Dave362 Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 Do you use a tripod? If so, where do you position the camera for best field of viiew? How does line length effect the outcome? Do you have a camera person to help? Any tips you would be willing to share? I'd like to do this a bit but have never filmed with a tripod. I've seen many great looking videos using them and would really appreciate any ideas on how to get started. The ones with relatively little editing look great, but that must take some planning. The only filming I've done was long ago and was just a bunch of edits, little clips put together. I'd like to be able to film longer uninterrupted sections. The Gopro thing looks cool, but with all the moving around we do, I'm not sure the heard strap would yield good results. Appreciate any help. Thanks, Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makatakam Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 A tripod set-up at eye level gives the most natural look, and keeps the camera steady. We all know how annoying a bouncy video is. You can do worm's-eye, or bird's-eye, and anything in between, depending on the effect you want. Check the field of view and try to keep the kite, and yourself if you want to be seen, within that area. Other than that it's just a matter of trial and error the first two or three times. With a head-mounted GoPro you can get good footage, as long as you keep your eyes on the kite, and move your head as little as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basicbill Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 A GoPro, tripod and a Rev on short lines is my favorite combo. Otherwise the kite is often lost in the "distance." A few of my most recent: In the snow with my EXP https://youtu.be/8N5GAZR16P4 My mid vent And one with the GoPro attached via a strap to my cap. Experiment with the various fields of view to find what works for you. Bill 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave362 Posted March 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 Good stuff, guys. thank you for taking the time Bill, I really enjoyed your videos. Nice work! Ugh! This is hard.... I tried it today and got a few frames with the kite in it. Its beyond me how some of you get these nice shots of the kite, not just a little speck, and manage to stay in frame. It was soooo much easier when my wife used to film me. Maybe I should bribe her with a nice dinner? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Ahhhh.... the old-keeping-the-kite-in-the-frame conundrum ! It took me over a year of trying to keep the kite in the frame for the Virtual Freestyle contest. You need to keep the kite in the frame for the whole duration of the video (1-1.5 minutes). Yeah, that sounds easy until you try it ! I usually just toss the GoPro on the beach, somewhere near where I am flying, and hope for the best. I also like to use a monopod stuck in the sand when the sand's not too frozen, getting the camera off the ground helps it focus on the flying, not the foreground. The wide angle lens on the GP helps, but you have to fly close to the camera, otherwise the kite just gets too tiny. BTW, Bill, I like that mid-vent with the white stripe. With the background, it's hard to tell which is the vent panel and which is the solid panel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave362 Posted March 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Rob, you get a really nice balance between field of view and proximity of the kite in the shot. I'll bet it did take awhile to develop that kind of control. I'm not used to focusing on keeping a dual line kite in one area of the sky. Time to put in some hours........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Barresi Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 It was soooo much easier when my wife used to film me. Maybe I should bribe her with a nice dinner? This is my claim to fame for the most part, TK is pretty generous about filming me, and knows my flying style. On another note, I just picked up a Fujifilm XP80 which allows me to view and trigger filming via my iPhone over a wifi connection, so I'll be able to set up a tripod and actually SEE what the camera sees (much like the higher end GoPro cameras but less expensive), allowing me to zoom or change position to suit what I'm looking for... Will be trying it out during the team tutorial filming this coming weekend, anxious to see how well it works. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave362 Posted March 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! John, that is the coolest thing I have heard if in a long time There are so many things out these days that make this easier. I'm not well versed in any of them. For example, Rob mentioned a wide angle lens in the Gopro. Is that a feature of all their cameras, or just the high end ones? Another thing, which is better for hosting kite videos, Vimeo or youtube? I'm just looking in to doing this after a long layoff and everything has changed. I'll bet I'm not the only one with these types of questions. Does anyone have any ideas about how to get an information exchange going for the tech side of being involved in kiting? Let's face it, for many of us, the internet is our only source of a kiting community. Tech savvy is a huge part of joining in. For me, I have no aspiratiions beyond being able to share stuff and enjoy other's kiting experiences. It would be cool to have information on cameras, triggering devices as meantioned above, editing software, a ton of other stuff, easily accessable in these forums. Any ideas? I guess it could just be a bunch of threads, but maybe more. In another thread Rob mentioned getting a tricking discussion group going, based on helpful comments on each other's vids. I can't help but think these two areas are related. Sorry to go on and on, just brainstorming. