Action cam guides for newbies?

[Pavle]

I am thinking about starting a series of guides about action cameras in general that will help beginners and tech newbies understand how these gadgets works.

Starting with buying tips, mistakes we often make before buying, how hardware works and how software corresponds with it, what to look for when buying, accessories guides, etc.

I would really like to gather up few guys from this forum, including maybe some manufacturers so that we can create an independent series of articles or videos to help out people new to this "hobby".

It can also help manufacturers who are often asked same questions over and over to educate their customers.

It will be a hell of a work, so if anyone from this forum is interested in helping me out, please send me a pm.
All contributors to this project will be rewarded, either with a camera or financially.

If you have any ideas what should be included or even better would like to help out, please send me a message.

All material will be free, and besides articles and guides I can also make PDF leaflets and tiny eBooks that can be printed out and distributed freely.

So, if anyone is interested in this kind of community project, let me know.

Contributors : people willing to help (feel free to apply if you want) - everyone involved will get special prizes.
- Pavle
- Joovuu
- Gibson99

 

[Pavle]

I also have an idea of having nicely illustrated step by step images and eBooks, so anyone with a knowledge on this and interested in helping out, please get in touch.

 

[jokiin]

that would be very helpful for anyone involved in action cameras, buyer or seller

 

[JooVuu]

I'll help where I can but no reward needed.

 

[Pavle]

that would be very helpful for anyone involved in action cameras, buyer or seller

Agreed Rick, I think it can be a fun project that can bring good info for both sides. Hopefully we can get few people on board.

I'll help where I can but no reward needed.

Very kind of you Dan, especially considering your schedule and new product launch. I think you will be of great help, especially for how parts of hardware correspond together and what makes action cam works the way it does. I will put you on a list.

Hopefully we can get few more members from here. If you guys have any ideas on what should be included or anything, feel free to post here, I am currently sketching a plan, so will post it here once finished.

 

[Gibson99]

Agreed Rick, I think it can be a fun project that can bring good info for both sides. Hopefully we can get few people on board.


Very kind of you Dan, especially considering your schedule and new product launch. I think you will be of great help, especially for how parts of hardware correspond together and what makes action cam works the way it does. I will put you on a list.

Hopefully we can get few more members from here. If you guys have any ideas on what should be included or anything, feel free to post here, I am currently sketching a plan, so will post it here once finished.

Maybe debunk some of the marketing and define terms like 4k. Give some basics and examples of lenses - fstop, fov being the top two I can think of. And explain the difference between horiz fov and diagonal fov

 

[Pavle]

Right now I am working on defining content that can go into the series.
Some of the topics covered will be :

• What is an a.cam
• How it works
• Types of a.cam
• Typical a.cam and its functions
• A.cam history - already done
  
• How a.cam is made
• Protection and storage of a.cam - already done

As I mentioned I will try to make a video for each topic as well as the articles.
I am thinking of using slides for articles, so that each slide takes to another relevant topic. I will also add a table of content to an entire series as suggested earlier. Articles will be converted to pdf and ebup documents so that they can be read on e-readers like Kindle.

Right now all of this is just an idea, if you have suggestions, please let me know.

After creating a table of content with all topics that can be included, I will start writing articles one by one, and video for each. When everything is done I will create an eBook that will be free for anyone to print out and do with it whatever he/she wants.

Contributors : people willing to help (feel free to apply if you want)
- Pavle
- Joovuu

Also looking for illustrators and animators that maybe want to help out with visual aspect of this entire project.

As said, I will do my best to compensate contributors with some interesting prizes, that I hopefully will get from sponsors.

 

[Gibson99]

I'd like to help - part of my day job is writing technical documentation. i can certainly act as an editor or at least proof-reader, but i don't know what kind of time commitment i can make. work has been keeping me pretty busy lately. i still haven't finished the Git1 review that I originally wanted done by end of November.

 

[Pavle]

That would be awesome @Gibson99 , thanks a lot. I will add you to the list. I do not have expectations from guys that contribute, everyone can do what they have and with the free time available.
I am thinking about creating posts divided into chapters.
For instance if we have :
A.cam basics :

• Chapter 1 (Headline 1, Headline 2, Headline 3) - on a first page
  
• Chapter 2 (Headline 1, Headline 2, Headline 3)- on a second page
• Chapter 3 (Headline 1, Headline 2, Headline 3)- on a third page

Each page will contain a video for people who prefer video content, basically explaining what is in article. In the sidebar there will be a table of content, guiding people step by step, as I certainly hate when I newbie gets overwhelmed.

At the end, there will be an option where user can download entire textbook in pdf, epub, and other formats to read them on Kindle for instance.

Something similar to this (still working on how this will work, as its quite hard to make all parts work the way I want).

 

[Gibson99]

Lol at that lorem ipsum text... I remember using aldus page maker in high school journalism class, before adobe bought them out. I have both Microsoft office and libre office so I should be able to work with most formats.

 

[Pavle]

Its just a generic text people use when website is being developed
Here is small progress today.


Right now I need to create a content table/tree of chapters that guide/book will include and category in which these books will appear. Should I put them under "guides" or create a new category "textbook" or something similar.
After that, I will start with adding content slowly.

Anyone with the ideas about the content table for these guides?

 

[Pavle]

Also looking for someone good with :

- Understanding on how hardware and software correspond inside a camera and what is a function of each part that helps us get the final output, from the source of light through the lens to image sensor to memory card, etc.
- Animation - looking for someone who can animate how camera looks from inside (if nobody is found, I will probably animate it myself, but it will take some time to learn basics in some simple 2d software).

I am really passionate about this project, and all contributors will be compensated for their efforts, that I can promise. I will try to find sponsors for the project, if not I will pay you guys for the effort from my own pocket.

