Does anybody get any decent footage with go pro or other action cams, when mounted on kites or boards, deciding if i should get one i imagine the footage would be shakey at best?
The best footage is from someone else taking pics, better to invest in a an slr and slab of beers and rope in a mate to take some pics
You can get some good images (photos) from line mounts. But once you have done it once the novelty is over and camera sits in cupboard for the rest of its life or you strap it to your dog...
It depends what you're after and what you're expecting. Riding back and forth with a line mount isn't too bad, but as soon as you start doing tricks or flicking the kite around it tends to slide to the unwatchable side of things.
You can get some good shots with a Go-Pro but as other people have already said those shots mostly come from someone else filming you with it.
The easiest way is to ride up and down in front of Rowdy. Eventually he will give up and film you just so that you are happy and bugger off 
PS. GoPro for sale, never used
Your best bet is to have multiple go pros to cover every angle.
Here is a pic of Rowdy with his typical set up. 
lol
Select to expand quoteaxion said..
The best footage is from someone else taking pics, better to invest in a an slr and slab of beers and rope in a mate to take some pics
exactly this. even when someone else is holding your GO PRO on the beach its basicly useless footage. only way ive been able to get any decent photage is messing about with a cheap $10 plastic tripod weighing it down at a flatwater spot and putting it few dozen yards out into the water. pain in the ass mounting it to n anchored buoy with a post in it works aswell but you gotto dick about with it all trying to get it not to rotate around etc. best bets to get some sorta bamboo or stick that you can just dig deep enough into the middle the dam/river/lake so it doesnt move then attach it to that kinda creates a hazard for others but yea
best off with a misso and a dslr
misses and i treat camera duty as a begrudgeing gift bit like chocolate or flowers if you **** up you just fork out a "will stand in waist deep water and film you kiteing" card
The 3 type of perspectives that I think are the cleanest are:
1. The beach perspective, if you don't have a cameraman the Solo Shot 3 is coming out up to X65 optical zoom
What a strange promo for the solo shot camera, the video does not show any images taken from the camera itself Just images of the camera tracking. Promo is targeting the technology and not the end result...
its not rubbish if you are implying that, 4K video up to x65 optical zoom, have a look on YouTube for some user results.
Select to expand quotemarkus86 said..
its not rubbish if you are implying that, 4K video up to x65 optical zoom, have a look on YouTube for some user results.
No not at all, just that they have got caught up selling the tracking technology and forgotten the end result. Even their web site only has one short time lapse video and none from the standard tracking.
A mate bought a go pro mouth mount - kinda like a mouthgaurd with a go pro on the end. He used it to kite right in close, follow down the line or go on top of the wave when we were going down. Thought he had some awesome footage until he realised it was on photo mode. Never bothered again. Something to try - your head should be nice and steady and leaves your hands free. Also your filming someone else not yourself.
I got given a go pro for Christmas. Learnt you need a few photos, scenery and other angles to make a good vid since then. If you are prepared to stop and change mounts ( board, chest, wrist, lines etc) grab a few stills and random stuff, it's a good way to make a vid of a trip or couple of sessions.
A few years ago I got keen on the GoPro.
Here is a clip showing about as many angles as I could come up with. Will give you some idea if you think its your thing or not.
My go pro footage just sits in the 'waiting to be edited "file - and will probably never will be - most is boring as !! what is the best editing software to get some value out of the electrons I have saved away??
B'nuts footage - and the one handed inside the barrel shows I need some more time on the water - a lot more time!!
But that said I have go pro footage from when I learnt 6 years ago and the progression till now - and its kind of encouraging to look back to where I was when I was 47 !!
Select to expand quoteKozzie said..
best off with a misso and a dslr
misses and i treat camera duty as a begrudgeing gift bit like chocolate or flowers if you **** up you just fork out a "will stand in waist deep water and film you kiteing" card
Hey guys - what's the back pole like mount for GoPro that shows you kiting from behind? But has to give you hands free control of the bar?
I've done the gopro thing ... and am at the point that unless conditions are freakishly awesome, or a novel spot, am kinda over it.
Helmet mount is easy and out of the way, but the extreme fisheye flattens surf so much that you'll be bummed....that "head high" wave looks waist high at best. (Plus, if you get lucky enough to actually have someone taking pics from the beach, the nerd factor of that camera on your head means you will not be in their viewfinder 
)
Strut mount is fun, like having drone footage, can see the scenery. Also nicely out of the way.
