BamaRider New Camera test

Y'all take a look at this video and give some feedback.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk0PbQhABFY&feature=em-upload_owner

The camera is virb xe, delivered 3 days ago. I'm still learning how to work it. I'm planning to use it on a cross country ride in Sept and want to get adept with it prior.

This video is the camera mount, but I have the hardware to mount on the bars or tank (ram mounts). That means the camera would be looking through the screen. Which view do you like better the handlebar or helmet mount?

The overlays you see in the video come with the Virb XE and and managed via desktop software. You have about 25-30 metrics you can track. The unit has built in GPS and can be synced to the video. I thought that was pretty neat and the top reason I went with the Garmin instead of the Go Pro. I can add braking and acceleration and many more data points but don't want to clutter the dash up.

I'm still shopping for a mic. My plan is to blog while going down the road. To do that I'm gonna need a mic with wind reduction, but a little sound off the motor is good no? I looked at the Sena bluetooth, a quality piece of equipment and sounds really good. It has the ability to connect up to 10 other units for group riding. Price about 225 dollars which is almost as much as the camera. I ride alone so I just need a unit I can speak to, so I'm still looking. I won't rule out the sena just because it sounds so good.

Anyway lemme know what you think.

video looks good just need to raise the camera a bit. I see too much pavement and not enough scenery.

Can you add dialog after the ride? You never know what you might say on live "TV". It may not be "G" rated. Spoken from experience.

The metrics make the video busy. Less is better in my opinion. I found myself seeing what they were saying than watching the video.

I noticed some background overlays, like a double exposure. Look at the 5:30 area and you see businesses in a ghost view as you are going down the divided highway.

I have shot many video and now try to keep them short. 2 minutes or so. I realize this was a shakedown cruise. I look at my GPS and say to self, this coming up might look good. Turn it on for about 2 minutes and watch for the next cool area.

Good quality overall.

I see some stop signs are treated like yield signs, not that I have never done that.

I can add dialog in post production, and that might be the way to go.

I did a poor job with the transitions and that caused the long overlap between media. I was working in the garmin software and was not familiar with it.

What is best helmet or handlebar and look through to screen?

I did note the camera was a little low but that is a easy fix.

BamaRider said:

What is best helmet or handlebar and look through to screen?

Click to expand...

I tried both and settled on left of windshield. Mainly because you can not tell if it is recording without seeing the Record Light.

It also is not scanning left right left as you turn your head.

You'll need to play around with the widgets you put on the screen. The attitude indicator was a bit too much; took up too much real-estate on the video. Sometimes less is more.

PS - Your lawn looks great.

Wow that's a great camera. What I think would look great would be a mount on your front fender and therefore hard mounted with the lean of the bike. Very nice and I agree very nice lawn.

I like the speed, elevation and other info the camera records. I agree that the attitude was distracting where it is and probably not needed on the bike. I'm still playing around with my microphone in the helmet... difficult to get it in the right position to not overwhelm it and it really is only good at speeds of 50 kph/30 mph or less. I rely on doing voice overs in post production. It gets very addictive once you start videoing rides. Memory has dropped so much in price that I tend to change batteries every 2 hours and cards every 4... and record the whole day lol. I end up editing longer than I rode. What resolution are you shooting and uploading at? The best YouTube would give me is 480p. Hoping to see more videos from you.

The wind noise is very distracting. An external mic might help but could be problematic with a helmet cam. The engine is barely audible and that's the way it should be if this isn't Leguna Seca or Isle of Mann. Continual loud noise grates quickly especially if it doesn't add anything to the video.

I'm also not a fan of helmet cams. They have their place and advantages but for travelog duty I'd go with bike mounted.

The attitude indicator is a little too large and very distracting to me because— helmet cam. If it was smaller I'd leave it in from time to time just for the artificial horizon but not full time.

Overall though I find the display too busy. There's no real value in both an analog and digital speedo if you can't see them real time. I'd prefer all the displays be digital and along the bottom of the frame. Maybe a helmet cam for data collection and a bike mounted cam for scenery?

The camera quality is good. Built-in mics are bane to motorcycle videos IMNSHO and should be banned. If I'm remembering the right video you do an excellent job with voice over. Most people don't even come close. Voice over with just a hint of the unique ST motor (silent movies are oh so yesteryear) would be my solid preference.

I admit that I'm critiquing this without a bit of experience of ever trying it myself.

I have done video in the past, the days before go pro. Back then I used a standard Sony video cam mounted on the bars via ram mount. My last video was badlands trip in 2014. I did not post that online but instead burned the 30 minute to DVD and just handed them out to my friends and family. That video was done by a first generation virb. I still have it. The new XE has a better camera, and more options. My thinking now is to take both cameras on my upcoming trip west to spend a few days in the utah canyons, in the Moab area, with a dash through the Northern Rockies of Colorado.

I'll use the virb on the low mount, and the XE on the helmet mount. I'm better at photography than I was, but still a long way to go.

This video was shot in 1080 at 60fps. The high fps returns a much smoother video. Garmin chose not to go 4k with this unit, which to me makes sense. 4k demands so much, slow to load and takes forever to render, and not that many really want to go to all that trouble.

On a side note, I'm putting together a video shot almost entirely by the "catbird" (my drone). That camera is 4k, and the dramatic aerial shots of roads and riders are amazing. My brother is helping me with this project, and I have only a few more shots and can start the post production. This is a dedicated video, telling a specific story, and not a ride recap. I'm amazed at the amount of video one has to capture to do a 5 minute video. I'll have over a hour of video to sort through to get the 5 minutes I need. I look forward to finishing that project soon.