sjanzeir

First of all, I'd like to apologize if I broke any rules posting about this here; I didn't know where else to post about it.

So, I've been meaning to get into this whole action cam thing for a while now. So, last week, I finally traded my disused, like-new Canon Powershot S200 for a slightly used Polaroid Cube.

With no mounting accessories readily available, I struggled for ways to fasten the Cube to my person or to the bike at first. But then I decided to just finagle something from whatever I had lying around the house. I used a length of old tube and tied it around the holes on the top of my helmet, and used that to secure the camera. I slid a felt disk underneath for a more secure fit against the helmet's slippery smooth surface, and a piece of PVC pipe above the camera to keep the knot from accidentally pressing the control button:







So, here's my first action cam video ever. I hope you enjoy it. Any advice, comments, or pointers are much appreciated. Watch me get dropped like a rock at 29:00

Dan Burkhart 

Interesting hack on the camera mount.
A couple of suggestions on the video if I may.
45 minutes is far too long for any ride video. Viewers will seldom stay engaged for more than 2 or 3.
I try to keep my ride videos to a max of 4 minutes, although I do have some longer, my analytics show average view duration to be about half the length of the video.
Also, try inserting text to indicate points of interest along your ride.

_ForceD_

Kudos on (re)using an old tube. I keep all my old tubes in a pile under my workbench and they get used for all kind of things. The other day I needed about 2-feet more length on a garden hose just to get the water to run where I needed it. I just cut an old tube and tied it to the end of the hose. Perfect! Good video BTW.

Dan

awesomeame

You need this:

Dual-Lock? Reclosable Fasteners

One square inch of that stuff will easily hold your camera in place, and not look as crazy as your current setup. But A+ for ingenuity!

Also, agree on length of vid, no one is going to watch for 45min.

Matt

sjanzeir

Agreed. My mom is the only person that I know who sat down and watched the entire video! This kind of advice is what I needed, and is why I labeled it as a test video. Based on your great advice, I am going to reedit the video down to the highlights, hopefully bringing it down to well below 10 minutes.

As for old tubes, I never through that stuff away; there are virtually no limits to what one could use them for. I use an old tube to tie stuff down whenever I use my wife's 24" trike to get groceries or replace empty cooking gas cans. Just yesterday, one of the rubber rests at the bottom of my laptop went missing; I cat a pair of pieces of old tube to size, glued them together to get the right thickness, and glued them in place of the missing original.

By the way, is there any better/easier-to-use software than VideoPad? I've tried a few others and didn't feel comfortable using them. This is coming from someone who has a BA in TV production (but who never actually worked in the field.) My training on video editing in college was hardware-based, and mostly on prehistoric U-matic machines; by the time I graduated at Yarmouk University's College (Department in those days) of Journalism in the mid-1990s, we were barely getting a crack at Betacam. Most of my working experience was in print journalism.

Dan Burkhart 

For a very basic, user friendly editing program, it's hard to beat Windows movie Maker. Unfortunately, Windows 10 does not have this function. I use Windows 7 and it works great.
It does not have many of the bells and whistles of other editing programs, and eventually, I will move on to something else. Just that everything else has a huge learning curve, and so far, I have not been able to make the time to learn it.
Here's an example of a ride video made in Movie Maker. It has text and background music. Still too long at nearly 7 minutes. I see places that I should have clipped shorter.

rob214

my suggestion, the vids i like best use a chest mount. i just don't like the helmet view just to high.

sjanzeir

Hello everyone,

I just edited the video down to just over seven minutes:


I used VideoPad. It took me some time to master the various functions, but it got easier as I went along. Tell me what you think!

Squeeze

Pretty neat. Thanks for posting this.

I've been thinking of getting a camera like that to use as a dashcam in my car and on the bike when I ride. I just googled the Polaroid Cube (didn't think Polaroid was even in business anymore) and I see prices have come down to reasonable levels these days. The last time I looked at GoPro cameras, they cost a few hundred bucks.

sjanzeir

Being new to this whole action video thing, I preferred to start out with something cheap and simple in lieu of jumping right in with a pricey, fully featured GoPro. And I was wary of getting me one of those cheap Chinese no-brand "GoPro knockoffs," so this Polaroid was just the ticket. In fact, I'm thinking of "upgrading" to the Cube+ (which is tempting, given that it's "only" 499 riyals at Jarir!) It's got WiFi, which means I can control it from my phone, so there's that.

rumrunn6

the bow is a nice touch. doesn't the cube have a set of mounts you can buy?

sjanzeir

Yes...

No - not off the shelf locally, that is. While places like Jarir would stock the camera, they wouldn't seem to want to waste precious shelf space on such low-demand items as action cam accessories. I did ask the salesman if they had any, and he told me outright that I had to order my accessories online. The situation is slightly better with GoPros and Chinese knockoffs, but those are whole different levels anyway (for better or worse.)

Dan Burkhart 

Now that's what I'm talkin about. Much more watchable length, and the text showing points of interest goes a long way to keeping the viewer engaged.

sjanzeir

Thank you, Dan! I actually had a lot of fun editing this video! It did take a couple of days, but it was well worth it, and it did jog my memory as to what I had learned in college way back when. Now that I've come to know a few things, it'll probably take me a much shorter while to edit my next video (which I've already shot and is waiting to be edited!) Thanks for all the advice!

coominya

Great, now why not delete the first one. It's like... watching paint dry

sjanzeir

Done!

rumrunn6

OK well good luck finding an alternative mount if you decide to look. I think it's kinda dumb that it doesn't have a standard camera screw. I like my Polaroid sport cam but would like something smaller. the cube is tempting but it's not waterproof & won't work w my mounts

coominya

Well done

sjanzeir

Is this what you were talking about?



I found it at Jarir. I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm worried that with the groove running down the center of the helmet, the the bottom half's adhesion won't be that strong to begin with:



I'm still thinking up a workaround that doesn't involve buying a new helmet (or a new camera, for that matter.) The best idea I could come up with so far is to stick a felt tab over the groove, and then stick the bottom half of the dual-lock on top of that.

awesomeame

Yeah, that's the stuff! From looking at your pic at the top of this thread, I don't think you need to worry about putting dual lock inside the groove. If you put a strip on either side of the groove, your camera is wide enough that it will engage both strips. This stuff is really strong, you don't need much. Just make sure to prep the surface so the adhesive sticks well...I'd recommend cleaning with isopropyl alcohol..that'll get rid of any sweat oils, wax or anything else.

Matt

sjanzeir

Tell me what you think! This one's even shorter than the first - no paint drying or grass growing or water boiling - I promise!

sjanzeir

New setup, based on Matt's idea:















I've shaken and stirred the helmet as violently as I could, and both the camera and power bank stayed in place. I have yet to test things out in the real world, though.

rumrunn6

surprisingly interesting video. got one word for ya: CO2

ok maybe a cpl more words: Genuine Innovations G2673 Air Chuck Elite Inflator

I use it with schrader valves but I think it works with presta too

sjanzeir

I know. I know.

sjanzeir

I haven't uploaded any videos since... last year, actually! Damn!