Gopro camera info

[BamaRider]

I did a search on this and the results took me a bunch of links off site?

Ok so I'm in the process of updating ALL my long riding equipment in anticipation of a cross country ride this summer. New helmet, gloves, soon a new Roadcrafter. It has been a few years, and some of my stuff was getting dated.

Along the line comes video equipment I'll need to doucment this ride. I've narrowed it down to the GoPro and the new Vrib by Garmin. My questions for the collective are the following.

What are the options for hard mounting the Gopro somewhere on the bike? The mounts I saw on the gopro site seemed inadequate, and not trustworthy, made mostly for cycling guys (as in Trek cycles)

How does the helmet mount work? Do I have to stick something on the Shoei or is it all removable strap?

Can I import raw footage into 3rd party video editing software? (like sony movie studio)

I currently have ram mount for my Sony Camera that works well, can that be used with the gopro?

 

[Tidrick]

Off topic reply - ate lunch at Cracker Barrel in your town Monday, Bamarider. I thought about you... )

Back to topic.

 

[BamaRider]

Off topic reply - ate lunch at Cracker Barrel in your town Monday, Bamarider. I thought about you... )

Back to topic.

Good eatin there. You were on 2 or 4 wheels that day?

But topic at hand.

I'm no expert, but my experience has been the hard mounted camera works better. Usually on the handlebar somewhere. I was mounting my sony with ram mouns on the brake reservoir. The lens has a clear view of the road without the screen. However its, just ackward sticking up in the air, and I had to get off the bike and stuff to mount it when I needed video. But the final product looked good. The Sony is just a old fashioned handycam, but served the puropose.

The vrib has built in GPS so it will give ya all kinds of info on your video, like speed bars etc. The test I read on the unit comes from DC Rainmaker, he's marathon runner guy that extensively tests fitness gear gadgets. He said the Vrib is a good unit but the software is woeful but the unit has potential. I like its sleek low profile design.

I just bought a 600 dollar Shoei that is the bomb. Not gonna put sticky stuff on it. As mentioned above the GT Air is very slick in the wind, and a camera would just, well, take away the sleek and fast design I like.

If nothing else I'll just keep what I got, but any of y'all have hard mount, that allows you to quickly remove the camera when not needed lemme know.

 

[Kottbullar]

Bama

For the GoPro, In addition to the sticky mounts, there is the suction cup mount on the motorsports kit. I am surprised how good it works, but there are limited spots on the ST to mount it. The suction cup is probably 3" to 3.5" diameter.

I have also used it on my helmet, with lots of neck stress ...... Eeeeeeeeew.

You can import the files to other programs, the biggest issue is the processing power of your computer. If on a Mac, iMovie has no problem with the files.

The biggest addition you can make is a remote control. It will dramatically reduce the useless footage ..... And time needed to find the good stuff ....

Another key consideration is how much 'crap' you need to manage your camera. I have started using my GP quite a bit less lately. Three things to charge .... often one is dead, nullifying the whole effort. I run a GoPro HD, so hopefully the newer versions are bettr at this. Ride first, record second .....

 

[cybervet]

If you've already got Ram mounts on the bike, there are options to rig the GoPro to Ram systems. I've seen hardware on the GoPro site as well as on the Ram site to get the job done. As we pretty much all know, if you can get something mounted to a Ram ball, you got all sorts of options.

As for your summer tour ... if you find yourself in the neighborhood of eastern Iowa, drop me a note. I'd be happy to buy you a cup o coffee, and proud to ride a few miles with you along our beautiful corner of the world.

 

[skidlid1300]

I have the GoPro, and I have the helmet stick on mounts and I stuck a mount right on the nose, under the Honda logo on my ST 1300. I wouldn't worry about the helmet drag, don't feel it at all, unless you are always going over 180 mph...

 

[Tmac79]

https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?134275-Go-Pro-Camera-with-all-accessories

Just so happens to be a fella selling his gopro.

I just got mine for christmas, and I've been super disappointed with the battery life so far.

 

[BamaRider]

I have the GoPro, and I have the helmet stick on mounts and I stuck a mount right on the nose, under the Honda logo on my ST 1300. I wouldn't worry about the helmet drag, don't feel it at all, unless you are always going over 180 mph...

The camera stuck on the front works pretty good? Stable?

"I just got mine for christmas, and I've been super disappointed with the battery life so far."

So how long ya tawkin? Hour? Two? 30 min? The review I read said the garmin has excellent battery life.

 

[BamaRider]

If you've already got Ram mounts on the bike, there are options to rig the GoPro to Ram systems. I've seen hardware on the GoPro site as well as on the Ram site to get the job done. As we pretty much all know, if you can get something mounted to a Ram ball, you got all sorts of options.

As for your summer tour ... if you find yourself in the neighborhood of eastern Iowa, drop me a note. I'd be happy to buy you a cup o coffee, and proud to ride a few miles with you along our beautiful corner of the world.

And I do plan on coming through Eastern Iowa from the south. I'm gonna check out that "American Gothic" house. I forget the name of the town, but garmin knows how to get there.

 

[RandyIdaho]

I got a GoPro Hero3 not long after i got the ST13 in late August. I have experimented some with lots of options. My opinion - YMMV:

I put a suction cup mount on the front upper fairing/cowl. For extra security, I made a lanyard from 1/16" para-cord, attached it to the camera housing and the suction cup moount, and tethered both to the metal mount hardware insise the left mirror cover. I taped the cord down to the cowl with blue painters masking tape. I rode for over two months and the cup is still on there, and as tight as the moment I put it on. I was surprised. This is the good general clear front view location.

