It’s that time of year again where you can go mountain biking every day.
If you’re like me, you might bring an action camera along to document your ride.
Whether you have a GoPro, a knockoff, or something else altogether, these 10 hacks will help
you make the most of your action camera.
let’s get started!
A dirty lens can mean the loss of precious footage, and wiping it with your jersey will
leave smudges.
Did you know that many riding gloves have microfiber on them?
If you can find a clean spot on your glove, you can use it to wipe your lens.
Of course, a lens cloth is always better but this works great in a pinch.
This bracket is actually designed to mount a GoPro to a backpack shoulder strap, but
you can use it for a rear facing camera.
You need to be okay with making some holes in your hydration pack.
Just mount it near the bottom by clamping the material together with the screws through
the pack.
The end result looks super clean, and the rear facing camera can be used to film the
rider behind you.
With that additional rear footage, you’ll find yourself editing multiple camera angles,
which sounds intimidating.
In Final Cut Pro, you can automatically create a multicam clip.
Clicking an angle changes the view in real time.
Still Final Cut Pro is $300.
With the clap method you can edit multicam shots with almost any software.
Here we have two Gopros filming the same scene from different angles.
Here in the video editor, we can see those claps in the audio waveform.
Just lay the first clip on the timeline, and the second clip on the B Roll.
Line up the claps according to the waveform, and the clips will be perfectly synched.
Now you can cut from the B roll to the timeline to change the angle.
When your camera’s rolling, people tend to act different.
For a genuine looking Vlog, you need to be sneaky and turn off the blinking red light.
Just set the blinks from 4 to off, or adjust the camera settings on your smartphone app.
This should also be possible on knockoff cameras.
Without a constant reminder of a rolling camera, your friends will act natural and your video
will be more interesting.
Action cameras come with these sticky pads, but I don’t know a lot of people who would
trust one to hold their camera.
Actually, they do work great if you cook them up first.
It’s probably better to use a heat gun or hair dryer, but anything will do.
Just get it bubbling hot, and hold it to the surface until it cools.
Good luck getting it off.
Getting the right angle on your helmet cam cam be challenging, but you can reduce the
guess work by filming in 4:3.
Let me explain.
Most videos, like the one you’re watching, are 16:9, which is like a big wide rectangle.
4:3 is closer to a square, but on a GoPro that means you’re actually getting more
of the scene on the top and bottom.
This gives you the flexibility to crop the part you want when editing.
So if your camera is angled too low or high, you can still save the shot after the fact.
Does that make sense?
Anyway, to shoot in 4:3 you can use 1440, or on some cameras 2.7K 4:3.
Helmet cams and head straps keep your GoPro pointing wherever you point your head, but
in a pinch you can just hold it with your teeth.
Relax, it’s just dirt, unless you’ve been shoving your GoPro up your… anyway it actually
delivers a pretty stable image, and is especially useful for documenting repairs.
Action cameras come with super wide angle lenses to capture as much of the scene as
possible.
The narrower lenses found on SLR cameras will give you more depth, but sometimes miss out
on the action.
Hedge your shots by doubling up.
This hot shoe adapter lets you attach a GoPro to the top of your SLR.
This will give you a backup shot, or just a duplicate perspective to make your video
more interesting.
Ever notice how vloggers have crystal clear sound even when barreling down the trails?
The secret?
These little beard thingies that block out the wind noise.
They work unbelievably well, but why does a little piece of fur cost $20?
This huge sheet of fur costs $3 at the craft store.
Not only that but you’ll get enough of it to do every camera you own, plus make a badass
hasidic beard.
Just cut some double sided tape to fit around the mic port and buttons.
Be sure not to cover the hole.
Now cut out a beard and apply it to the camera.
You might need to trim it a bit.
This will fit in a gimbal just fine, and if you’re using it in a frame just do the same
thing on it instead.
These mic beards are an integral part of MTB vlogging, but the fastest riders can see up
to an inch of beard growth each week.
To keep them in check, the pros use beard trimmers.
Just be sure not to cut your mic beard too short, or your wind noise will come back.
Okay I can’t count the beard trimmer hack as the tenth, so here’s a bonus.
Do you ever have trouble getting this screw tight enough?
Use a Phillips head screwdriver.
You’ll find this in most multitools, and they work way better than cranking on this
thing, which can actually slip around the screw.
So there you have it.
10 hacks to make the most of your action camera this summer.
There were a lot of other hacks I didn’t mention because they’ve already been beaten
to death, but feel free to share any hack you know below.
If you found this video entertaining, share it with a friend, and subscribe for more.
As always, thanks for riding with me today and I’ll see you next time.
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