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basicbill Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 It would be cool to have information on cameras, triggering devices as meantioned above, editing software, a ton of other stuff, easily accessable in these forums. Any ideas? I guess it could just be a bunch of threads, but maybe more. In another thread Rob mentioned getting a tricking discussion group going, based on helpful comments on each other's vids. I can't help but think these two areas are related. Sorry to go on and on, just brainstorming. I have a couple of reasonably successful YouTube channels so I shoot a lot of video. Not much kite related but I'm doing more of that now. So I may be able to answer some questions. As with many tech things it can depend on what you want to do and how much you wish to spend. You might simply try getting a tripod adapter for your cellphone, mount it on a tripod and shoot a bit of video with it. Cell phones have a very wide field of view. And often capture in 1080 HD video. You could edit it with the editors that are free in Windows or Mac computers. Even YouTube has a basic editor. (GoPros... I have two. I would not recommend them as an entry level video camera.) Bill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 Vimeo is good if your videos aren't too long. One advantage to Vimeo is that they don't check the videos for copyrighted music, which often gets stripped on uToob. As far as the GoPro... it's a cheap camera that does most things pretty good. The accessories could equal the price of the camera, though. A good professional photographer told me that if you have a DSLR, use that to shoot video. The videos does come out pretty good, but if you need a wide-angle lens for your DSLR, that could run more than a GoPro. I don't know anything about modern cell phones, as my cell phone is made by AARP. Yeah, a flip-phone ! I use Power Director Pro as my video editor. I got it free through work, learned it, and resist learning other software because it's just too time consuming. The PDP can do way more fancy things than I need, anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Barresi Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 I do all my editing on iMovie, never had the need (or patience) for anything more complicated. All my videos go up on YouTube because of the far higher chance of "incidental exposure" (i.e. people bumping into my videos by chance), I meet quite a few folks every year who found modern kiting exactly that way... Vimeo is good for higher definition, and for getting around music limitations, as mentioned above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparkieRob Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 I do all my editing on iMovie, never had the need (or patience) for anything more complicated. All my videos go up on YouTube because of the far higher chance of "incidental exposure" (i.e. people bumping into my videos by chance), I meet quite a few folks every year who found modern kiting exactly that way... Vimeo is good for higher definition, and for getting around music limitations, as mentioned above. Incidental googling. That's how I found out about Revs. I literally owe a lot to JB and the B2 release clip. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Barresi Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 Spot on Rob, the B2 release clip is the one I probably hear about the most. FYI, I also get a lot of mileage out of my Joby GripTight GorillaPod Stand... It works great for iPhone or other smartphone placement in a pinch, which is how we did most of our 2015 tour footage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparkieRob Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 Man that clip has lightened my wallet... And lifted my soul. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave362 Posted April 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 I'm going to buy a tripod mount for my iphone 6 and see how that works. Lots of great information here. Thanks for all the advice! Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkrinor Posted April 3, 2015 Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 I do all my editing on iMovie, never had the need (or patience) for anything more complicated. All my videos go up on YouTube because of the far higher chance of "incidental exposure" (i.e. people bumping into my videos by chance), I meet quite a few folks every year who found modern kiting exactly that way... Vimeo is good for higher definition, and for getting around music limitations, as mentioned above. Incidental googling. That's how I found out about Revs. I literally owe a lot to JB and the B2 release clip. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk "Incidental googling " lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzKiter Posted April 3, 2015 Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 I use a SJCAM SJ4000 on a tiny tripod as I'm not looking for professional film quality. Just something to film some memories. it can be seen in action on my youtube channel. http://goo.gl/2EJgo4 I just use the default youtube editor to add in music and take away audio if needed, and it also fits in the pocket of my kite bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palmahnic Posted April 3, 2015 Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 Just ordered one of those Gorillapod ChiFakes tripod, after understanding that on the back of my land cruiser is not cutting it. Its harder than it looks to make a good video Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.V. Nguyen Posted August 3, 2016 Report Share Posted August 3, 2016 I mostly use iPhone to film and edit video length right off Camera Roll, cut out unwanted footages to save space. Day trips / memorable events are condensed into a 5-minute movie (or duration of a song) for my kids to keep. I find iMovie is a good tools on the go, while Windows Movie Maker offers more features. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Barresi Posted August 4, 2016 Report Share Posted August 4, 2016 Pretty similar - iPhone 6 on a gorilla flexible tripod, edited in iMovie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Klaiber Posted August 4, 2016 Report Share Posted August 4, 2016 When my kids were small I transitioned from ghetto blaster sized shoulder mounted video cameras to a Sony Handy Cam which uses dvd's to record on. It's about the size of a good deli sandwich. Now video is a capability in almost everything that takes pictures. 1080 HD on my phone is better quality and convenient plus is with me most of the time. My wife was the camera nut and shot everything that went by. Without her being able to get around much now, I use a Gorillapod so I can adapt to the angle and conditions I am in to shoot things. Video is fun but phone modes like time lapse are fun to play with too.Sent from my iPhone using KiteLife mobile app Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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