GoPro cameras for tree work

I've filmed work on and off over the years, and while sometimes it's fun, it is also more work than a lot of people realize. Setting up shots, moving a tripod, hitting your helmet cam on the branch above you, actually capturing interesting footage, then you actually need to edit it, which is pretty time consuming and its own artform. Then the fact that things tend to look smaller and less cool on video than in real life. When I have a camera on, I often feel like there is a nosy-neighbor looking over my shoulder and it adds its own mental load that I don't want to deal with when doing big or sketchy work. Yet that's exactly what makes the coolest footage. I've got like $1,200 of gopro gear in my truck and I don't think I've even pulled it out in a year. Not trying to dissuade you, just be realistic about what you are filming and why.

My understanding is while GoPro brand is still the big name, it's becoming less and less the standard, with a lot of other competitors. They are a few hundred bucks, but you can get some generic brands that will.... probably do about the exact same thing.... for like $70 on Amazon. Watch some comparison videos where people review a few brands and maybe start with a cheap one and see how you like it and if you actually use it before shelling out for the nicest stuff.
 
Thanks for the input.





I'm having some idea that a way to scale a tree work biz is through content creation. IDK.


I hear all the parts of it being work.


I anticipate it being a chill exploration and long-term project.





I see people being successful at doing tree work with drama. I just saw a guy rookie-ing a leaning alder... guess what... it barberchaired, like a previous time.

"Guess I should have bote cut it".



Maybe I can put together something different.




A good starting point is learning about editing.
 
I'd love to see some content from you, Sean. No info on gopros though, sorry.

I agree on what mtron said, can be so much work!!! The editing... But if it is a hobby for you, it can be really fun.

I used to make vids basically for the treebuzz peeps to see what I was up to, it was a fun way to get a glimpse into other people's work for a while there. Then some people just took it way too far and I got completely sick of any tree vids lol.

I'd personally be interested in vids from Oly just to see what the woods are like there and what not, how you all are taking care of business!
 
southsoundtree said:
Thanks for the input.





I'm having some idea that a way to scale a tree work biz is through content creation. IDK.


I hear all the parts of it being work.


I anticipate it being a chill exploration and long-term project.





I see people being successful at doing tree work with drama. I just saw a guy rookie-ing a leaning alder... guess what... it barberchaired, like a previous time.

"Guess I should have bote cut it".



Maybe I can put together something different.




A good starting point is learning about editing.
Click to expand...
It might be an easier and better (possibly cheaper if you value your time) to hire a commercial videographer. There is a crazy amount of drone photographers out there now, many working in real estate.
My kids hired school photographer, whom I’ve chatted with on and off for nearly two decades was working across the street from us. Just asked for him to do a couple of flyby’s while pulling hangers from over electric vehicles charging ports.
There are so many first person take down videos with rambling for 15-30 minutes….
It would be nice though to actually each someone who knows what the hell they are talking about vs overcompensation of word salad on shit they don’t know. But can the average homeowner tell the difference?
 
I would dip your toes into it. Get a basic GoPro kit, all you need is the camera, helmet mount, a couple of high capacity MicroSD cards and 4 batteries. There's a ton of other crap you can buy for your GoPro but it's like a newbie buying tree climbing gear, how do you know what to buy if you don't know what it's all about? Do POV footage off your helmet to get to know your system. Once you're more fluent you can figure out if and how you want to get different viewpoints with mini tripods, selfie-sticks (yuck, ha!) etc.

Current model GoPro's are intuitive and super reliable. They can withstand any weather you encounter year-round. If you drop it from height it will be fine unless it hits a rock or pavement. It can be dinged hard but probably remain functional. Extended warranty replaces the camera if it gets smashed too hard.

It defaults to very wide angle (makes everything look smaller) but that can be changed in the camera settings. It's a "mature" product so there are a zillion settings and features. Intimidating if you're starting from zero with video production. Like most consumer tech products the developers assume the user is a dumb-ass and doesn't have any patience. They'll assume you want to be the latest Tik Tok star and the default features tend to aim you that way. I had to override all the out-of-the-box settings to get the thing to give me the video spec/resolution that I want.

If I was teaching GoPro I'd say put it on your helmet and shoot video while you climb. Don't worry about getting the most awesome moments of your work. Goal is to get to know what works for you footage-wise and what are the gothcha's to solve. Play around with some editing, be patient and see if you find it interesting.

I carry a small digital camera soft case with an over-the-head shoulder strap. It holds spare batteries and the extra MicroSD card. I'll stow the camera in it when I don't want it on my helmet.

You will bang the camera on overhead branches, it will grab small branches, your head will get hung up until you get used to avoiding that. You will have to take your helmet off and reset the angle of the camera view as needed. The helmet mount knob cannot be tightened enough to prevent the camera from being moved from a limb impact.

You can use a phone app to preview your camera angle without taking your helmet off, that's too fidgety for me, too much to do when I have real tasks to perform safely in a tree. I ditched the GoPro app off my phone a long time ago ;-) I simply offload video files from the camera to my laptop and use Adobe Premiere (Home Edition doesn't cost much) to edit clips into longer videos.

