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My first gopro vid - Todtnau, Germany

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
So last weekend a few of us did a mini european roadtrip. Bad Wildbad, Germany, then Todtnau, also Germany, then across the border for Lac Blanc in France.

All highly recommended in their own way. Bad Wildbad was rocky and tech as hell. Todtnau was so much fun and flowed so well, and Lac Blanc was more like a proper resort, with 4-5 tracks to choose from.

So far I've been a bit slack and only got around to putting one vid online. I've never used video editing software before, so doing simple things like making an intro took me longer than I'd hoped. The quality also isn't a patch on the raw 60fps file out of the camera, but I don't think any online service will come close to that? I'll try Vimeo at some point, see if it's any better.


(obviously select HD if your pc can cope with it!)


To get the right angle I went for the "wedge" technique (rather than putting the camera upside down and then flipping the video file). Guesstimated at 30deg and cut up a cereal box in the carpark, filled it with tissue paper and then duct-taped it for support. I think I got lucky, looks perfect to my eyes!

Music was randomly chosen as just what I happened to be listening to at the time when making the intro, and probably wont be to most people's liking. Ah well!

If I've learnt one thing about helmet cam footage (I've never taken any before), it's that it makes you want to stop being feeble! This track had some flat bits in the middle and at the start, and we're just sat down cruising. Doesn't make for a good vid, I should have been out of the saddle sprinting everywhere! Also upset to see myself coming up short on a few jumps that I was clearing nicely on other runs, grrr! Will do better next time :)

Also I presume bright but overcast days work best, or early/late in the day when the sun is low - the patchy sunlight in the trees makes for hard work on the eyes!
 
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davetrump

Turbo Monkey
Jul 29, 2003
1,270
0
wow, what a rubbish track.... I mean honestly, those last two long sections of woods look like absolutely no fun at all to ride ;)
 

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
Sick mate! Music choice was decent too, don't bother apologising for that cos there'll always be people who love/hate it anyway.
 

Hesh To Steel

Monkey
Dec 12, 2007
661
1
Hell's Kitchen
Great video, man. Looks so different from the stuff I usually ride (East coast, USA). The camera angle was pretty much perfect.

I didn't mind the music either. It's always interesting to see what other DHers are listening to. Didn't work badly with the footage either.
 

frango

Turbo Monkey
Jun 13, 2007
1,454
5
Coool! The vid could be a bit smoother, but it's probably because rough track ;)
 

matsO

Monkey
Aug 26, 2006
139
0
Great video, good sound!

Looking forward to see the other videos as well.

How long do you recomend staying at respective location:
Todtnau, Bad Wildbad 1/2 a week each?
Lac Blanc 1 week?
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Cheers for the kind words everyone - I'm always overcritical of things I think :)

Music is "Rak Funk Miami" by Pryda (
) by the way, if anyone wanted to know.

video looks sped up ;)
I can assure you it's not! We get down the track in about 4 minutes (or would do if we weren't sat down on the flat bits), track record is 3min17 I think I was told! Want to go back and attack that time a bit!!

did you also film in bad wildbad?
I did, but only on the smaller stuff they have there (a biker-x and a dual track). Didn't get it out on the rocky DH tracks - first day of the holiday, just wanted to ride my bike, didn't even think of the camera until later in the day.


Coool! The vid could be a bit smoother, but it's probably because rough track ;)
I did the harness up pretty bloody tightly I thought, but I'll aim to do it even tighter next time. Also there's a tiny bit of play in the quick-release buckle on the gopro, which might contribute a tiny bit to the wobble - it certainly makes for an annoying clicking sound. The camera comes with a rubber bung to alleviate this problem, but it only fits in the normal helmet buckles, not the chest-harness one. I'll tie a sock or similar around it next time :)


Great video, good sound!

Looking forward to see the other videos as well.

How long do you recomend staying at respective location:
Todtnau, Bad Wildbad 1/2 a week each?
Lac Blanc 1 week?
We did literally one day at each... I wouldn't want to spend more than 2 days at Bad Wildbad or Todtnau, unless there's secret uncharted tracks to be discovered. Lac Blanc maybe 3 days at a push. They're all within 2-3 hrs drive of each other though, so a day at each was feasible.

The snag with Lac Blanc was that it was RAMMED. I'd guess about 300 people were there, maybe 400, and on a single chairlift that was only equipped to take 2 people & 2 bikes on each 6-person chair that leads to some big queues! Supposedly this was unusual and due to there being a French National race on the following weekend.

- seb

PS A big shout out to www.justridingalong.com for supplying me with the camera, thanks guys!
 
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- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
For those thinking of buying a gopro HD, I've put a sample jpeg up showing how much better the quality is straight out of the camera. *Youtube 720p on the left, VLC 720p on the right. *Also bear in mind the right is currently at 60fps rather than youtube's 30 (25?)fps.


(large file, 500KB-ish so I don't ruin what I'm trying to show with JPEG artifacts!)
 

