I seem to have stumbled upon the ultimate mounting point for a GoPro. Putting it in the spotlight well of the front bumper allows you to capture a sensation of speed really well without having to go too fast. It also allows awesome close ups when filming another car! I left 'spot mode' on and the video was filmed and saved at 60fps. We filmed for over an hour and interestingly, the best shots weren't necessarily the fastest, but seemed to be the slower, closer shots. However the bigger the difference in speed between the camera car and the car being filmed - the faster the shot looks!
Aston Martin Vantage AMV8
Filmed from low down in the spotlight well of the front bumper as before
The footage I took yesterday with the GoPro in the spotlight recess turned out to be really jumpy once saved and uploaded. I believe this is due to how it was saved once it had been edited. Even though the video was shot in 60fps, the default setting for windows movie maker live was to save it at 30fps. I opened the project again, changed all the resolution to high-res quality and changed it from 30fps to 60fps which seems to have made a massive difference when the video is played back:
Footage shot at 60fps but saved at 30fps as on previous post - very jumpy
Same footage shot and saved at 60fps which is much clearer and smoother
I am still to find out exactly how spot mode works. However I have taken two lots off footage, one with the spot mode on, and one with the spot mode off. I wanted to mount the camera on the outside of the car this time, but didn't want to risk damaging the bodywork. So I removed one of the spotlight covers and used a 3M adhesive pad to fix a GoPro mount to the bumper. This way the cover can be replaced with the GoPro still mounted. Running a 3.5mm extension cable through the cabin and engine bay allows you to get the best of both worlds - vivid colours from an externally mounted GoPro and a 'rally-car' sound track from an external Olympus ME-51s condenser mic mounted under the boot lid near the exhaust.
GoPro mounted behind spotlight cover in Subaru 22B front bumper
Spot mode seems to give much more vivid colours - a bluer sky and greener more detailed trees and hedges for example. The road does look far more detailed with the spot mode off though. However, in order to create a video on par with the quality of those featured on the GoPro Channel - a brilliant blue sky seems essential!!!
GoPro mounted in front bumper behind spotlight cover Spot mode on / off comparison
Locating the camera so close to the road really gives a sensation of speed and I will definitely spend at least some time filming from this angle at the next track day I attend.
Out of the box, the GoPro Hero3+ captures really good sound. I wanted to make a quick minute long video just showing a direct comparison of the GoPro internal mic vs the Olympus ME-51s external mic. To make the video I simply mounted the GoPro on a tripod using a tripod adapter mount and recorded around 20 seconds of exhaust noise with the GoPro in a skeleton housing. Then, I plugged in the 'GoPro mini USB to 3.5mm adapter' and Olympus ME-51s external mic. The tripod is approximately 2 meters from the rear of the car.
The key to recording good exhaust noise on a GoPro is definitely to use an external condenser microphone. Through some trial and error I have found the Olympus ME-51s to do the job perfectly and if you follow my link you can purchase one approximately 60% cheaper than I have seen these for sale elsewhere. However, the location of the mic seems to be very important. In the previous post, the microphone was simply mounted on the outside of the boot lid. It captured great sound but, in my opinion too much wind noise, especially when not on the throttle.
A slightly better way to mount the microphone is to hide it from the wind somehow. I tried placing it in the boot to start with - however this just picked up lots of banging and other noise even though it was seemingly empty. The best I have been able to come up with is to locate the mic (complete with fluffy windshield) underneath the lid of the boot, by running the cable underneath the rubber seal. In my car the boot is still able to close without crushing the cable or mic. This way the mic is just far enough out of the wind to reduce that annoying hiss. I also mounted it on the opposite side to the exhaust so that the volume of the exhaust did not distort the sound the mic picked up.
Twisting the rear view mirror around gives better visibility for the GoPro
The Olympus ME-51s sits snuggly between the seal and the light cluster
In the past I have always struggled to capture decent quality in-car footage when at a trackday. Having spent ages watching countless videos on
YouTube I finally decided on the two main things that make a good video. Firstly the camera must be positioned in
the correct place. Typically between the front seats facing out of the front
windscreen. It must be located far enough back to capture the driver inputs and
far enough forward so you can clearly see the road ahead - and the car you are
just about to overtake! Secondly the sound has to be awesome and
capture that all important exhaust note you have no doubt spent hundreds or
thousands trying to achieve.
Vid just taken with a sony digi-cam before I got the GoPro
The Lotus Elise lends itself perfectly towards capturing this in-car footage. Just mount the GoPro on a suction cup mounted to the rear screen,
take the roof off and the quality of the video and sound is naturally pretty
impressive. This video was taken using Sony digi-cam on a suction mount before I had the GoPro.
Capturing footage that is equally as impressive in saloon cars,
hot-hatches or four seat coupes is a bit more challenging. For example, I own a
two door Subaru Impreza WRX STI 22B where the rear window is located about a
meter behind the front seats. You can
just hang a GoPro upside down on a suction mount on the rear screen, turn on
upside-down mode on the GoPro and hit record. However, being so far back the
GoPro captures a lot of the interior which is quite dark. It therefore
automatically over exposes the footage resulting in the road ahead being very
light and lacking in quality, detail and richness. This can be adjusted in the camera settings by switching on 'spot mode'. By then playing
about with the image settings when editing the video in the GoPro cineform
studio software, it is likely that the footage can be improved. But ideally the camera needs to be located a lot further
forward so that it captures less of the dark interior. In order to do this I have made a list of the following GoPro
accessories you will need to buy:
The suction mounts will need to be mounted on the inside of the
rear three quarter windows and then linked to a bar mount in order to carry the
aluminium tube. Two of the bar mounts will need to be modified. Do this by using a hacksaw to cut off each of the lobes with the chrome nut locator on them. The two bar mounts will then be compatible with the suction mount as
shown in the picture to the left. Once the suction mounts and bar mounts are attached to the inside
of the rear windows, measure the distance between them and cut the aluminium bar to length. This bar will run just behind the front seats. It will act as the
mount for the GoPro camera using a third unmodified bar mount and any extension to achieve the required angle for a specific vehicle.
Next you simply have to attach the 'mini USB to 3.5mm adaptor' to
the GoPro, run the extension cable through the gap in the rear seats and then under
the carpet in the boot. I also recommend running the cable underneath the rubber seal around the mouth of the boot, this will ensure that the boot lid does not damage the cable when shutting the boot. The mic lead can now be taped to the rear bumper
or mounted on to a suction cup out of the airflow, on the rear of the bootlid for example.
This photo shows the 'fluffy' microphone windshield to further minimise road and wind noise
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