 |
 |
Filming and Editing your Tachyon XC Helmet Cam Footage |
|
| We hope you all have been enjoying using your XC helmet cameras as much as we enjoy watching your videos. There seem to be a few frequent questions that we receive here at Tachyon, Inc. and they are: “How do you guys make your videos look so good?” and “The user videos on your site and YouTube look incredible, how do I get mine to look like those?” So below, we are going to give you some great pointers in creating great videos with your Tachyon XC footage. |
|
| Daylight | First of all, always remember that the best time to shoot your video will be during the day when the day is at its brightest. This will ensure the highest quality picture. Make sure that you always have your XC in S (Superior Mode) this way you are recording at the highest possible resolution. |
| Mounting | A firmly mounted camera that is stable always creates the best filmed footage. There are many different ways that you can mount your XC. You can use any of the mounts that come with the camera or purchased as an option, or you can create your own. See some examples on our online user manual: http://www.tachyoninc.com/manual.html. Many of our users have created their personal mounts to fit their needs using a variety of materials such as rubber bands, zip ties, Velcro, 3M Superlock Fasteners and many others. |
| Angles | Whether you are filming from your bike, skateboard, motorcycle, ultra-light, hang glider, kite board, snowboard or any other recreational vehicle, it will be your job to find the perfect placement and angle from which to film. Be creative. Look for an unusual angle that will really show off your sport. If you have two XC’s, bring a friend to film some third person video as well. Always try to include some foreground shots if possible; front of the bike, handlebar shots, wheel or feet shots, speedometer anything to make your film interesting and different. I even like to free hold the camera in my hand at times. The more angles the better! |
| Batteries, SD cards | Make sure your batteries (we recommend Energizer Ultimate Lithium) are fresh and your SD card has empty space to record on. You don’t want to have a great session of playing and filming only to arrive home empty handed! Trust me, it has happened to all of us. Remember that you can use anywhere from a 4GB SDHC to a 32GB SDHC or Micro SD in your XC or Micro. The higher the number - the longer the recording time. Use a fast card for the best quality video. Class 6 cards will give you the highest quality. |
| Upload to Computer | Once you are done filming your session, head home, grab a drink and upload your footage to your computer. If you own a PC, take out your SD card and insert it into your SD drive and save your footage on your HD. If you own a Mac, plug in your USB and do the same. If you have an external HD you may want to upload your files to that as well for a back up. Make sure your footage has uploaded safely before you delete it from your SD cards. You will not be able to work with your files on your camera. They must be taken off first. |
| Editing | Now you are ready to import your files to your editing program. Editing is the key to making your video great! There are a ton of great editing programs out there for free and for sale. Mac users; you have I-Movie pre-installed on your CPU and it is a great application for beginners. If for some reason you don't, you can purchase and download I-Live at $79, or take a step up to more professional programs like Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro. PC users; your CPU comes with Windows Movie Maker - another great beginner application. There are many free downloads out there for you as well, such as Jump Cut, Jahshaka, Virtual Dub, Wax, and Zwei-Stein, for example. For a review of mid-level editing programs, go here. |
| Story Telling | The best videos have a great story line accompanying the footage. Tie in all of your different shooting techniques (First and third person angles), the ride out to where you filmed your activity, and face shots of friends that you are with. The more small clips you can fill in around your main footage, the more your video will come together into an interesting whole, and the more YouTube views you will generate. |
| Sound Quality | Because all of our cameras have the microphone sealed for safety inside our waterproof case, your sound recording quality will not be as good as cameras that use an external microphone. And to be able to record sound at a reasonable level, we have had to increase the sensitivity of the microphone. This may cause some internal electronic noise to be recorded along with the sound from outside the camera. Therefore, it is always a good idea to add music to your videos. See the next section. |
| Music | Music will bring your video together and add the finishing touch. Search your music library for the best fit. You may want to play a few different tracks while you watch your video before you add anything to the edit, because you can never be sure what song is going to make perfect soundtrack music until you see and hear them together. Try to match the length of your video with the length of your music. Or if you can’t do that, you may be able to make use of more than one song.
|
| Tutorial Videos | If you have trouble with the basics of your editing program, YouTube will have a hundreds of simple tutorials for you to learn from. Search for “(your program) tutorial” on the YouTube site or anywhere else on the web. These will get you up to speed in no time. Once your clips are trimmed and split (pulling out your best footage) you can add smooth transitions between different scenes and add effects to your clips, such as time-lapse or slow motion. But don’t go overboard with this as it may take away from your film. In order to stabilize shaky video, some programs allow you to apply a stabilizer effect to your clip. |
| If you are creating with the purpose of burning to a DVD for family and friends then time doesn’t matter, but if you are planning on uploading your video to a website, blog or video site then shorter videos will ease that process. Anywhere in the 1-5 minute length will work fine and be hassle free. Make sure that before you render your finished project, check your settings. You want to ensure that your setting are on the highest possible quality so that your video will upload to YouTube or Vimeo in HQ or HD. You can even choose a widescreen format, but you will have to choose the crop option so that you don't stretch the video and lose resolution. |
|
| Uploading | Once your video edit is rendered and saved, upload it to your favorite video upload site – such as YouTube, Viddler, or Vimeo etc. There are hundreds of video sites that you can now choose from. We recommend YouTube for a number of reasons: their user interface makes it extremely easy to upload videos. It is easy to copy URL's for email. And it is very easy to copy your video's HTML code and embed the video on your personal site. Don't forget to put "Tachyon XC" or "Tachyon XC Micro" in your title or tags. This will help us to find and link to your videos. |
|
 |
|
| WARNING: The form and functions of Tachyon XC helmet cam products, accessories, logos, and all graphics on these web pages are the patented, protected property of Tachyon, Inc.
Any attempt by anyone other than our authorized dealers to copy or reproduce any of the above without permission of Tachyon, Inc. will be met with legal action. Tachyon XC products are available for purchase only at http://www.tachyoninc.com/ or from authorised dealers. 本公司拥有 TACHYON XC HELMET CAMERAS 独有专利技术生产及销售权。本公司所有产品在世界主要国家已获专利授权，已受各注册所在国专利法保护。此外，外观设计专利、实用新型专利、发明专利已取得中华人民共 和国国家知识产权专利局颁发的专利证书，已受中华人民共和国专利法保护。“TACHYON”品牌是本公司特有商标，商标专有与使用权已取得欧美主要国家及中华人民共和国的全面保护。 |