Just picked one of these badboys up, would love some inputs from some of you GoPro users on tricks and technics for shooting.

Push the record button and go...




Just put the camera in as many locations as possible to capture good footage.

HAHA, Will do Todd

When turning on and off is easy to accidentally change to photo mode ..... It happen to me few times ..... I got home with 1000s of pictures instead of video footage .......

....
+1 what Todd says ...... lol

Don't skimp on the SD card, get a name brand class 4 or higher. Mine gave me some issues till I upgraded.

I quickly realized when turning the camera on, and you hold the power on button until you hear it beep, it powers on and switches to the next mode (photo). The trick is just hit the power button once and let go and wait a half second and it beeps and powers up in the default video mode - Don't hold the button

button confusion syndrome, common but passes with time.

turn it ON ....press the shutter, hit it!

if you fiddle with it, the chances are very hi you'll return with a bunch of stills. the less you fiddle with it the better, my experience has shown esp. in a riding event don't touch it!

on the water leash or float! YOU WILL DROP IT!

framing just takes practice



+1 go premium big on the card!

Love my Gopro HD! Very easy to use. I don't have the new one yet, but in do time!

Enjoy Ray, can't wait to see some videos of you cranking that new buggy once you get it!

Got my hero 2 three weeks ago. I've been out shooting with it twice now and must say it takes really good HD video. Supposedly it's easier to navigate thru the menus/modes, never had the first gen so I wouldn't be able to compare. I opted for the LCD bakpak also, it really works slick and integrates well with the unit. It takes out the guess work when experimenting with camera positions. I'll have to admit that I also fell victim to the accidental photo mode when trying to shoot video. lost some good footage when I thought it was filming when in reality it wasn't.

+1 for not skimping on a good quality SD card. Best Buy was completely outrageous on what they wanted for a 32gb class 10 card. Found the exact same SD card for almost half the price on Amazon and that included free shipping. Unreal how much some stores mark-up will be. Have fun with your new cam! I know I am!

If you got (and kept) a bunch of stills, you might be able to turn them into a stop-motion type thing... did one for the bike (haven't uploaded yet) and it works ok... better than nothing

I also got a 16G SANDISK and a 4G EYE-FI Connect X2 card, with the EYE-FI, I can see my pics and Vids on my laptop, phone or Ipad instantly over a wifi connection, i'm such a gadget b**ch lol

after shooting the video the issue seems to be editing. I hear mac does really well with the native format but the free programs with windows have my head spinning. I got it to work once but now don't remember exactly what I did. Good Luck!

Quote:

Originally posted by stetson05 after shooting the video the issue seems to be editing. I hear mac does really well with the native format but the free programs with windows have my head spinning. I got it to work once but now don't remember exactly what I did. Good Luck!

We are rowing the same boat here. I'm wondering if windows 7 would be enough upgrade or do I need a mac for this. I bought Roxio something that we were able to clip videos once and not ever again. I'd love someone to just tell me what will work on a pretty decent computer with plenty of ram but with Vista OS. I don't mind paying a bit for software but would cringe a bit to spend enough to buy a kite on editing software.

Quote:

Originally posted by combatcamp HAHA, Will do Todd

todds a wizard when it comes to shooting kite vids!

http://vimeo.com/34486788

I used all free software (including WLMM2011) for this video. It was my first try at making an actual video shot with my GOPRO. I had the board mount, hand shooting (TIP: action needs to be close for best effect), helmet mount (helmet was removed for shooting too), and back pack boom mount for lots of different angles. Even tried a kite mount (not GOPRO) on my kite but the only file got corrupt and I lost the method I used to mount it on the kite.

I used MPEG Streamclip to quickly find and trim my videos of clips and save the clips. I originally got it to convert the MP4 GOPRO files to AVI so I could use any editor to edit the clips. But WLMM2011 has no issue with the MP4 files. WLMM2011 does video trimming and splitting it was just way quicker and easier with MPEG Streamclip (I had to go through 14 hours of video from this trip).

I used Virtual Dub to resize all the time lapse photos to match the resolution of the rest of the video and to change the frame rate of the time lapse sequence to 30 fps to make the time lapse video clips. I originally got VDub for the filters to add effects etc, it's pretty powerful for a free tool, but not very intuitive (there is lots of help online though to get things done). Need to convert the MP4's to AVI's though (one of the original reasons for MPEG Streamclip too).

Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 (WLMM2011) put it all together with credits and transitions (using the themes), rotating clips (the board mount and walking the beach clips), effects (the slow mo in the second clip and custom fades /transitions i.e. slide show at the end), final clip trimming to fit music etc, and the music (mixed video audio with music audio and audio fades).

I think you can get WLMM2011 for Vista. It's got most of the basics to get anyone going on thier first videos /slideshows. It has enough to clutter a good movie and make it a bad movie. You can always move up (pay for something else) when your ready for more later.

I'd like to add that Avidemux is a handy tool too - easier to use than Vdub IMHO :D

ZG - how did you get WLMM to do the slo-mo? Plugin?

There were a few things that were the root cause of lots missed opportunities and unuseable footage...

Number one, Fogging. I initially tried some commonly recommended free solutions to fix this issue but the only thing that did it 100% consistantly are the anti-fog strips. The other fixes would fog up within 40 minutes (mostly less than 20). I would have to shut it off until the fog cleared and turn it back on (typically 15 minutes later). It would usually fog within10 minutes after that. Resulted in tons of missed shots and crap footage.

Next, was camera angle. Cropped heads and /or not enough horizon. Mostly because of loose mount joints and the camera angle changed after a landing or hard jolt. Lightly sand the inside of the joint slots and don't tighten hand tight, use a screw driver.

Lastly, water drops. Keep the lens clean before using the camera (residue will hold the drop in place). During your session, periodically use your saliva to clean the lens of residue. Some say Rain-X helps, while others say it just makes smaller drops (unless your moving 70+ kph then the smaller drops will sheet off).

A firm camera mount (no or minimum jiggle) and shooting at 60fps or faster will reduce that "jello effect".

Using that orange or white "nose clip doohicky" will stop that annoying clicking sound on your audio.

Try to use lots of different camera angles. It makes it more interesting, kiting is not a one dimensional sport.

Have fun with it.:wee:

Quote:

Originally posted by Kamikuza I'd like to add that Avidemux is a handy tool too - easier to use than Vdub IMHO :D ZG - how did you get WLMM to do the slo-mo? Plugin?

No plugin. WLMM2011 has it built in to either speed up or slow down the clip. It has more increments to take it faster than slower. On the slow side you can reduce the speed to 1/2 (0.5x), to 1/4 (0.25x), or 1/8 (0.125x). You might be able type in any value in between those but not less than 0.125x. That's where that other trick takes over. You can use that trick on it's own or in combo with your editor's slowmo settings. That demo vid I put together shows some of these combos used.

OH, and leash that camera from the door hinge and to something else solid. NOT, to a mount base or the mount. These have and do fail.

Must be a newer version? I got WLMM but it lacked the speed up/down feature...

Quote:

Originally posted by Kamikuza Must be a newer version? I got WLMM but it lacked the speed up/down feature...

It is the 2011 version that came with Windows7.

Which I had to download maybe my new version will have it...