Show Your Motovlogging Setup!

[F4celess]

I created this from various arms bought on dealextreme, probably not the most sturdy materials so I'll use a tether to secure it. But I like it so far. Compact, adjustable and doesn't build too far out from the front. Mic is a 2€ lavalier mic and foam deadcat also bought on DX, tucked into the cheekpad in a room around the chinstrap attachment point. It's prone to get wind noise and peaking currently so I'll probably replace it with a proper mic when I get going.

 

[Superballs]

I like the flexibility that mount offers, lets you get some side shots and dare I say rearward?

I just picked my comparison vids to determine if the deadcat made a positive difference in my setup or not.

 

[F4celess]

I like the flexibility that mount offers, lets you get some side shots and dare I say rearward?

I just picked my comparison vids to determine if the deadcat made a positive difference in my setup or not.

Yep, though it is quite stiff so I can't just change the angle that much on the fly, however, it will adjust both up and down easily when facing forward.

 

[Superballs]

So, I've had some delays in uploading my comparison vid. Hoping to have it exported tonight.

Busy day yesterday. Found out we are having a little girl in December.

I'm actually a bit on the fence regarding the dead at at speed, I am convinced at normal road speeds though.

I think there comes a point where, unless we dead cat our entire helmet, it will end up transferring wind noise to the mic no matter how well shielded the mic itself is.

 

[HippoDrone]

You currently have your mic strapped to the chin piece, I bet if you had it a few mm away from it then the wind noise would be reduced considerably

 

[Superballs]

I'm wondering if a thin piece of foam between the mic and the chin strap would help. The dead kitten is already all up in my face so I don't have much room left to work with. I'm going to do some tests at the 80-100km mark as well since most of my blogging at speeds will be there. I only did the 140kmh thing by request.

One thing I will mention. In the comparisons that I have. The video without I was only doing 120km/h vs 140kmh with. Not sure it's entirely fair. My challenge right now is coming up with fair comparisons.

 

[Superballs]

I'll have my comparison uploaded shortly, it's just exporting right now.

 

[Superballs]

Ok, I've uploaded the file.

First half is on E.C. Row Expressway, footage was taken the other day (with shield) and taken from my road rage vlog (without).

The second half is at regular road speeds. Once northbound (with deadcat) and the other southbound (without) on the same street.

I tried to be as fair as possible with my comparisons.

I'll let you guys be the judge. I find the best improvements were found at low speeds, and helmet noise is responsible for the bulk of the noise at high speeds, more than wind hitting the mic directly.

 

[RealSteveB]

My current setup. I have my Contour+2 on my helmet with a Olympus ME15 mic. I usually have another camera with a mini tripod in my backpack or in the pass seat. I go on photoshoots I the area so I have a backpack for my Canon camera.

 

[Superballs]

My current setup. I have my Contour+2 on my helmet with a Olympus ME15 mic. I usually have another camera with a mini tripod in my backpack or in the pass seat. I go on photoshoots I the area so I have a backpack for my Canon camera.View attachment 2657

How is that 50mm Macro Lens? I've got the f1.8 50mm and love it. My macro work is done with a Sigma 105mm OS Macro, which is fantastic, but can be heavy. I can imagine with the 50mm, you have to get right up close, but you can get right up close, where I need about 15" to properly focus. What lens is that on the camera? Is it the 55-250mm EF-S? Hard to tell with the lens hood on.

Here are a couple of my Macros:

 

[RealSteveB]

The one on the camera is a 70-300mm. It's great up to about 275 then it gets a lil hazy. My macro is ok, wish it was longer but it does take great shots, Ive used it actually for some portrait shots primarily. Seems counter intuitive but works great.

 

[2WV]

Wow, nice set up. I just have a iphone 7+... they rave that they're as good as a DSLR in certain scenarios or some shit. I highly doubt that though. But it works for me. Maybe in the future i will invest in something a bit more professional. Can you recommend something thats affordable but gives outstanding results?

 

[RealSteveB]

Wow, nice set up. I just have a iphone 7+... they rave that they're as good as a DSLR in certain scenarios or some shit. I highly doubt that though. But it works for me. Maybe in the future i will invest in something a bit more professional. Can you recommend something thats affordable but gives outstanding results?

I always recommend Canon Rebel. It's their smaller series of DSLR but still capable of producing images that can be printed on like 20" or bigger. Nikon also has a line of consumer DSLR, but I'm partial to Canon. God help my bank account if they ever make a action cam

Modern phones like the IPhone 7 and Pixel take damn good pictures, but they're no DSLR. The phones can replace most point and shoots like Canon's powershot series but not the DSLRs.

 

[2WV]

Ahh thank you very much very informative!

 

[Panotaker]

After 10 years with the same helmet, I decided to treat myself this year. This is my new helmet. A Shoei RF-1200, with a Sony FDR-X3000 4K action cam sitting on top of it. The microphone is a Sony ECM-CS3 lapel mic, that I took completely apart, all the way to just the two stereo mic elements, and I stuff those into the left cheek pad of the helmet. The intercom setup is the Sena 20S, which lets me make phone calls while riding, and I listen to audiophile quality music through the Etymotic ER4SR studio reference earphones. The other camera I carry is the Sony RX100V which is mounted on a Crane M 3 axis gimbal. The iPad is monitoring my driveway with a Nest Outdoor Camera, that lets me know if anybody is walking around where they are not supposed to be.

 

[Superballs]

The one on the camera is a 70-300mm. It's great up to about 275 then it gets a lil hazy. My macro is ok, wish it was longer but it does take great shots, Ive used it actually for some portrait shots primarily. Seems counter intuitive but works great.

Macros tend to be fantastic for portrait shots. I actually use it fairly often outside where there is room. Though if I want to reduce depth of field for portraits (macros are fantastic for this up close but not so much at a distance), I will use the f1.8 50mm, which honestly should be in every photographer's bag due to its low cost and great ability. What's the max aperture on your macro? I think mine is f2.8.

 

[Superballs]

Wow, nice set up. I just have a iphone 7+... they rave that they're as good as a DSLR in certain scenarios or some shit. I highly doubt that though. But it works for me. Maybe in the future i will invest in something a bit more professional. Can you recommend something thats affordable but gives outstanding results?

Start with an entry level Canon or Nikon. I shoot Canon, bit it was based on the fact that the kit I got offered the best bang for my buck. Once you choose a brand and start buying lenses you end up kind of brand committed unless you can sell all your gear at not too much of a loss.

One thing to remember though and I don't know in detail with Nikon, is to remember that entry level cameras usually have a 1.6 crop factor and there are currently tly two lines of lenses with Canon Cameras (and likely Nikon). EF-S lenses are calibrated with the crop factor in mind so a 50mm EF-S lens on a Rebel will have a focal length of 50mm but a 50mm EF lens (like my previously mentioned 50mm f1.8 lens) will act like an 80mm lens. This can be good or bad depending on your situation. This also means my 105mm Sigma lens which is designed for full frame 35mm sensors will act like a 170mm (approx...105 x 1.6 if you want a precise number).

Cell phones are great for snapshots...family photo album type fare. If you buy into the "megapixels are the end all be all" marketing then they certainly do seem impressive.

Your iPhone will take a fine picture. In ideal lighting (protip: for spectacular photos try taking your shots within the first hour of sunlight or the last two hours of sunlight with the sun behind you) a modern cell phone camera will take a fine picture. But...they don't shoot in RAW format.

Why is that important? Well there is a lot more room for error with RAW photos. You can gain a lot more detail by playing with exposure levels in Photos hop or Light room that once compressed to JPEG are lost forever.

Take this photo that I took on one of my first long shoots, and my first time using RAW:

I managed to recover a lot of details that were blown out highlights. Then cropped the living crap out of it to get the composition I felt was strongest. Then noise reduction then output to my cameras actual photo size (light room resizing is fantastic).

That much work with a cell phone image would not have stacked up to these final results.

If you want...I'll show you my fireworks stills as well that rely on manually setting up your shutter speeds. Photos of fireworks on a cell phone will never be spectacular.

 

[2WV]

Interesting stuff..

 

[CDA441]

Because Photobucket now asks about €/$400 for hosting on third party sites, I now use imgur.
Also: new helmet & visor.

Second photo shows how I mounted the microphone into the flip up part of the helmet
I now record in 1920x1080 60fps in XAVC format, but that makes the files 3x bigger, but weird enough it's faster to render...

 

[SighBored]

My current setup. I have my Contour+2 on my helmet with a Olympus ME15 mic. I usually have another camera with a mini tripod in my backpack or in the pass seat. I go on photoshoots I the area so I have a backpack for my Canon camera.View attachment 2657

Wow that is A LOT of gear to carry!

Ok, I've uploaded the file.

First half is on E.C. Row Expressway, footage was taken the other day (with shield) and taken from my road rage vlog (without).

The second half is at regular road speeds. Once northbound (with deadcat) and the other southbound (without) on the same street.

I tried to be as fair as possible with my comparisons.

I'll let you guys be the judge. I find the best improvements were found at low speeds, and helmet noise is responsible for the bulk of the noise at high speeds, more than wind hitting the mic directly.

I think without the cat sounds better to me, as it feels more "open" to the ambient noises from your surroundings, the cat sort of muffs the world around you, if you get what I mean. I would just use an editor to clean up some of the wind noise from the no cat footage and call it a day. You want people to be able to hear you, and also hear the surroundings, feel the speed as they tag along for the ride.