Vloggers have really raised the game recently. Itchy Boots does a great job - I have no idea how she edits videos on a laptop in a hostel with flaky internet connection and manages to produce such high quality work.
I was watching her recent videos from Norway and there was one tracking shot of her riding across a long bridge which she shot from her drone. It was a tracking and slow zoom out and pan, shot from hundreds of feet above her has she rode across the bridge. You could see she had both hands on the handgrips and I’ve no idea how she controlled the drone. Most impressive.
The quality she produces is up there with what a whole BBC crew, with editing back at the studio, used to produce a few years ago.
it was on the original stealth and it is I believe on the new one, but they have updated it so you can actually add an external battery so you have some resilience.
The problem is though, the camera is not as good on the new one which seems silly to me!
I’m going to go for the innovv next, that is an on-bike camera setup. So probably not what you’re looking for.
The Drift Ghost XL only has a built-on 3000 mAh battery as it is sealed to be fully waterpoof.
The Drift Ghost X and Drift Ghost 4K are rain proof, but need a case for using underwater, and have a built-in 1500 mAh battery plus come with an external 500 mAh battery.
As well as additional 500 mAh batteries, you can also buy an external 1500 mAh one which gives me a total of eight to nine hours of continuous recording time at 720p on my X, so the same as you get with the XL though it creates a slightly more bulky form. Presumably less at high resolutions.
With the Drift Ghost 4K you can also buy a screen module which takes the place of the external battery module. And it does also have built in stabalization at 1080p.
The video quality is not the greatest but, as I download everything for reference but not to otherwise watch or put online, I only use the lowest quality settings to save on disk space. So I cannot say how much better it would look in 1080p with the higher quality setting, let alone what the the 4K model can do.
There is also a new Drift Ghost 4K+, which I think replaces the 4K model but only comes with a 450 mAh external battery. It is supposed to still work with the larger battery pack, though. I am not sure what else is different to the original 4K other than compatibility with features of Huawei phones.
I’ve recorded some footage for my YouTube channel using a Garmin Virb Elite first generation (£350 in 2014). I recorded some rides too but the footage was boring as. I mounted the camera to the mirror stalk because I didn’t want to mount it to my helmet. I don’t record voice on the bike. I have a condenser microphone at home for voice over which works ok.
I’d suggest getting a relatively cheap action camera first (maybe a used one and buy a new battery) and having a go to see how you get on. Imovie and Windows Movie maker are free and do most of the basics. I’d recommend tethering your camera to something too. You can buy wrist straps from Amazon that do the job. I’d have lost mine down the road if I hadn’t done that. It vibrated itself lose once.
With regards to footage being boring as, that’s why the others have noted editing. You need to do a lot of editing to make a ride clip watchable unless you want to bore your mates senseless.
The clips I shot had no sense of speed or lean angles. One interesting thing I caught in Essex was a family of deer leaping across the road. On the bike the seemed really close but on the footage you could hardly see them.
It takes a while to learn what works too and that only really comes through trial and error.
Here’s one of my clips with footage from the Virb on the bike and in the car.
One other thing. Recording passing shots or arriving and leaving shots is such a pain in the arse because you have to set up the camera, film the shot then go back for the camera. It can make the ride un enjoyable and if you are in a group it’ll try their patience.
I’m still not entirely sure the purpose of your videos? Is it kind of a diary of your trip? Is it more of all the scenery?
The different angles comment would suggest different mounting points all over the bike, rather than a helmet mount camera. I recently upgraded to the GoPro 9 and I have to say it’s pretty fantastic.
As has been said, don’t under estimate how long editing will take. For this reason, I would advise against recording everything… editing will take forever. Record selective bits when you think ‘This is nice, I want this to be included’. Even then, you could easily end up with hundreds to clips, but at least your not searching through hours of footage for that moment you remember.
I recently did this with the GoPro 9 and Media Mod. It’s not motorbiking, but perhaps the ‘film little bits not and then with some occasional commentary thrown in’ is the kind of style you would want? (Skip to about 7 minutes)
I would disagree on the point about recording everything, because you never know in advance what will be the good or important bits.
But what I would do is make sure you have some kind of G.P.S. device recording your position, which will make finding the moments you want to access very easy.
That may be done in camera and with software that automates the whole process, or it could just be by loading a track into a map, then locating the nice spot, see what time you were there, and then look at the footage from that time.
But, as I said before, I completely agree that the first question to answer is what you are trying to achieve because generic advice is pretty useless.
For example the Itchy Boots example mentioned above is one where making videos has to be at least an equal hobby to riding, if not more so. Because it requires setting up shots, riding. Riding back, potentially checking the footage and having to ride again, removing equipment, then riding to your next shot.
What you want to make decides what equipment you need, how much of your trip has to be dedicated to it, and what effort is required – both shooting and production. And for anything more than picking out the best moments from a helmet cam, it will need a period of learning both to appreciate how the camera sees things differently and then to find out what is the best setup for your bike and ambition.
The very first thing you need is not a camera, but a clear idea of what you are trying to achieve and an appreciation of what is involved in realizing it.
And this is it. It depends on what he actually wants as to what he needs to film. What would he consider a ‘good bit’, because tbh, if it’s a view, just whip your GoPro out and record when it happens. I do this when cycling, rather than record everything and it works really well.
I’m just pointing out, the more you film, the longer editing will take, possibly meaning it will take a few days. If that’s what’s needed, fair enough.
Definitely. He may have it, but let us know and we can advise better
I think it would be for my own amusement and a sort of moving photo album. I don’t need to do it, I just fancy the idea as I’ve enjoyed videos of other’s trips.
I hear you regarding the editing, I’d just record what I think are interesting moments, not hours and hours of boring stuff.
I don’t see myself as a moto vlogger, not sure what I could add…unless you want yet another hour long rant on why my bike is the best.
When I first stopped and took my helmet off the one on the rear mic was missing, but the front one has stayed on. Checking the video I would say the wind noise is just as loud, but instead of being a nasty constant rumble it actually sounds like wind. And it does cancel it a lot at lower speeds.
So my initial impression is they make a big difference if you want to watch or share video from a Drift camera (and are not vlogging through an external microphone in the helmet instead). Althiugh the real test will be how it copes with rain, though.
It does not take longer to edit though, only to find the footage you want. And only then if it is by watching everything to see what is worth using.
Which is where a GPS system (which can be just a phone app that can save a track) really helps. But you can just keep a notebook (or even have a helmet intercom connected to a phone assistant) to note down the time of something interesting so you can find it that way.
Because not all nice scenery is known in advance. Not least of which because just like photography, the quality of light is as important as the subject in making video. The most beautiful locations can look boring on a dreary day, and the most mundane places can look amazing in the right conditions. The weather is just as important as the geology in producing interesting footage.
I would say that is especially true of most action camera because the wide angle lenses mean what looked good to the eye is lost amongst the more boring foreground detail when recorded.
Just sticking a camera on record and forgetting about it means you can just ride without having to think about the camera at all. And it gives you the commuter cam benefit.