The learning curve is as much as you want to take on. Editing can be quick and easy (make short finished clips) or as deeply cinematic (joke) as you have the time to invest. Don't forget to wipe stuff off the lens before shooting ;-) If you get into it ask questions, good luck and have fun!
-AJ
 
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There's an old saying, "the best camera is the one you have with you".

Filming and editing is less about gear and more about having the will to do it, and following through. Someone who is committed to the process can make it work with any gear. I've had cameras in my truck for a long time, rarely use them the last couple years. I'm usually too focused on the work these days and cameras just slow us down. I should film more but usually the motivation escapes me.

If I was filming for customers I don't think I would use helmet cam footage. Makes a lot of people dizzy, they don't like it. Technical rigging and tree climbing looks good from the ground as well. Having a camera that can zoom would make a big difference.

I would just start experimenting with your phone, film some stuff, see what it's like. See if you like it. Making content for customers is a world apart from making stuff for random strangers on the Internet. Most people hate talking to a camera, myself included. Just be yourself, exactly how you are in real life. You might really enjoy the process. And then if it works, you could look into better gear. Have some fun with it. I hope you try it Sean. I would love to see more videos from the Treebuzz crowd.
 
I'd split it into 3 parts. On screen/host personality, videographer skills and then hardware.

Gotta get your self a screen handle like "Buckin' ...." etc. Then practice your MTV or DJ voice and mannerisms. Just kidding. maybe

On the hardware side the dizzy/skakey-cam thing is real. It gets traded off with field of view and making everything look smaller. A wide field of view reduces on screen motions caused by camera tilt changes but shrinks objects. Helmet cam is largely stabilised by the inertia of your head except when you look around too quickly.

I used to do dirtbike helmet cam back when go pro had their first and only model out, but I used Sony hardware. I used a narrower field of view and my head stabilised the shot while the bike, bars and my body bounced all over the place. However you need reference objects for scale or in my case it looked like spaceship footage so I had mid field of view size to catch the handlebars and front fender and see down enough to view the trail. I never crashed once, on purpose, so I wouldn't smash the mini-vcr in my fanny pack! $$$! Unitisation was the big gopro advantage.

I think fov shrinkage and warping is why Reg sometimes mounts a camera on a little clamp/bendy thing just a bit away for a picture of him working. IIRC they're over/past the shoulder views.


I saw that Treeson barberchair vid. wow

By the way, on the scaling the biz, Reg actually told me he gets customers because they saw his vids. Took a moment for that to bubble up from the ole' memory.
 
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Bart_ said:
Gotta get your self a screen handle like "Buckin' ...." etc. Then practice your MTV or DJ voice and mannerisms. Just kidding. maybe
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There are some f'ing wild and weird behavioral changes that occur after climbers use a GoPro for a while. I find myself standing in a room or out on a trail with a friend and I'm talking to them with my head facing away, as if I have some god-like voice that everyone can hear no matter where I'm standing. Hell no! You need to point your face at person talking to them in real time.

Human brains are interesting, very adaptable and will change behaviors. If I'm used to talking to an imaginary audience while running a helmet cam it will leak over into regular life. My friends? What the f is wrong with you standing over there talking to yourself like you're Marlin Perkins narrating Wild Kingdom? Sorry kids, that's an ancient TV nature show reference.

On the same behavioral theme... I've noticed that these days I keep my head much more steady and look around more carefully when I'm running my helmet cam. In tree work and climbing in general there are times you are going to move your head back and forth or up and down more quickly, probably from necessary vigilance at key moments. But... the brain becomes your built-in steady cam over time.

This is not a new idea, technology constantly changes human behavior over time. Was at my local tree climber bar (no tree climbers in sight) having dinner and a beer after work yesterday. It struck me how thoroughly every damned person at the bar was deeply engaged in their phone in between taking a sip and looking up at a sports moment on the big screens. Bartenders seemed bored taking care of their routinely disassociated customers. They're used to it.
-AJ
 
Regarding your original question, I have used many of the recent models, and they all generally work very well. The later and higher the model number, the higher the resolutions they support. Each camera will give you a choice of resolutions and aspect ratios, and the online user manual will list all the available combinations. I love details, so I love high resolutions that allow me to make a snapshot of a frame and crop it and still have a high resolution image. But for videos, high resolution means big files and slower processing times. I don't use cloud services, so I store all my videos on a hard drive on my desktop, and it takes lots of space for lots of videos.

As moss said above, you can mount it on your helmet, but it will get banged around a good bit, especially in dense trees. But it is most susceptible to that when mounted on top of your helmet. If you mount on the front, it gets banged up much less, and it is closer to your eyes and your own viewpoint.

I have used the old models, but of the recent ones, I have used the model 8 (excellent), 9 (battery hog), 11 (excellent except for unpredictable and uncommon garbled patches in a small but significant portion of the high resolution frame which lasts about a second), and the current model 13. The latter one has worked well until recently when it shut itself off after only 30 seconds and did it again a few more times. They will all shut themselves off if they get too hot, but this was not that case and the battery was fully charged. I updated the firmware (do that with all the models), but have not tried it enough again since then to see if that problem resurfaces.

The biggest problem I have with all the cameras is remembering if I turned it on or not or off or not. Is it on or off? I have to take my helmet off so I can see it to know. I thought a remote might help with that, and it does seem to be useful to some people, but it just made it even more complicated and confusing for me, so I stopped using the remote. Even when I remember correctly, I can still get it all wrong if the button did not quite press fully one of those times or if a limb poked it on or off. That is rare, but it has happened.

For videos in the trees where the tree is dark and the sky in the background is bright, I always have the camera set to overexpose 1/2 stop. One full stop would probably be better until you point downward where there is no sky, and then you get overexposed. I just leave mine on +1/2 stop exposure all the time, and I can add more exposure when editing. Otherwise, all you will get is bright sky and black tree silhouette with no detail or texture. Note that an overcast sky is brighter in the frame than a clear blue sky, so that is when the contrast is at its worst. In that case, it is probably best to overexpose 1 full stop because it won't hurt to overexpose a bright sky that is already overexposed in the picture.
 
data farm 26 said:
I remember the same confusion lol. I never went further than just one head cam but I guess using the remote or app on your phone would clear that up.
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“Is it on or is it off? That is the question.”
-William Shakespeare

Yep. Leave it running and run down batteries and fill memory cards? Or selectively run the camera when you think something is going to be interesting.

If I lose track of whether it’s on or off it’s usually an indicator of mental fatigue. Or I’m too involved in a situation to think about the camera. That’s a good thing, never prioritize the camera above what you’re trying to do in a tree.

Now that I think of it, a small mirror (on a micro bungee tether? Noooo!) stowed in a harness bag will do to look and see if the red indicator light “recording” is lit on the front of the camera. Or your phone as a mirror in selfie mode. So many ways. Whatever is the least irritating.
-AJ
 
A fundamental configuration choice is somewhat forced by the form factor gopro chose to use, pancake. My helmet cam was a tube shape mounted beside my jaw not unlike Bill neck-of-steel Mason, but of course tiny. Gopro is best for chest, forehead or helmet top mast. Sticking out sideways probably wouldn't fly. Dare ya to put an homage Marlin Perkins face closeup saying a complicated word slowly into one of your vids! ;) "Commmm-pli-caaated, a word with a-bunnn-dennt syllables"


Thinking back on it, I too started talking to myself putting commentary on the tapes.
 
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southsoundtree said:
I just saw a guy rookie-ing a leaning alder... guess what... it barberchaired, like a previous time.
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Yah, that one... So thing is, of course the average youtube viewer isn't another tree guy. They don't know their ass from their elbows from a rope wrench.

I don't think a person can 'make it' on youtube showing off technical proficiency, in ANY kind of work. You need to be entertaining, and tell/show a story, that's what people like. If you want to make 'how-to videos' explaining a tool or a skill to the newbies, go for it, if you want to show and explain something more skilled to other industry people, go for it. Neither of those have a big audience, but both are worth sharing just in the vein of sharing and growing knowledge in general.
 
Bart_ said:
A fundamental configuration choice is somewhat forced by the form factor gopro chose to use, pancake. My helmet cam was a tube shape mounted beside my jaw not unlike Bill neck-of-steel Mason, but of course tiny. Gopro is best for chest, forehead or helmet top mast. Sticking out sideways probably wouldn't fly. Dare ya to put an homage Marlin Perkins face closeup saying a complicated word slowly into one of your vids! ;) "Commmm-pli-caaated, a word with a-bunnn-dennt syllables"


Thinking back on it, I too started talking to myself putting commentary on the tapes.
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Yep, I used a "lipstick" style helmet cam (Contour Roam series) for a long time, super low profile on the helmet, rarely got hung up. I used to feel sorry for GoPro owners, what a PIA to have a little brick on the top of your helmet or wherever anyone would wear it ;-) At some point the business failed, I was on my second Contour and was having trouble getting basic parts like new helmet mounts. Great camera with some design and functional downsides (failed in cold weather) but GoPro dominated the market, good-bye Contour.

@Bart_ I won't waste my time finding a photo but my first helmet cam was a "prosumer" video camera with a wide-angle lens screwed on over the default lens, I bolted a tiny ballhead mount on to a bicycle helmet, a tiny piece of thin plywood and epoxy kept that secure, video camera sat on top. Holy shite how do you spell neck ache? It worked. Definitely not Bill Mason level badass.

I'm so not living in AI tools so I'll leave it to a kid genius to put together the perfect Marlin Perkins as tree guy vid! Hopefully I won't have to wait long. I'll stop digressing ;-) Back to the OG getting started on tree work vid thread my friends.
-AJ
 
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