Taking videos
 

Anyone have any good way to take videos that are hands free? I like to record my sessions so I can save my good jumps and also look over my technique and improve on it.

1. I know recording with my phone or a real camera produces great footage. But I hate tieing a friend up my entire run.

2. A gopro does work because of its wide angle. However, that same wide angle makes the footage terrible. Also I still need to have a friend constantly turning it on and off because otherwise the battery would die quickly.

Something like this would be perrfect: http://wakeye.com

However, not only is it from overseas so getting it would be a little bit of a hassle, but its $300+ which is ridiculous.

Any ideas?

If you want a cheaper mount, you can see if something from http://www.theskidoc.com/index-sd.htm would work. It says their orbit one won't fit wakeboard towers, but I'm guessing it would depend on how much height off the tower your tow point is. Alternatively, if you have a lower pylon, should fit on there, but obviously won't swivel with the rope, but that might actually be preferred for your use.

I know you don't want to tie a friend up, so instead get them all set up with the camera ready to go (zoomed in etc with instructions) and just ask them to record 5 minutes max once I give the nod. Usually if I mention I'm trying something new and explain why most people are happy to film for a bit, particularly if they know when to shoot, and that they don't have to point the camera the whole time. Totally understand not wanting to tie them up though.

Also, there was a DIY I saw once where they basically made it out of thick wire. I will see if I can find it somewhere.

Not quite what I was thinking but...

http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewto...d8492589e71a07

gopro remote w/ a tracking mount would do you good. set FOV to narrow. 600' range with the waterproof remote. Off/On, Rec/stop, change functions (vid, single, burst)

Tracking mount?

basic camera mount right below tow point. run the rope through it and it will track your side to side movement, may not be necessary with a gopro set on the right FOV

These will be available in the new year. They say that there will be a boat mount.
www.soloshot.com

Not cheap but seems like a good camera with a zoom.

I use a GoPro, that I have mounted on my tower. While you said earlier that you dont like having to have a friend turn it on and off, and while either the app or the remote would fix that problem, I started using a Trace. http://www.traceup.com/ This thing is awesome. You can sync the newer GoPro and some other cameras and it will auto edit for you, if you put the videos in your dropbox. It also does an overlay for you with stats such as speed, height, airtime, etc. I would suggest checking it out, as the auto editing is perfect, and the stats are fun.

Ryan, how do you zoom in? Does the auto editor do that for you?

Not the cheapest but we've zip tied a Gimbal/GoPro setup to the table pole. Doesn't need to zoom or film in wide angle as the gimbal follows the rider back and forth. Perfect for tracking form and seeing what you're doing.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...psffm449ry.jpg

The gimbal follows the rider? What brand / set-up are you using? I'm looking for something like this myself.

Yes the gimbal follows the rider. It's a Feiyu Tech gimbal with a GoPro Hero3/4 that I'm using

What am I missing here..... How does the gimbal follow the rider? A gimble just stabilizes the camera. What makes it go left and right as the rider goes left and right?

its a wearable tag/chip, the gimbal follows it. very cool especially for a gopro where getting the right angle from a fixed mount is interesting at best

Where is this? Can you link to the gimbal and tag/chip combo. Or give the names/models to google?

Where does it say anything about following a tag/chip ? I haven't seen one mention of that anywhere. I see it mentions that you can have an external remote, but the operation of that is manual and not automatic.

Thanks for the info!

this one does, bit different price range
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ld_3_axis.html

there's another one I posted last year, can't remember the name of it tho....

I was talking with a guy at a crawfish boil on saturday, he something similar and seemed to think it would lock on a subject and follow them around. Could control it with his phone

another option, same price range
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...=Y&sku=1325910

Oops my fault about that it does not follow the rider. It just stabilizes the GoPro like you stated. The GoPro seems to shoot wide enough for us to see what we're doing wrong. Here's a clip of the that setup.

https://www.facebook.com/kenneth.dan...8630590543644/

Let me know if ya can see the clip with the link posted

Can't watch, gotta change the privacy settings I think.

I uploaded it to vimeo instead. Let me know if this works instead. I think vimeo compressed my clip

https://vimeo.com/220354290