housing in order to withstand adrenching.
Waterproof housings usuallycome as
standard if required, but if you’re looking to
spend time underwater at anydepth, you’ll
need to also invest in a divehousing.
If you’relooking for something to record
vlogs with, you’llalmost certainlywantan
action cam with a forward-facing screen,
as well asthe standard reartouchscreen.
is additionalscreen will allow you to
accurately frame your shots whiletalking to
camera and keep an eye on what’shappening
behindyou. Worthy action cam choices with
in-built screensfront and rear are the DJI
Osmo Action and the GoProHERO9 Black.Several actioncamerascan producemind-blowingfootage and stillsHOW TOMAKE EXCITING VIDEOSFourexpert tips that will help you create fantastic action cam videosCHECK YOUR FRAMING
With a tinyviewscreen, you’re never going
to get a great view of your subject using
your action cam alone. This problem is
compounded when mounting your camera
in a position where you can’t see the
viewscreen at all. Fortunately,you can get
a live and far better view of what’s in shot
by using your camera’s smartphone app,
which will allow you to set up exactly the
framing you need.
CHECK YOUR SETTINGS
With buttons that can switch shooting modes
and a smallscreen with even smaller icons,
when checking your footage it’snot unusual
to find that instead of the video you wanted
to shoot, you’ve got something completely
different,such as a time-lapsesequence
instead. Similarly, it’seasy to have accidentally
switched from shooting the4K video you
were after to a much lower resolution. This
makes it vital to double-check you’re actually
in the correct shootingmode before you hit
the shutter. This isparticularlyimportant
when shooting action sequences,as its
gutting to pulloffsomething special, only to
find you haven’t recorded it as intended.KEEP IT CLEAN
If your camera is getting rained on,splashed,
or there’s mud flying around, it only takes a
single water droplet or thetiniestbit of dirt
on its tiny lens to completely ruin your shot.
This makes keeping a lens cloth on you a very
good idea;failing that,you can use your
sleeve or whatever’shandy to clean the lens.
If you’re in an environment where you knowyour camera will definitely get wet, such as
surfing, giving the lens a good lick will help
prevent water dropletsfrom forming on it.VARYYOUR ANGLES
When it comes to producing engaging action
cam sequences in post-production, unless
you’re capturing something truly spectacular,
a single shot of the action is rarely going to
cut it.If possible, try to cut your sequence
together using footage shot from multiple
angles, or mount the camera in unusual
positions to get interesting perspectives.
Another option is to get a friend to film you
on their phone while you wear your camera
on a chest harness, or similar, to get a first
person POV. With a hugerange of mounts
available,action cameras give you a wealth
of different shooting options.wearing gloves, and it canshrug off the
absolute worst of the elements. Voice control
can bea veryhandy facilityto have too – as
you won’t always havea hand free to start or
stop shooting and you may have positioned
yourcameraout of reach. GoPro’s rangeof
camerasare extremely sturdy and easy to
use, as are the OCLU and DJIOsmo Action.
Helpfully, most action cams usethe same
mounting system, but nevertheless it’s
usuallya goodidea to go with mounts from
more established brands, as they are farless
likely to come loose when you’rehurtling
down a mountain. With a few exceptions,
most cameras will need to befitted inside a
e GoPro camera also hasthe advantage of a
number of dedicated accessories(known as
Mods). ey arehandy for vloggers asthey
enhance the camera’s lighting,sound
recording and video capturing facilities.
Vloggers maywellalso want to choose a
camera that can livestream content straight
to their social media channel.
ere are also a number of action cameras
that can produce mind-blowing footageand
stillsthatcapture everything within a
360-degree radius of their lenses.With
super wide-angle lenses at the front and rear
of the camera body, models such the GoPro
Max and the Insta360 One R Twin Edition
stitch together the twodifferent viewpointsto create 360-degree footage and stills.
Whileyou canonlyview the 360-degree
content withinthe camera’s accompanying
smartphone app or a VRheadset, you can
edit yourstills and video tocreate stunning
360-degree photographs andconventional
video with shifting POVs. ese models can
also capture conventional content by just
usinga single lens, but this is usually at a
lower resolution than regular action cams.48 T 3 JULY 2021
e complete guide to...