NinjaDoc Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 (edited) Did not know which sub forum this goes to, since many people use go pro to record their rides i thought might as well put it here. All of these simple things most users know by now, still if any new go pro users or people who are contemplating to buy one might find this useful. 1. Which one to buy. Gopro motorsport hero is the best bet to go by i guess, it gives you both the suction clamp and sticky ones to use. And it shoots at 1080. Worth the extra cost. 2. Which Mount to use? Suction mount can be attached literally to any flat surface on your bike. Dont worry very strong mount and wont come of even in the harshest of speed and terrain. usually people do it on the windscreen, draw back is the vibration, tie the camera end of the mount with tension down to the base of mirror if you are attaching to the wind screen. This helps reduce vibration and provides safety in case it comes off. (may be like 1 in 10000 chance for that) using the curved sticky mount on helmet gives the best views, depending on the angle you point the camera u can get part of bike also as perspective. Always look at a mirror with your go pro attached to the helmet to make sure where its pointed in YOUR NORMAL RIDING POSITION. And roughly remember the angle the go pro makes with the helmet. Also always double check with a friend if your riding in group to see if the go pro is pointing straight. Its painful to have 2 hours of sky or back of helmet recorded. And even with best of editing skillz nothing can be done with such a footage. stick a leveler from home depot or some thing on to the top of case which will help you with leveling horizontal. . disclaimer: Some states its illegal to have attachment on your helmet. saw this on kawi forums, practical even though unorthodox. (by Tronix)3. what cover to use? For all practical purposes its better to use the non water proof cover. It also gives the best sound recording while in twisties where u mostly keep it below 120mph. (i hope) except when its raining or in rare chance your going under water with your bike. Reason the waterproof cover gets fogged up leaving the center of the image blurred beyond recognition mostly. Yet another painful lesson all first time go pro users learn after coming back home to the pc after a 3 day motorcycle trip. Among the go pro users this is termed "F'd up footage" in the rare circumstance you want to use the waterproof cover. use this along side.4. Extra battery and Card.Only if your filthy rich buy the extra battery pack. If not the very practical way is to buy additional battery like i did and stick a tape on it for easy changing. This cost you like 15 bucks, the battery pack cost you about 80. Since the battery last only about 2 hours, its better to just buy 2 16gb cards than one 32gb card. When u stop to change battery change the card as well. The advantage, in rare case of the card or recording getting corrupted you can always have the back up of the other one. Down side, dont loose it. 5. How to record?the neanderthal design of go pro only put an lcd in front so u never know when ur recording while riding. Having the cam attached to helmet at least allows you to look at mirror and confirm it while you ride into a ditch because of lack of concentration. But if the cam is up front on bike there is no way to confirm. So best bet is to keep pressing the record button every 10 min interval, dont press it twice. You will forget track when ur recording or not, hence every 10 min one press on button. So you will atleast get part of the ride. So have the camera on the left hand side of the bike to operate with ur non throttle hand. one big 2 hour recording is hard to edit and chance of file corruption and loosing all recording is high. Another way is to Velcro a small mirror to the back of the glove to look at the lcd in front. This also allows you to put on make up during breaks. 6. Carry Extra attachment always- at least on long trips? small screws are involved in attaching the camera, hence its always best practice to carry and extra one with you. There is a high chance you might loose one of these and there is no other alternate way to effectively mount the camera. Addition clamps and attachment can be bought cheap. Another one to carry is the glass lens of the cover, one small drop of the camera and you scratch it rendering the whole unit useless, carry one with you and you can swap it easily. this is also pretty cheap to buy and store. This was looong... Will update with some more tips later. and when i get time will try to put in some editing 101 as well. Thx for reading. Edited October 17, 2011 by NinjaDoc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinjaDoc Posted October 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 *reserving space for more.* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crf69 Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 love mine.....thats all i can say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSparky Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 Awesome chin bar mount idea. I had it on my forehead on the old lid, and it made some DRAG on the highway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinjaDoc Posted October 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 Yep, it also helps to check the mirror if it's on or not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmassacre Posted October 18, 2011 Report Share Posted October 18, 2011 Nice write up. I just bought mine about a month ago & it took me a couple rides to start figuring all of this out. The front helmet mount is a neat idea. And I appreciate the tip on the vibration prevention. Hopefully I'll get another chance this season to try it out. I'm looking forward to your editing 101 write up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FIJI-9-Brother Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 thanks to casper for selling me his gopro, have recorded a few short rides and got some decent footage at the EOTO show last night at Skully's. wish they made a flash or some sort of light for it... or do they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinjaDoc Posted October 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Thx Texas, Fiji, no use in light for go pro , the camera sux monkey balls when it comes to low light performance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSparky Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Chin bar fails on the bell star.. It's tapered to a point, so the adhesive wants to rock side to side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey614 Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Thought about gettin one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinjaDoc Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 go ahead and get one joey, u wont regret it sorry to hear that sparky. on top of helmet is reasonable option Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSparky Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 yup. i gave in and put it there. along with the track strip. can't really tell a difference in wind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykill Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 yup. i gave in and put it there. along with the track strip. can't really tell a difference in wind.Not going fast enough then. My I feel my GoPro on top of my helmet big time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSparky Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 well yah the camera itself makes a ton of drag. but i was worried about the mount alone causing any unusual drag to force the helmet to roll backwards on my head. it's noticeable either when i've got my tankbag on, as that directs a lot more air upward at me, or if i'm wearing the balaclava, as that makes the whole helmet slide around much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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