I have a line mount but haven't experimented with it much yet. A friend using one said it's effect on kite performance is noticeable, in underpowered conditions. I also don't like potential to interfere with lines or safety system (filming yourself is fun and all, but not if it potentially screws up that epic session).
You can put gopro on a selfie stick, hold it along bar then once in a good spot, pull it out and film yourself as long as you can fly one-handed. I tried to do this in 30kt gusty winds though and just about pulled my arm out of its socket. You can also stick the selfie stick inside wetsuit back or impact vest, and get the looking down angle.
A gopro rule to follow: do a quick edit of your footage within 24 hours or consider it gone forever, you'll never want to watch it later! What I do is a quick skim through first and make notes of the times for shots want to save. Then do a quick rough edit. I used windows movie maker but found it had hassles with file formats....so I bought corel video studio, pretty cheap, works well. There's lots of good programs out there, should be easy to use. I hear iMovie is good.
Two strategies for editing: 1) hoping people might actually watch it: short shots, varied angles, only the highlights, under 2 minutes, preferably under 1:30. or 2) assume you are the only person who will ever watch it all the way through, keep all the long shots you like, and know that you'll like the coolest oldie in the home some day.
Another gopro rule: go buy the cheapest big external hard drive you can find. You will find out quickly why new hard drives are now in TERAbytes.
Select to expand quotejuandesooka said..
I've done the gopro thing ... and am at the point that unless conditions are freakishly awesome, or a novel spot, am kinda over it.
My personal opinion is that I'd rather have the footage to go back and review rather than decide beforehand whether it's filmable. I'm mainly using it for personal learning though. Select to expand quoteA gopro rule to follow: do a quick edit of your footage within 24 hours or consider it gone forever, you'll never want to watch it later! What I do is a quick skim through first and make notes of the times for shots want to save.
This. Reviewing the footage while it is still fresh in your mind and making notes with timings is really crucial. You can put off the whole editing process until later if you like, as long as you have good notes.
Select to expand quoteLoftywinds said..
Hey guys - what's the back pole like mount for GoPro that shows you kiting from behind? But has to give you hands free control of the bar?
good for wave rideing terrible for anything that requires any sort of skill. youll love it lofty :) but seriously folks any sort of slack line flying and you DO NOT want a line around this thing. theres no breakaway clips or nothing your toast so no rolls flips nuda
GoPro are great cameras, but photography of all kinds is about the photographer and not about the camera.
You can take your GoPro out and get some shots. Some will be stunning. Most will be blah. You can take the most stunning shots and edit them together, and end up with a video that is as boring as bat shot.
So if you want to create some fantastic kitesurf footage, buy a GoPro, then devote your life to it for the next several years and get really good at it ... then think of something really, really special that will give your videos an edge and do that.
Select to expand quoteGorgo said..
... then think of something really, really special that will give your videos an edge and do that.
like take up flying because even bombing out over a dirtpan looks like some sort of awesome documentary :D
Soon, there will be following drones with 20+ min flight time at affordable prices. There are even some hexa-octacopters which can fly almost 60 mins. I am sure GoPro is investing in this. There are already at least 2 projects on kickstarter, 1 is even waterproof. U will be able to program it how that thing will fly around u while u drive, how far from u, autoangle for precise shooting etc etc. It could even have sensors to self avoid obstacles.
Google "Lily drone" and "AirDog" if u haven't heard of this.
Best thing is, when battery gets low, they don't just fall down, it's auto tracked back to u :)
I feel the same about the Go Pro, it's a toy and after a couple of tries the footage gets boring and the camera will collect dust. That's why I rather invest the cash into another board or similar that brings me more joy until the more sophisticated drones will come (and likely get snared in my lines first thing).
I've always thought it would be great to strap a gopro to a buoy. Then tell everyone as they're setting up to throwdown huge tricks over the top of the buoy.
I've never actually done it though.
You need a pretty decent computer to edit HD video without losing your mind though.
This is a hidden cost since without heavy editing it will all be unwatchable.
Hey, Has anyone tried a go pro with a Skord Mount in the waves?. I am looking for something that keeps a constant horizon through the kite turns, though not sure if the price (US129 + 35 shipping!) is worth it. Haven't seen any footage from a Skord mount in waves with quick kite turns so if anyone has any it would be great to see.