I really think guidelines like this are a must, and sad thing is there are not many easy to understand ones.

If anyone is interested in helping out, let me know.

 

[Gibson99]

oh i'm well aware what lorem ipsum is. i kept it in a txt file on my pc when i used to develop web pages. handy as a place holder to quickly fill a page with text to see how it'll look once it has content.

why animate when you can have the real thing? i'm not afraid of taking stuff apart. i was a computer repair person in a former job (and still do it now and then - in fact i installed a new set of hinges in a friend's laptop last week).

but how will an animation or video work in a pdf/epub/printout? maybe just some stills from it?

 

[Pavle]

@Gibson99
Good point about animation. Perhaps a combination of both? What do you think?
It is hard to show how light goes through the lens and photons through image sensor that later become pixels.
I will certainly have stills for the printable versions of guides, but most of modern day e-Readers can recognize video as well (perhaps include a link to a video).
My main concern is that while I am familiar with the basics, I am not that good at hardware-software corresponding and explaining the process behind the scenes.
It would be very nice if we can show what happens under the hood when a person starts the camera, triggers a shutter, etc.
I am well aware that such animations (example here) can cost tons of money, so I believe we can rely on combination of both worlds, and some simple 2d animation, more like a drawing (example here)of an entire process?

Edit : I will be publishing this on google documents, so that all contributing can edit it and change it from the cloud and for free of course.
Just pm me your email address and I will add you so that you can check it out when you have the time.

 

[Crokinov]

People who do reviews of action cams always forget the word "action". Chinese manufacturers too. Testers always test the cameras in a garden with a selfie stick in a sunny day. The most extreme thing that do with the "action" camera in a review is testing it underwater (in a fountain or in the shower). Nobody shows the real behavior of these cams in extreme conditions, for example:

-Try to change resolution in a SJ4000 doing snowboard (with globes in your hands).
-Put a Blackview Hero on the noose of a surfboard and try to know if its recording (without front LED).
-Test the Xiaomi Yi doing downhill in 240 fps mode at sunset (you will get a pretty black video).

Problems will appear when you put this cameras out of confort zone. Nobody test "action" cameras in a real "action" environment. People who practice surfing/snowboard/MTB/paragliding... etc want to know beyond bitrates and megapixels. They want to know if the camera will work OK doing their extreme sport.

 

[Gibson99]

that'd be pretty awesome. unfortunately not everyone participates in such extremes. in my last review (DS200), i attached the action cam to my helmet and went go-kart racing, and also attached it to a quadcopter - two things that are much more approachable to the average user. i can't go snow skiing in Houston, and don't have a boat or jetski to get out on the water here, but I plan to take my evaluation Git1 with me to Colorado this winter and will experiment with attaching it to one of my skis/helmet/pole/chest. hopefully my chest strap is big enough to fit around my jacket. will also have my step-sister put it on her snowboard as she likes to do stunts. i've also attached my git1 to a car and went racing. true, it was autocross, where speeds rarely exceed 55mph (basically get in 2nd gear and stay there) but if you drove like this on the street you would be in jail in a very big hurry.

and not all action cam users WILL use them in extreme environments. plenty of people put them on their bicycle and go riding through a park or on an easy trail. my dad uses his (the DS200 I gave him after I was done reviewing it) on his ATV in colorado. he's 61 now so he's not nearly as aggressive as a lot of other ATV riders. but he likes to capture scenery like fall colors.

please don't lump all reviewers or users in the same group. just like with anything else, there will be bad ones and good ones. mechanics, lawyers, doctors, reviewers, internet users... you get the idea.

 

[Crokinov]

You are right, not all action cam users will use them in extreme environments, but they were designed for that. Not to record school show.

I mean that Kart racing is a good test for an action cam. Flying it in quadcopter too. Test it skiing too. Go riding throught the park is not a
serious test for an action cam. It would be a good test for a mobile camera, but not good for testing an action camera.

 

[Pavle]

@Crokinov While I understand your point and parcially agree with what you said, I would like to ask you to stop leading the thread in a wrong direction. I really do not understand how topic for creating guides for newbies has to do with reviewers. Please open another thread perhaps. Its a good topic to discuss but not in this thread. We are trying to create something completely different and it would be nice if we can keep this thread clutter-free so that contributors to the project can discuss things related to the project. Thanks.

 

[TeriTerryTarry]

Pavle,

I very much enjoy your YouTube camera review videos and since my recent SJ4000 Wi-Fi purchase I've been looking at your website too. I just started looking at the Dash Cam Talk website a couple of days ago and in a thread I started one of the members, jokiin, referred me here.

I've been preparing an SJ4000 Wi-Fi manual for personal use for a few weeks now. Each time I discover something new by trial-and-error, watching YouTube reviews, checking out websites like yours, corresponding with SJCam support, and reading the Q&A forum at the seller's website where I bought my camera (B&H Photo Video), I add to or modify my manual. You are entirely welcome to use it for your action cam guide for newbies (and I'm very much a newbie!). If appropriate I will gladly upload it here in this thread or if you prefer another method that would be fine too.

Thanks and cheers

 

[kamkar]

I test action on RC stuff, even my little scale 4x4 truck give camera plenty to deal with, and the top speed of the truck is only 15 km/h.
And if need be i can strap camera to much faster driving - sailing or flying things.

I do however wish i still had my 660 ccm Yamaha raptor quad, i miss the adrenaline kicks of stunting it ( allso track driving it, but since i can only do 2 laps at a time it get pretty boring waiting/panting for 30 minutes untill my body will allow for another go )

That beeing said, if i lived in a place with steep hills i might try to beat my towed speed record for sled, and then hit the steepest part of the mountain.