I have RAM ball mounts in several locations. I have one with the mounting "eye" (this type normally goes under the bar mount mirror stem under the lock nut) attached with the bolt that holds the front fender in place at the reflector location. Depending on what length and type of arm you use, you can get to pavement level right by the tire, or somewhat out to the side and up higher. Interesting view, but I find that a lot of minutes of that view is sort of boring.

I pulled the crash bar cover and used a RAM U-bolt mount around the tubular bar. Similar to the fork mount, but you see more of the front end, and it does remove some of the road-induced vibration you get with the fork mount. Drawback - LOTS of engine noise (unless that is what you want).

I put a U-bolt mount on one of the grab bars as well. With a long arm or hooking a couple arms together, you can get out far enough to see around your hip, arm, and fairing/cowling. This is also a good way to mount for a rearward view. I can use a medium length arm and put the camera right under the center of the rear rack plate.

My experience suggests to use the Wide Angle setting for most footage, but experiment with medium and narrow (zoom/telephoto) views for variety.

I tried a helmet mount stick-on plate while I was doing a precision riding class (almost always below 35 mph) and it worked fine. Not sure what it would be like at highway speeds, though.

As Tmac79 mentions, bat life on the Hero3 is very poor. I have a total of six batteries and an aftermarket fast charger, and I can go through them all in a day easily. If you run the LCD back, turn it off once you are all set up - it makes battery life very short with it running.

I know nothing of the Vrib camera, but hopefully the Hero3 camera info will help you make a good decision for your needs.

 

[Tmac79]

I have the "Black" version. Website says 1.5 hours, I'm not sure i got that much time out of it.

I'l probably just plug it into the USB on my bike and not worry about it. I'm going to experiment with where to mount it... I'm considering on the front fairing. I have the curved mount on a helmet, not sure how that'll feel at speed yet, though. I'll give it a work out this Saturday.

 

[Tmac79]

[video=youtube;Tb9qivXmwSU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb9qivXmwSU[/video]

I think I'm partial to the front fork mount.

 

[SierraST]

A while back some geek posted mounting info in this thread when he was first looking at adding mounts to the ST......

FWIW, I'm sold on the GoPro's abilities and durability now (after thousands of miles recording). I keep it simple and consistently run 16GB cards and always change the battery and the card out at the same time after 2 hours of recording. I charge a 2nd battery under the seat while I'm riding so battery life never becomes the limiting issue. The battery always gives at least 2 hours. I routinely record at either 720/60fps (most often) or 1080/30fps so can always get 2 hours on a 16GB card. The native format is .mp4 which can be read and imported into nearly any video editing software. The same 'adhesive' mount I have on front has now been there for 2.5 years (which is certainly better than I expected) and has been through all kinds of conditions (from 110? to 8?F, snow/hail, rain, etc). I've never been a fan of suction cups over a fixed mount so have never tried them with this camera. Obviously there are so many ways and places to mount 'em, but it depends on what perspective/view you really want to capture. If you need to use other existing mounts, get a GoPro 'tripod' mount (about $7) and that will give you the common photo 1/4-20 threads for attaching to something else.

Just some thoughts,



:tc1:

 

[Outbackwack]

I just got mine for christmas, and I've been super disappointed with the battery life so far.

This has been my biggest gripe with my GoPro... I only get about 2 hours out of a set of batteries at most. That stinks when you're on a 12 hour ride. I'll probably sell my setup and stick with a tried & true camera to take pics of exactly what I want. Plus it forces me to stop for breaks. YMMV

 

[spotz]

Guy I am a proponent for finding a dash cam that you like and using that, lots of options and choices with less fiddle factor, hardwire it and forget about it.

 

[Rekoob]

I used a gopro on a trip to the dragon and after five days I ended up with 48 GIG of video, the smallest vid is still to large to put on a DVD.
I have tried a ton of vid software but so far have been unable to edit these down to anything usable, meaning to put on a DVD or something like that to give to the buddy's I rode with.
That is my biggest complaint about the gopro, the format.
I have been looking at getting a video camera myself but have been looking at something that will output .AVI format so I have less issues with the size of the video.
Good luck with your choice, I hope you don't end up with my problem.

Edit: mounted it on the top of the left mirror, easy to reach if you need to turn on or off and the video's turnd out great.

 

[Rekoob]

Guy I am a proponent for finding a dash cam that you like and using that, lots of options and choices with less fiddle factor, hardwire it and forget about it.

spotz, if you don't mind me asking what you use? and is it waterproof? as I said, I have been looking for something, just don't know what... I have been looking at the contour, I like the option of using my phone as a view finder.

 

[spotz]

tried a ton of vid software but so far have been unable to edit these down to anything usable,

Have you tried to run a finished edit thru Handbrake (free software package) ?. It is doable with some hoops to to jump thru.

 

[spotz]

let me compose a short pm and send it to you not to pollute the thread

 

[Rekoob]

Have you tried to run a finished edit thru Handbrake (free software package) ?. It is doable with some hoops to to jump thru.

I have not tried Handbrake but will give it a shot when I can get to it. Thanks for the info.