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
Try uploading on Vimeo instead maybe? IMO it usually gives sharper picture than Youtube for equivalent claimed resolution.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
I've been put off vimeo by the cost, even though it's not much. Their standard service is too limiting so if I end up using them I know I'll want to pay the $60/year or whatever it is.
 

al-irl

Turbo Monkey
Dec 9, 2004
1,086
0
A, A
I did the harness up pretty bloody tightly I thought, but I'll aim to do it even tighter next time. Also there's a tiny bit of play in the quick-release buckle on the gopro, which might contribute a tiny bit to the wobble - it certainly makes for an annoying clicking sound. The camera comes with a rubber bung to alleviate this problem, but it only fits in the normal helmet buckles, not the chest-harness one. I'll tie a sock or similar around it next time :)
try sliding a small cable tie inbetween the bracket on the harness and the clip on the camera. It certainly helped get rid of some of the shake from mine when using it on my helmet. I haven't got a chest strap so Im not sure if it will work but its worth a try
 

slowitdown

Monkey
Mar 30, 2009
553
0
Nice video, Seb. Looks like a really fun track.

If you can tilt the angle up just a bit, it would help. I found myself tilting my head back instinctively trying to see farther down the track.:eek:
 

Kevin

Turbo Monkey
Todtnau or Bad Wildbad not longer then 2 days?
There are lines on those tracks that you dont even see the first two days unless you ride there with someone whos familliar with the track, takes another day or two to get m dialed ;) ( some people never do...)

Very nice vid, like angle on the cam a lot cause it shows how rough DH can be.
Nice riding too!
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,195
4,419
Great video man. The track looks really fun!
Don't worry about casing the jump, we all do that sometimes.
 

RedOne

Monkey
May 27, 2007
172
0
Nuremberg, Germany
Hi, seb. We met you guys at bad wildbad. (I offered one of you a beer at the parking lot.) We stayed there for four days, practising as many lines as possible.

It is nice you can choose the IXS cup line or the old line on the downhill no. 1 in bad wildbad, or a combination of both.

Good to hear you had fun in todtnau as well.
 

wil_e123

Monkey
Jun 7, 2006
177
0
London, England
For thos who find the camera a bit shaky when it's clipped in, you can fix it by using the small orange piece of rubber that (should) come in the helmet hero HD box, it's a small piece of bright orange rubber: thread the tightening screw knob through the hoop, so that you don't lose it, and then clip the u-shaped bit into the quick release to get rid of any play in the quick-release, check out this video:

http://vimeo.com/9338138

3min30 into it. I use this method (mostly MX) and it works great, no play whatsoever even on the rougher MX tracks
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
For thos who find the camera a bit shaky when it's clipped in, you can fix it by using the small orange piece of rubber that (should) come in the helmet hero HD box, it's a small piece of bright orange rubber: thread the tightening screw knob through the hoop, so that you don't lose it, and then clip the u-shaped bit into the quick release to get rid of any play in the quick-release, check out this video:

http://vimeo.com/9338138

3min30 into it. I use this method (mostly MX) and it works great, no play whatsoever even on the rougher MX tracks

That works great on the helmet mount etc, but have you tried using it on the chest harness? Certainly on mine it seems to be impossible to get it in there - the shape of the mount means you can't fit it in once the buckle's been done up.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
For what it's worth I borrowed a friends Vimeo Plus account, and the resulting quality looked no better to me; tbh I couldn't tell them apart. Saving the streamed files showed that Vimeo was running on a lower bitrate (smaller file), but that doesn't mean anything, for all I know their encoder is superior to youtube's and they get equal quality out of a smaller file. Either way, to my eyes they were the same.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
A couple more vids I've done since:

Pearce Cycles @ Bala:

Borderline Events @ Moelfre:
 

Gridds

Monkey
Dec 18, 2008
266
0
Great Britain
Nice work Seb. Loved these videos when you first showed them too!

Who were you following in the Todtnau one?

I'm hitting up Gawton/Devon on Sunday with Pete if you're up for it? Might session his track a bit too if you like..?
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Gridds: Todtnau was following Jim (as is the Bala one). I thought it would seem MARGINALLY less "look at me look at me" if I at least put the new vids in this old thread rather than start a new one just for them :)

Sweeet, that run was pinned! Nice!:thumb:
Thanks! There's one bit which looks like it's been sped up, but the footage is unedited straight from the camera. I presume it's just an optical illusion from the camera failing to keep up with the scenary (MPEG compression works best when not much changes from scene to scene) and dropping a few frames maybe? Not sure, looks weird either way. Mind you, that bit IS fast!

Was pleasantly surprised with my run, wasn't feeling "on it" at all. Had a cold and just wasn't really enjoying being on the bike really - this was my first and only full run of the weekend! Put me 4th out of 6 experts, 0.5 off of a podium (and yes, I can see several spots I lost 0.5 in the video, dammit!)

11th overall out of 222 entrants though, so gotta be happy with that, especially considering the string of poor results I've had recently :)

Oh, and despite not really enjoying the weekend at the time, boy does watching that chestcam make me want to go back and do another run, brappppp!
 

fred.r

Dwangus Bogans
May 9, 2006
842
0
Nice videos. Just picked up my GoPro HD so this thread helping me with some good mounting tips.
Pro tip: They're selling these at Costco for only $180 right now.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
$180? They can't be, surely? Link? I wonder if that means there's a new version coming from GP and they're trying to clear old stock first.
 

fred.r

Dwangus Bogans
May 9, 2006
842
0
Yeah, it's the 960. Didn't realize there was already a 1080p version. Wonder if the 1080 is worth the extra bills... I'm guessing no since I'll be mostly uploading it online.
 

aanon

Chimp
Nov 21, 2008
29
0
south oz
Sick vid Seb. The music was good as was the riding i reckon. Gotta say the position you mounted the cam really shows how rough a track can be,i like it . The usually used head cam stuff i see does not show that.
Oh, and killer track too.