How do you record?

[Stewdog]

I was wondering how everybody records video?
When I record my bashing videos of my 1/8 scale trucks I just strap my camera to my head and follow the truck. That doesn't seem to look great with the crawler rigs, so I'm looking for better options.
I have a monopod to hold the camera, but not sure how good I will be with driving the truck and running the monopod past it to get a shot. I guess I won't know till I try.
I was thinking about getting a micro tripod as well, but not sure what kind would work best for that type of recording. I would imagine the lower the better for the camera angle...?
I was also looking at the small tripods with the flexible arms and magnetic feet. Maybe those have more options for stabilizing the camera when out in the field trailing/crawling?

What do you guys use for video recording and how do you get your shots/angles?

I appreciate any insight provided!

[Inspector86]

This is something I have been wondering about as well. I would love to see someone shoot a video about shooting crawler videos. Sort of a behind the scenes video if you will.

[ElChupacabra]

If you want to shoot with your phone it's easy. Just use one of these clamped to your transmitter so you can shoot and drive at the same time...



https://www.amazon.com/LUOMULONG-Rea...r+phone+holder

There are more expensive options if you don't want to shoot with your phone and are looking for a camera.

[Ninomaniac]

IMO Crawlers look best shot off a miniature tripod. One of them cheap flexy-feet things. Or get a gorillapod, you can put it on the ground, wrap it around a tree, etc...

(Edit: that is, if you want to "direct" a video. If you just want to film a ride, what he said ^)

[Stewdog]

Originally Posted by ElChupacabra

If you want to shoot with your phone it's easy. Just use one of these clamped to your transmitter so you can shoot and drive at the same time...



https://www.amazon.com/LUOMULONG-Rea...r+phone+holder

There are more expensive options if you don't want to shoot with your phone and are looking for a camera.

That looks like a good idea. I have an action cam, so I would need to find a different style, I think.

@Ninomaniac I think I might get one of those as well because I have two cams and could get two different views.

Thanks for the input guys!
I would still like to hear what anyone else has to say. I'm going to be doing some more researching as well.

[StomperCrawler]

Originally Posted by ElChupacabra

If you want to shoot with your phone it's easy. Just use one of these clamped to your transmitter so you can shoot and drive at the same time...



https://www.amazon.com/LUOMULONG-Rea...r+phone+holder

There are more expensive options if you don't want to shoot with your phone and are looking for a camera.

Great idea! Ima gonna find one on ebay for $4. ;)

[Crawler Cads]

Those rear view mirror phone holders are very fragile, I wouldn't bother... Some of the best crawling vids are by Kisun's who uses his iPhone and Osmo; https://m.dji.com/product/osmo-mobil...0aAqozEALw_wcB
Roystoon 69 uses a GoPro on the deck and nostopinlucr I think fabricated a 2 foot alu drop mount to hang off the TX.
The one thing in common with these three is all their shots are at near ground level which makes a massive difference. I film from above and they're terrible in comparison to those three

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[Topher Builds]

I picked up this off amazon and love it. The flexible legs make it very easy to get the right angle as and they grab onto almost anything you can fit them on. Very happy so far. Here’s a vid I did with this and my phone strapped into it. Of course since it’s stationary you have to move it around, but until I can get a drone to follow this will do haha.

https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Con...a_aw_oh_bia_dp

https://splice.gopro.com/v?id=qyJGAN

[Crazed]

fun video, Splice is an editor?

[Topher Builds]

Thanks Crazed, and yes it’s an app from GoPro (I have an iPhone not sure if on android but should be). Free and comes with a lot of great and easy to use options.

[Crazed]

Cool I have done a lot of real short videos, would be nice to tie them together

[Jim85IROC]

You don't need one of those fancy contraptions to connect your phone to your controller. Just buy a cell phone tripod clamp, which you'll need for your tripod videos anyway, and get one of the $1 clamps from Home Depot. Run a 1/4-20 nut & bolt through the handle of the clamp and you've got yourself a $1 phone mount that you can clamp to your controller.

BUT... unless your phone has good image stabilization, don't expect the video to look great.

For my crawler videos I stick to small ground-level tripods, and for moving images I use a phone gimbal while somebody else drives. I've also got an adjustable clamp that can hold a gopro or cell phone that you can clamp to the vehicle for different shots. Lastly, a 2-axis or 3-axis gimbal mounted to the vehicle can give a great perspective.

[Stewdog]

Would a 3-axis gimbal work for recording that low stuff at the end of a selfie stick connected to the bottom of a controller?

