I'm not a fan of filming in the water for heaps of reasons BUT there are occasionally days that I'd like to get some footage. However, this is what always happens to me:

www.instagram.com/reel/C6JinZFsHqS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Gopro 8 in 4' swell on an awesome day and it just looks flat as can be! Is there any camera, or specific setting in the gopros, that doesn't make it look so dang flat?

Following this thread!

I shot a video on a GoPro Max in chunky head high to overhead swell and it literally looks like its knee high. I found that lower angles have better perspective for wave size as do shots from farther away (a second person in the water). Shooting closer crop from a wing or helmet mount always looks really unimpressive. Overhead sun also kills any depth perspective or definition in the waves.

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Velocicraptor said..
Following this thread!

I shot a video on a GoPro Max in chunky head high to overhead swell and it literally looks like its knee high. I found that lower angles have better perspective for wave size as do shots from farther away (a second person in the water). Shooting closer crop from a wing or helmet mount always looks really unimpressive. Overhead sun also kills any depth perspective or definition in the waves.

Agree, I've definitely sat in the water and taken a few photos and the perspective is much better. Have you by chance tried any of the board mounts for filming?

It's conditions dependent, as with everything in foiling. But helmet mounted gopro shows waves just fine, not more than 1.5 m here, perhaps only the biggest sets were 2 m.

And even on much smaller days the gopro footage clearly shows where the energy is.

I think the breaking waves (even just feathering) somehow helps the perspective. Those videos look good, but I notice its either more overcast or sun is not directly overhead sun. I think sun angle is a big factor in flattening out the perspective - particularly avoiding overhead.

I haven't tried any board mounts. I have a suction cup mount but I'm afraid it will fall off. Bet the perspective would look decent though.

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Taavi said..
It's conditions dependent, as with everything in foiling. But helmet mounted gopro shows waves just fine, not more than 1.5 m here, perhaps only the biggest sets were 2 m.

And even on much smaller days the gopro footage clearly shows where the energy is.

But I'm sure IRL they look much bigger.

www.instagram.com/reel/DBMuomjI3xB/?igsh=emZnaDV0am1rbnMw

This is what a waist high wave (hip high even) looks like in insta360 one X2 footage, cam mounted on wing tip. Of course when editing I stand up and swing my phone in any direction to see the bits I want to see and record for final footage. Kinda fun to relive you session.

The lower the camera is held (especially when flagging) the more wave profile is visible. But still nothing like it actually looks like.

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Velocicraptor said..
I think the breaking waves (even just feathering) somehow helps the perspective. Those videos look good, but I notice its either more overcast or sun is not directly overhead sun. I think sun angle is a big factor in flattening out the perspective - particularly avoiding overhead.

I haven't tried any board mounts. I have a suction cup mount but I'm afraid it will fall off. Bet the perspective would look decent though.

Yes, there needs to be something close by, either another rider or a slightly breaking wave as you said, and the nose of the board in the frame, and the footage instantly seems a bit bigger. At home we sadly never have the problem with the sun being overhead : )

The closer you stay to a bit higher section the better it looks.

8-10' faces... still looks flat! I think the observation about sun angle is good, you can probably see bumps a lot better with the sun low in the sky

Only drone shots really capture wave or swell height, action cameras always disappoint but lower you can get the camera to the water the better

The suction cup 100% fails. It's great on land but the water immediately breaks the seal. At least it did for me.

I'll have to try a board mount but I'm also not super stoked about glueing anything down on my board if it isn't going to get good footage. All the posted videos still look pretty dang flat to me! I definitely like the drone footage but that's a whole other level of coordination that I'm not into.

The best GoPro footage of you, is that taken by someone else.
Scale and perspective is much clearer. So probably best done with your mate and film each other, then just change SD cards for downloading.

Action cams by their very nature have to have a wide angle lens, so you can film yourself from 1m away - and that flattens the waves.
Is this suddenly a revelation?

Then again I gave up at the Hero3+ as I could see it was going the same as iPhones with the tiniest insignificant improvements meaning a 20% price rise each year.

Thank God for drones and those who dare fly them over water. Onya guys

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JonahL said..
8-10' faces...

still looks flat! I think the observation about sun angle is good, you can probably see bumps a lot better with the sun low in the sky

JonahL, looks like you are using a regular GoPro and not a 360 cam (Max or Insta360). Have you tried a 360 cam? It's not going add depth to the wave but at least it can widen the view and add some better perspective to the rider in the environment.

Agree with the flattening effect of "action" cameras. I think they are overused. Drones are great but I've lost one and come close to losing a very expensive replacement. I need a lot of flying hours over land before I venture over water again. I'm currently shopping for a mid-level camcorder to shoot from the shore. See JJ videos over on the windfoiling pages from some great tripod videos. Just tell your mates to come in close if they want to be stars! Then have them switch places with you.

For those with kids, buy them a drone and let them film your sessions. Here's footage filmed by my 12 year old on a dji mini 3! I couldn't be happier!

Nice!! Need a kid. If I start one now I'll be 84 when he's flying a drone at age 12.

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marc5 said..
Nice!! Need a kid. If I start one now I'll be 84 when he's flying a drone at age 12.

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marc5 said..
Nice!! Need a kid. If I start one now I'll be 84 when he's flying a drone at age 12.

Good fun to start, get into it!

I used to use autonomous self-follow drones (Staaker, Skydio) with no pilot needed. The Staaker actually tracked a wrist mount gps device quite well, but it had really short effective record times and was extremely loud. Still way better than any image tracking technology (DJI). Moved over to 360 cams (GoPro Max and Insta360 X4) due to the simplicity and more stress free operation.

360 cams will "flatten" swell height even more than regular action cams due the the extremely wide angle (and I ride pretty wimpy swell to start with), but the advantage I see is that they provide a reasonable full perspective of rider and background without too much distortion if you choose a balanced reframing view/angle. (I'd also rather watch any so-so video than read 1000's of endless words of people describing their winging technique/experience or gear choices. That's just me)

0 to 1 minute is my old Staaker self-follow drone from 4 yrs ago.
1 to 3:13 minute is my 360 cam mounted at the rear of the center strut
3:13 to 4:22 is my 360 cam in a fixed position (boat, tripod) Not good for waves but a nice option otherwise

?si=_ullYN9HIyZ8JOc9

Yeah, really seems like the drone or a buddy filming is the only viable option for swell and waves. It is what it is. Maybe GoPro or someone else will release a "swell" lens in the future that does it better!

When it's big, even a plain old Go Pro on the end of paddle shows the size.
?feature=shared

Does look like when he holds the paddle up higher and we're looking from above, it shows the size better.
Freaking hilarious video regardless, put on the subtitles

Bernd Roediger posted this vid a while back. Looks like he drops his 360 cam with a hi viz floater (maybe even with an anchor(man)) into the waves and then windsurfs around it. And later he picks it up attaches to the boom for additional footage

www.instagram.com/reel/DAohiMgyC2I/?igsh=a3lleWRnNDlxN3lv

That's very cool. I'd like to see the whole rig.

Probably something like this

..although he doesn't use it like Bernd