JonKerr's GoPro Videos

[dart1963]

It really seems to straighten out the road a lot. You can't tell how tight and twisty it really is.

Effect of the wide (fisheye) lens.... I hate it for really showing the road.... I think when I get another setup it will be a standard lens (or something with options)... I hate getting home after feeling really great about nailing a road, only to see that the camera makes it look like a kids ride at Disney

Definitely setting it up with a ref point helps, but I think it still "drowns" (not sure how to describe it) out the ride...

Keep them coming though, love seeing all you Cali guys videos... get to see a lot of great roads.

 

[ChrisFZ6R09]

Thanks guys. I'm going to try the MotoGP style pillion cam this weekend. I really don't like the helmet cam much. It really seems to straighten out the road a lot. You can't tell how tight and twisty it really is.

That's what i'm thinking. Perhaps closer to the road can really show how low and how tight some of the curves actually are.

 

[ChrisFZ6R09]

Keep them coming though, love seeing all you Cali guys videos... get to see a lot of great roads.

Same here for you CA guys! We're stuck in the cold rut still for now...hopefully no more snow and ice for a while. 50+ please come to NC!

 

[JonKerr]

Yeah putting it up on the helmet made it worse. Plus when it's on the helmet, you do see where I'm looking through the turn, but you also see how I'm keeping my head level so you can't see any kind of lean angle. I'd like to do a tank cam but with the tinted wind screen, it'll block too much. I was thinking about mounting it on the fender, but after looking at how much that front fender actually moves up and down I don't think that would be a good thing either. I think mounting it to the bike somewhere is the best option because you can see how much lean angle there is and you get a better perspective. But I've seen bike cams that don't have any kind of a wide angle lens and because the field of view was so narrow, you couldn't really see much of anything.

 

[ChrisFZ6R09]

How possible is it to mount it to the front of the bike? I'm talking right below/above/next to the headlight?

 

[dart1963]

How possible is it to mount it to the front of the bike? I'm talking right below/above/next to the headlight?

it sit's nicely on the fake air intake... to see the view point check out my video http://www.600cc.org/forum/f90/my-gopro-wide-standard-def-video-19095/index5.html#post265949 ... I still need to doc. the mounting locations on my bike. there's a pic of the rear mount... just not the front.

oh, and that's for the "Sticky" mount, not the suction cup.

 

[ChrisFZ6R09]

That's awesome dart, i like your style... FW (F*** WINTER) LOL

Nice placement for the camera. I think you had some angle on it...perhaps that's just my brain that turned slightly sideways. Good STUFF!

 

[ChrisFZ6R09]

nice toof! I had a vision and that is the exact spot i saw in my head.

i need to hurry up and rob a bank so i can purchase that GoPro!

 

[JonKerr]

I was thinking about trying that location. I'll have to think about where I'm going to tether it to the bike from there. I'm going out with a friend tomorrow so I'm going to try the tail mount (forward and backward when Mike is behind me) and I'll try the front end mount. I was thinking about mounting one of the sticky mounts on the front of the bike but it was just ugly on the gave of the bike.

 

[JSP]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWWer80WDhY]YouTube - GMR fall[/ame]


Guess he didnt tether his!

 

[kma_jg]

He can be lucky that a car didn't run over it like mine when it came off.

 

[JonKerr]

I'm working on some more stuff from this weekend. Used the MotoGP style pillion cam, not my favorite. You just don't really see much more than my fat ass shifting side to side. But I'd also got my buddies HD cam that he was using yesterday too. So I'll be splicing up some of both from yesterday and a short one from today.

Just a little story: This morning another friend and I decide to head up to Palomar and ride. Not only did we freeze our asses off, but like a dumb ass I accidently put the camera into photo mode, not video. So I end up with like 900 photos of me riding Paly today.

It actually made for a few pretty cool shots. Here's a couple I've pulled off so far.

The clouds covering the top of the mountain were actually really cool. The scenery was incredible. But when we started seeing snow still on the side of the road and wet spots we decided to turn around.

 

[dart1963]

movie maker can make a "still movie" out of the 900 shots... just drop the "5 sec" per photo down to like 1/2 or 1 sec per photo before you drag and drop them all in.

