a jitter could be done. For example the shape of someone won't change much from frame to frame, but their position would translate to somewhere else and back again for a jitter. Also, the vast majority of the picture (i.e the background) would not be moving at all so there would be fixed points of reference everywhere. May not be perfect but I'm sure most jumpy videos could be improved quite a bit by the right software. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Anybody video as they board?
Ed Chilada wrote:
On Tue, 01 Aug 2006 18:49:55 +0200, Octessence wrote: LeeD wrote: Tried a deep pow day thru trees with digital video cam.... Need some kind of steady cam setup, as up and down, besides sideways on each turn, has you dizzy watching the vid. Can you not get steady-ing software? I would have thought so. It doesn't work so well because the camera is travelling - it can't figure out what's a wobble and what's simply the subject moving closer. Steadycam after effects work far better when it's a case of the guy with the camera being fixed, pointing at the same subject, but wobbling a bit. There you go there's a plugin for VirtualDub (freeware) called Deshaker: http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/ar...e.htm#Download |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Anybody video as they board?
On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:31:21 GMT, Octessence
allegedly wrote: Possibly, but i would have thought writing an algorithm to determine what's a jitter could be done. For example the shape of someone won't change much from frame to frame, but their position would translate to somewhere else and back again for a jitter. Also, the vast majority of the picture (i.e the background) would not be moving at all so there would be fixed points of reference everywhere. May not be perfect but I'm sure most jumpy videos could be improved quite a bit by the right software. There's plenty of software around to correct camera shake during the edit phase, but it ranges from cheap stuff with poor results, to expensive stuff with reasonable results. It sounds simple in theory to get right, but it's more complicated in reality. Consider a camera just wobbling left to right only. Now to get a still picture, you have to cut off the left and right edges to the point where the objects always remain in frame. Extend this to up and down as well, and you're effectively cropping each frame resulting in a lower resolution picture. I use it when I have to, and even then sometimes it just can't work out what's right, especially if you (the camera holder) are moving or panning as well. - Dave. -- The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky. http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow. Donek Sasquatch 162, Prior Pow 181, Burton Canyon 162 The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://www.vpas.fsnet.co.uk/rssFAQ/ |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Anybody video as they board?
On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:35:43 GMT, Octessence
allegedly wrote: There you go there's a plugin for VirtualDub (freeware) called Deshaker: http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/ar...e.htm#Download Deshaker is pretty good... it's certainly exciting (to a point watching it analyse the vectors and show the areas of motion. It's certainly one of the better ones, but again cannot cope in all situations. I'd recommend it, but wouldn't rely on it. - Dave. -- The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky. http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow. Donek Sasquatch 162, Prior Pow 181, Burton Canyon 162 The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://www.vpas.fsnet.co.uk/rssFAQ/ |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
new board time? | Yup | Snowboarding | 6 | May 21st 05 07:30 PM |
Board spec question and the Burton Baron | Frank L Lynn | Snowboarding | 2 | April 11th 05 05:42 PM |
advice on board? | Mario | Snowboarding | 10 | January 11th 05 12:00 AM |
Board flex and fast powder turns | id | Snowboarding | 10 | December 14th 04 02:08 PM |
Burton Dominant Sizing------Please help | Lee | Snowboarding | 5 | November 21st 03 05:22 PM |