Whether you are road biking, speeding down mountain trails, or doing tricks with your BMX, a GoPro camera is the easiest and most lightweight camera that you can use to capture all your exciting action-packed moments for future use. But since cycling is quite a physically demanding outdoor activity, your GoPro might need more than just a selfie stick for it to keep up with all the action. Here are 6 helpful tips that you can keep in mind so you can start filming your cycling adventures like a pro:
Find the right Camera Mount
With both your hands busy gripping the handlebar, you can consider mounting the GoPro on your head, or somewhere on your bike. Finding the right mount for your camera is one of the biggest contributors to getting successful and nicely captured footage of your ride. Depending on the kind of angle you are trying to achieve, many kinds of mounts can give your footage different perspectives.
If you want it in a first-person POV, you can use a helmet mount but just make sure that the helmet has a completely flat surface, and that you wear it tightly. You can also try mounting it on your handlebars, but if you want to experiment more with different perspectives, try going for a mount under the rails of your seat, the downtube, the crossbar, or even the wheels! Then again, make sure that it’s secured and will not get caught on something.
Adjust your Camera Settings
For you to get high-quality footage, make sure you adjust your settings so you can get the most out of it. If you own a GoPro HERO 10, you can select 2.7K at around 240 frames per second (fps) which makes for a good combination of high quality and “editability”. The high fps not only produces more manageable file sizes than 4K footage, but you can have a better chance at grabbing a screenshot of your favorite moments from your videos.
Shoot with your Camera Upside Down
In the case you use a pole mount, experts will tell you to try filming upside down so you can balance it with the weight of the pole to fight gravity. Working your way around gravity can be very useful as it allows your GoPro to be more stable, thus giving you a smoother shot. Keep this trick in mind if you want to improve the overall quality of your footage.
Try shooting vertically or horizontally
For the vlogger cyclists or anyone who just wants to post their content on various social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and others, you may have to think about what you want with your end product and where you want your video to be featured. For example, you might want to try considering filming in the landscape if you are uploading your video on YouTube.
If you are uploading it to Facebook, Instagram, or perhaps TikTok, your footage might look better if you film it in portrait since it better maximizes the vertical phone screen. Either way, both are good as long as you keep the orientation lock off so the screen will just automatically rotate.
Use the GoPro App
The GoPro “Quik” app has tons of cool and useful features that can connect certain functions and settings from your camera to your phone. Your GoPro will be able to connect to your phone through the WiFi connection coming from your camera so, in a way, this can also function as a remote control to take footage with ease. Not only that, but the app will also allow you to download photos and videos from your camera and even edit them through its free editing software feature. Like Facebook and Instagram, it can allow you to select certain video frames that you will screen grab as a photo, you can also add music and many more.
Be ready with Extra Batteries
Similar to other outdoor recreational activities like hiking, your bike ride might also take a long so it is important to bring an extra set of batteries to film everything about your journey with ease. Most GoPro batteries only last a few hours, so if you opted to film your videos in 4K quality, you might only be able to use it for around 70 minutes. With this, if you plan on filming everything about your journey from sunrise to sunset, you will need more than just one battery. You can also try bringing a power bank with you but extra batteries in this case are much more practical.
Aside from the tips mentioned above, you can also try using more than just one GoPro camera to make your footage more lively and real because of the different perspectives. If that is too much of a hassle for you, or if you worry about what might happen along the way, you can just ask your friends to shoot with you so you can enjoy it from the perspective of other people. Have fun!