I was just wondering what you all use for videoing your dogs? For training sessions, I have a Muvi, which is cheap and cheerful. It's very small and clips onto clothing. I've found out recently that it seems to point in the best direction if I turn my cap backwards and clip it onto that - it then points roughly where I'm looking. The quality is good enough for looking at training videos, but that's about it. The biggest downfall is, due to its size (and its cheapness), it doesn't have a screen on it, so you don't know if it's been pointing in the correct direction until you get back home and download your video. In the past, I've also used my old compact camera (Canon G11) set up on a tripod to film sessions, so I can see myself, too. Better quality, you can review immediately, but you have to carry a tripod with you. What do you use, do you carry it in your hand (does it get in the way of clicking/treating?) and how satisfied are you with it? I'm vaguely tempted to get a GoPro with a chest harness. I could use this for ski analysis, too. But, they're very expensive.
Anything hand-held is always going to be a problem (not enough hands for hand cues, clicking, treat delivery etc). I've found the 'OH Cam' to be the best option - although they do need a lot of recharging with tea and cake after use!
Haha! You haven't seen my OH's attempts at videoing. It's great is you want to see a lot of sky and a lot of the ground
My OH is useless too. I have a "normal" cannon video camera, which is very good but requires a hand free of course, so it's no easier than just using my smart phone (which is more usually about my person anyway). Ditto my camera also has a video function. I have a muvi but didn't get on with it, I found the quality very so-so, the buttons difficult to use, memory and battery very limited, and the editing a right pain in the bottom. I now have a gopro....high hopes.....
I like the wide angle on the GoPros, but not sure about how best to attach it. I will use it for skiing, too, and I definitely won't mount it to my helmet (very dangerous because it dramatically reduces the integrity of the helmet), so thinking a chest mount may work for both. I'll be interested to see how you get on with yours - are you going to hold it in your hand?
The mounting options are good. It came with lots of options. You can't really clip it to things, but it comes with loads of stuff - a flat plate, a sort of hand strap, a strap which you can put round your arm, leg or head....I like the hand strap. It leaves your hand free, it mounts on the back of your hand. It looks silly on my head.... I don't like the chest strap, it's going to get in the way of my bag, my treat bag, my whistle....
We love our GoPro. Took some great footage on holiday, although if attaching to your dog best use the GoPro branded harness, lots of cheaper harnesses out there BUT not as robust. At one point after a massive hoolie in the water he came back with the harness and GoPro hanging of his bum! We bought the cheaper, basic Hero model for £99. Uses a micro SD card. The newer more expensive models have wifi, simply download the free GoPro software then you can transfer footage from the GoPro instantly onto any device. Despite having the cheaper model the video footage is fab. The do have loads of different mounts, for any type of activity.The unit itself is very robust in a tough casing so even if it fell off, got submerged would be perfectly fine.
Yup, £99 for a Hero looks pretty good even against other budget cameras....I think my muvi was a waste of money, it would have been much better to have just put it into the saving up for a gopro piggy bank.
For me, I can't see any benefit whatsoever in having wifi transfers, so the Hero could well be all I need. It's come down in price - last time I looked, it was way over £100 - this is good news I wonder if I can have Sealskinz gloves and a GoPro for Christmas....
I have loads of cards that would work, so it would just be the attachments I'd need to get. I'll have a think about it. I think I can work around the whistle/chest strap combo because I already got over that when I had the Muvi on my chest (sadly the angle wasn't wide enough on that for it to be any good there) - I just either keep the whistle in my mouth when I'm going to be using it, or I tuck it in if I'm not. The bag - hmm, yeah. It's fine if I'm staying in one place, because I can just chuck my bag on the floor, but if I'm doing a training walk, then obviously I'll have to wear it. Having said that, Im not sure I'd ever be videoing a training walk. I always take ages to decide whether to buy something.
I have the GoPro3 and GoPro4. The GoPro4 also has higher video quality. Here is a video I shot using the chest mount and a GoPro3 while salmon fishing in Alaska. It works great. Both cameras have wide angle settings so you should be fine. The camera case is water proof so that is always nice with a lab. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqPnZz2GDXs
Now having had time to play with my GoPro (had to wait until Saturday - dratted work is SO inconvenient), I pretty much love it. It's extremely light. I played around with the options for fastening it to me, arm, leg, head, bag...and I like the hand mount. It is much better quality than the muvi. Editing is ok, it could be quicker, and there is a funny thing with GoPro studio where it sort of hangs up and I have to kill it in task manager, then it's ok. I googled this, and it's something to do with the process for automatically importing files, so maybe I can solve it if I play around with the settings. Once GoPro Studio is open, it's very straightforward. Test clip (ignore the fact I was pointing the camera into the sun at one point - that's user error!). vid1 by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr Right, time to see how we do on a Commons walk.....
Very nice quality. Yes, I'd be interested in seeing a clip with greater distance if you can. I use iMovie for editing, and would continue to do that, so the software doesn't bother me. Is yours the Hero or one of the more fancy ones?
Yes, I really must look into more editing software.....the GoPro one (seemed the obvious one to try) is ok-ish... I'll take it on my walk later, and see what it is like properly outdoors.
Well, here are a few clips from my walk tonight (bit like watching paint dry, it was a bog standard walk round a nice, but not thrilling, bit of Wimbledon Common ). Nothing much happened... Although, slightly annoyingly, Flickr cut off the bit at the end when Charlie (as per) had a good wallow in a muddy puddle. I don't know why it does that....maybe a limit on the length of vid you can upload? Or maybe I didn't manage to edit in the final clip. Hmmm.....still learning. At the start, the scene seems sort of "curved", but it doesn't look like that later...I don't know why...I didn't change anything. I had the gopro on the back of my left hand, which was on my bag - just about where my hand would be anyway - and I pretty much ignored it... I'm quite pleased. Processing video on Flickr took ages - not that it's a big problem, I just left it to get on with it. I'm wondering if I should look at other hosting options though... The light was poor. I was walking from 6pm to 7pm, so getting quite dark (ish, anyway). But the vid turned out ok for all that. [vid] common walk by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr
Oh, I missed this earlier! Amazing river! And amazing Salmon! I haven't actually discovered the settings yet....
This is Benson....our choc lab....sporting the basic model GoPro Hero on a cheap harness. Right at the end he ignores the trainer and sprints towards the tunnel...only his GoPro doesn't quite fit through.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfAclGJxvLk
