How to use/mount a GoPro Fusion 360 or any other 360º camera

[Razor1972]

Hi there Hubbers. 

Have any of you used a 360 camera doing mountain biking? I am looking at buying one, because I've have seen some nice videos of guys doing mtb and wondering how you manage to mount the camera away from their bike. Any other advice regarding these cameras you can give? Are they worth it to get those unusual videos?

Thanks

[capediver]

49 minutes ago, Razor1972 said:

Hi there Hubbers. 

Have any of you used a 360 camera doing mountain biking? I am looking at buying one, because I've have seen some nice videos of guys doing mtb and wondering how you manage to mount the camera away from their bike. Any other advice regarding these cameras you can give? Are they worth it to get those unusual videos?

Thanks

Ha....be careful is all I say....so to get the most out of a 360 camera, you need to mount it away from you and the bike as you say...on your head is cool...once....then it gets boring cause there's no reference in the shot.

I've had one taped to top tube and extended out front on a retractable pole but you need to be real careful:

Helmet mount with short pole also possible but needs break away point if you plan or don't plan to face plant!

Back pack mount also works but looks a bit weird....

Drone works as well for B roll....

 

Oh and look after those lenses....

 

Hand held works well for gravel and road

Check out my channel, plenty of samples there...

[Razor1972]

5 hours ago, capediver said:

Ha....be careful is all I say....so to get the most out of a 360 camera, you need to mount it away from you and the bike as you say...on your head is cool...once....then it gets boring cause there's no reference in the shot.

I've had one taped to top tube and extended out front on a retractable pole but you need to be real careful:

Helmet mount with short pole also possible but needs break away point if you plan or don't plan to face plant!

Back pack mount also works but looks a bit weird....

Drone works as well for B roll....

 

Oh and look after those lenses....

 

Hand held works well for gravel and road

Check out my channel, plenty of samples there...

Thanks fo this. I must say that some angles that show the path bending in a u-turn looks very weird. And you're right, the backpack one is odd. I like how wide the angle is of the lense, allowing it to capture the whole rider with the surroundings.

[capediver]

30 minutes ago, Razor1972 said:

Thanks fo this. I must say that some angles that show the path bending in a u-turn looks very weird. And you're right, the backpack one is odd. I like how wide the angle is of the lense, allowing it to capture the whole rider with the surroundings.

Yip, trial and error... if you mount it on chesty harness, you can use it in single lens option as well, it does have a lower res (1440k) than after reframing the 360 footage (2.7k) but has wider field of view and stabilisation is good. The only pain with managing the video direct from the Max is that you first have to convert it via GoPro Player app as they have their own proprietary codec and its not readable by most of the usual video editors like FCP and Premier Pro...so first you convert then import into video editor then reframe using the GoPro plugin for FCP and PP...so this will take it from 5.6k converted footage down to 2.7k in your editor for "flat" videos but you have the advantage of being able to pan all around and chose your shot using key frames.

So also look at the Insta360 X3, has similar specs to GoPro Max BUT imports directly to FCP or PP without having to convert first...you still need the GoPro plugin to reframe and it still goes down to 2.7K but you saved that step of converting which can be time consuming. Their mobile app for making quick edits on the go is great and they constantly updating firmware. Form factor of the X3 is a little better I have found and the stitching of the footage from both lenses into one video seems a bit better.

Having said all that, GoPro are expected to launch a new Max soon and they may address this as the Insta360 X3 has fast caught up with the Max which was King of the 360 prosumer hill for a long time!

Another option is the Hero 10/11 combined with the Max Mod lens (which is basically one of the lenses from the max that mounts onto the Hero camera in place of the normal lens it comes with), which allows for horizon levelling...ie footage remains level no matter how you rotate the camera, massive stabilisation and great FOV (not quite the same as single lens on the Max) but no 360 option obviously. Bonus is you can remove the lens and use normal lens for 5.6k footage as well and import direct with no conversion into any editor. And you can replace it if it gets scratched, something that you cannot do for both X3 and Max, they become paperweights if you scratch any lens (the supplied lens protectors don't work, there's always a soft focus look to the footage).

So now that you know all that and the experience I have had with both, which one should you get? The Max is great and you can always use it in single lens mode so you get 2 cameras in one, same for X3...but having the Hero version with Max Mod is always my main choice...especially for MTB and surfing....BTW water loves curved lens and there is no way around that but its really bad with a 360 camera.

My 2 c's...good luck and welcome to the entrance of the rabbit hole!