[Oh How Original]

Hmm, where to begin, I have my DSLR with full sized tripod for the bigger stuff.
I have my Joby GorillaPod which is also good for the DSLR (the bigger one is anyway) plus it's good for the GoPros.
I have a Hero 4 Silver and Hero 4 Session which are great for the transmitter and onboard stuff.
The GoPros are easy to mount, I just use bicycle seat clamps, they work great for caged vehicles, I actually have some 'how-to' videos about this on my YouTube channel.
For low shots, I usually tend to use extension arms, I buy the multipack ones, which in the UK, tend to come in 3 different lengths, then you can adjust to where ever you want, it can hang as low as you need it to.
There is lots of options, depending on budget... I personally don't use a gimbal, I find them quite unreliable, at least from all the footage I have seen, so you're better off doing image stabilizing in post process editing.
At least in my own experience.

[DavidH]

I simply cannot watch the head-mount-type videos, as they make me nauseous in seconds.

For my videos I use a selfie stick grip on a gopro clamp; I used a piece of abs and a 1/4" bolt to interface them together.



I used a Samsung Note 4 for this video.

https://youtu.be/pafiVLZTtas

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by Stewdog

Would a 3-axis gimbal work for recording that low stuff at the end of a selfie stick connected to the bottom of a controller?

It could, but unless you're running something to control the pan and tilt you're going to be somewhat limited in what you can shoot.

[Stewdog]

Thanks for the info guys!!

@ Oh How Original what's not reliable about the gimbals, that you have found?

Originally Posted by Jim85IROC

It could, but unless you're running something to control the pan and tilt you're going to be somewhat limited in what you can shoot.

I think I need to go study up on gimbals.
I thought the gimbal controlled that? Is the issue that it doesn't follow the truck properly when moving?

[Stewdog]

Haha, this is why I'm looking for a new way to do things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxO5...ature=youtu.be

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by Stewdog

Thanks for the info guys!!

@ Oh How Original what's not reliable about the gimbals, that you have found?




I think I need to go study up on gimbals.
I thought the gimbal controlled that? Is the issue that it doesn't follow the truck properly when moving?

It depends on what you mean. My handheld Xiomi gimbal has a number of different modes. One acts like the type of 3 axis gimbal that you have on drones, so that the camera always looks straight ahead no matter what's going on. Another mode allows it to turn side to side when I rotate the gimbal handle. This allows me to track whatever I'm trying to film. The gimbal also has a joystick that lets me pan and tilt. This is a necessity to me because when I'm trying to film my RC on the ground, I don't necessarily want the gimbal all the way down on the ground facing straight out horizontally. I like to be a foot or 2 off the ground, with the camera aimed at a downward angle toward the vehicle. I know that the 3 axis gimbals for drones can be controlled via the remote for pan and tilt, but to try and utilize that for a handheld application could get convoluted. I've got a cheap servo controller that I'm going to try and use to control tilt on the 3 axis gimbal that I mount to the roof of my RCs, but I'm not sure whether that will be worth the effort yet.

[Stewdog]

Originally Posted by Jim85IROC

It depends on what you mean. My handheld Xiomi gimbal has a number of different modes. One acts like the type of 3 axis gimbal that you have on drones, so that the camera always looks straight ahead no matter what's going on. Another mode allows it to turn side to side when I rotate the gimbal handle. This allows me to track whatever I'm trying to film. The gimbal also has a joystick that lets me pan and tilt. This is a necessity to me because when I'm trying to film my RC on the ground, I don't necessarily want the gimbal all the way down on the ground facing straight out horizontally. I like to be a foot or 2 off the ground, with the camera aimed at a downward angle toward the vehicle. I know that the 3 axis gimbals for drones can be controlled via the remote for pan and tilt, but to try and utilize that for a handheld application could get convoluted. I've got a cheap servo controller that I'm going to try and use to control tilt on the 3 axis gimbal that I mount to the roof of my RCs, but I'm not sure whether that will be worth the effort yet.

I think I get it, You only get one view with the gimbal and you can't change it to look up towards the truck or down on the truck. You also can't get a pan without physically panning it yourself...? I feel like there should be some usable footage from something like that, but maybe not worth the cost of the gimbal.

So, you must have the v2 Xiaomi gimbal? I was looking at the v1 due to the price tag.

I wonder if a gimbal on a head mount would be any good for my go fast RC's? Probably the same issues, but being able to stabilize would be great. I should look into the image stabilization in the video editor again. I didn't like the effect it had last time I used it, but will try it again.

Thanks again for the info!