Camera & Audio Equipment: Chapter 1
Chapter 1- Equipment.
Hi guys,
If you read through my previous post you will know that I plan to release content covering a few different topics and thought that the best way to do this would be by posting chapters on each topic and today I would like to speak about the topic of our equipment that we use when photographing and filming our bikes and the environment around us.
I hope that this information will be useful to you particularly if you are as enthusiastic as me and my good friend Jason are about photography, filming and storytelling in general or maybe this is something that you would like to get into yourself in the future as a hobby.
We are by no means profesional and we only do what we do for fun and we are still learning lots every day so please take what we say as our own objective opinions and know that what works for us may not necessarily work for you, in fact sometimes it doesn't even work for us.
We got most of this gear long before we even had our bikes so we didn't really have anything to film at all, although, we did know at this stage that our end goal was to both gain our motorcycle licenses and get out on the road exploring southern England which can be very pretty, when the weather is right and we thought why not try and record our little adventures and try to get content out that might be entertaining, fun or even possibly informative for you guys.
As always let me know in the comments if you have any questions about this post, our equipment or if you want to see anything in particular in future.
At the end of the article i will post links to where you can buy all of this equipment.
Now let's get into it…
Filming Equipment
Gopro Hero 4 Black
I really love my little Gopro hero 4 black and I would even argue that it is better in some respects than the newer hero 5 and hero 6 models. One of the things that it does better out of the box is the standard audio recording on the device.
There are plenty of Youtube videos with side by side comparisons of the Hero 4 black against the newer models and the standard audio trumps the newer models every time, although when you read further along in this article you will realise that we now use dedicated audio recorders, having the advantage of better in built audio is now not as important to us but is still worth knowing before dropping your hard earned cash on a newer model.
If your content is only recorded in 1080p which most of ours is than i really can't think of many advantages to spending more on the hero 5 or 6.
All in all I think the Gopro range of cameras are really good for the sort of thing we use them for which is POV footage of us riding the bikes mainly.
Camera Stats for Hero 4 Black
Still image resolution 12MP
Image stabilisation: No
720p 120 FPS maximum
1080p 120 FPS maximum
1440p 80 FPS maximum
2.7K 60 FPS maximum
4K 30 FPS maximum
Pros: Cheap option, small form factor, cheaper accessories.
Cons: No image stabilisation, to make waterproof you need accessories.
Gopro Hero 5 Black
Jason bought the hero 5 black after I told him how much I rated my little hero 4 black.
We were both really impressed with the inbuilt image stabilisation and the body of the camera itself which makes it waterproof without requiring it to be placed in a waterproof housing like the older models.
We also agreed that the new accessory ecosystem is better for the hero 5 & 6 cameras and the ability to clip it straight in to the gopro Karma mount is ideal to get even more stable and therefore better quality shots.
It isn't all happy happy days with the Hero 5 black though as Jason was experiencing some problems early on with the already poor audio quality of the camera, in post processing there was a very noticeable clicking sound across all of the footage recorded on the hero 5 which unfortunately made a lot of the footage that we shot totally useless.
A quick check online confirmed that we were not the only ones experiencing these problems so please bare this in mind when considering a purchase.
Again, I will summarize by saying that this, along with the older models of the camera are absolutely perfect for what we use them for which is mainly POV action shots riding our Huskys.
Camera Stats for Hero 5 Black
Still image resolution 12MP
Image stabilisation: Yes.
720p 240 FPS maximum
1080p 120 FPS maximum
1440p 80 FPS maximum
2.7K 60 FPS maximum
4K 30 FPS maximum
Pros Built in image stabilisation, Waterproof out of the box, better slow-mo capability.
Cons Poor audio, more expensive accessories.
GoPro Karma Grip
This nifty little grip is GoPro’s own attempt at a gimbal / stabilizer and i must say that it is very good.
We will use this mainly to get B roll footage of the bikes and scenery around us.
The battery life on this is very good.
Ultimately, I would highly recommend this or even a third party alternative if you want your footage to look better and more professional.
Sony A6000
The sony A6000 is the latest weapon in our arsenal.
We haven't had our hands on this bit of kit for very long so we are not in the best position to review it, however, what I can tell you is that we have used this briefly to take still images and with the 24MP sensor we are really appreciating the extra detail it gives when it comes time to edit especially when you consider that the best we have had up until this stage for photography is a samsung S8+ which while very impressive it has its limits.
We are looking forward to using this a lot more in the coming weeks and experiencing what it is capable of as a video camera… we have high hopes especially as it so capable with low light work which should really help us out with filming content after sunset.
We have lots of plans to go on trips in central London capturing the sites as the sun goes down so watch this space and check out my instagram account.
Camera Stats for Sony A6000
Still image resolution 24MP
Image stabilisation: Yes
Audio Equipment
Zoom H2N
Jason got the Zoom H2N out of necessity really. With the audio problems we were encountering with the Hero 5 it seemed like a no brainer to get dedicated audio sorted and overlay the sound on the video in post production.
After some short preliminary testing it seems like we really made a good choice with the Zoom H2N. The audio quality that we get now blows any of the GoPros capabilities out of the water. While we haven't posted a video of this in the real world yet, we intend to very soon and hopefully you guys will be able to confirm that the audio on our videos has had a massive upgrade.
Røde Video Micro Compact
Jason got this mic to plug in and use with the Hero 5 due to the audio issues we were facing. It has so far performed well enough for us, however, the mic is directional which for us isnt ideal for recording audio while riding the bike. This is why we got the H2N which I spoke about above. This little mic would be brilliant for vlogging or recording music etc.
And that folks, pretty much covers the bulk of the equipment that we use when we are out and about on our bikes. I hope you found it interesting.
If you have any questions relating to any of the products please do let us know in the comments.
As always, if you want to see anything in particular in the future, let us know and we will try our best to make it happen.
All the best,
Team Husky 701
Gopro Hero 4 Black
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=gopro+hero+4+black&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Agopro+hero+4+black
Sony A6000
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sony+a6000
Gopro Karma Grip
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=karma+grip&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Akarma+grip
H2N Audio Recorder
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=h2n&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Ah2n
Rode Video Micro
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rode-VideoMicro-Compact-Camera-Microphone/dp/B015R0IQGW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518011126&sr=8-1&keywords=rode+videomicro