I've noticed... for some unknown reason, my gopro defaults to photo every 5 seconds now... it used to default to video, not sure what has changed.

 

[kma_jg]

Nice stills.

 

[JonKerr]

Here was part of my ride home after I got the camera off photo mode and onto video. Enjoy.

Old Julian 1/9/11 on Vimeo

I'll get something put together with yesterdays footage when I get home from work tomorrow. There's a lot more to go through between two cameras. I think most of it will be Mike's HD helmet cam since mine didn't come out as well as I'd like. Time for bed.

 

[Detrich]

Nice video Jon! The sun always looks like a black dot in ur videos... ^_^

That GMR video was funny too... Lucky his camera wasn't broken... =P

I just went up to GMR again today, and that road really kicks my ass =( <Sigh> It was dry, but there were still some spots with gravel leftover from the recent rains... My rear wheel skidded a little bit around a blind turn, and that freaked me out. So, I slowed way down after that. No fun... Then, 1/2 way going down the front side discovered that Glendora PD had blocked off/ closed the entire road. WTF So then I had to go all the way back up the mountain and then back down the "back way" that I came up. And, going "down" the back way is a lot scarier than going up- ie dry gravel, steep incline, downhill, fast cars going the other way, narrow shoulderless 2-way to begin with... Needless to say I was just relieved to have made it safely down. But, I enjoyed the challenge and am not discouraged. Will keep going up there to practice as long as weather allows...

Btw, what's the hand signal to let other riders know the road beyond is closed? I crossed a couple guys going up the backside & tried to signal them. But, I don't think they understood me. I just "pointed over my back" & used a quick "throat slash" motion... Don't think they understood... But, oh well...

 

[JonKerr]

Here's some footage from this last Saturday from my bike with the pillion cam and my friend Mike from his helmet cam on his 2005 R6. (Yes that's me in front of him at times pulling away from an R6 ) Just having some fun on a Saturday. You'll see Chuck (the photographer from hwy94photo.com) in a few shots. You'll also see a dumbass on a dirt bike not paying any attention crossing the street not looking where he's going and damn near took us out.

Highway 94 Laps. on Vimeo

 

[dart1963]

Nice split screen! You did pull way ahead on a few of the turns.

So, now I have to ask... do you get camera shy knowing the camera is right there? As in... you'll make a minor adjustment here or there, being more conscious of your body positioning with the camera on you? I know I did...

 

[JonKerr]

Not really. Anytime I ride, I try to pay attention to my body positioning and ride properly. One reason I wanted to try this view is that it does give a good indication of your form and can be used as a learning tool. What this video showed me is I do need to get more consistent in my positioning. Although not every turn requires the same amount of weight shifting, the same turn does. I actually have about 30 minutes of video from both cams from that section and run after run, I noticed that I wasn't as consistent as I thought going through the same turns. One thing I did notice that I'm kind of proud of is that I'm getting my upper body over fairly well, and I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping a smooth turn and consistent body position in the double apex turns on that road. My goal isn't to be the fastest thing out there. In fact I'm as fast as I want to ever go on the street and I rarely do ride that pace and only when roads have been scouted, in good shape, not too much traffic, etc... My main goal is to be smooth, consistent, controlled, all of which will make me a better, safer rider.

 

[dart1963]

Not really. Anytime I ride, I try to pay attention to my body positioning and ride properly.

guess I just had more of a "o.k., for this turn I need to do this..." in my head, more than usual... it is a great learning tool, I just think for me, anyway, I did pay more attention to getting off the bike more, getting my whole body off the bike (instead of just scootin' butt, etc.) and only on the turns where I needed to do it, and I don't think it was a bad thing, more of a conscious "Do this"... and then , like you found out as well, "oh, there were a couple of turns where I thought I was way over, head turned, arms relaxed, but def. need to pay more attention to x, x and xxx" if that makes sense?

I guess I don't always ride that way either, usually I'm chilling and scooping, or pretty near the scooper... it's the rare occasion I test my limits, just so I know I can and how not to panic in quick turn situations.