I bought an Akaso Brave 6 action camera almost three weeks ago. The YouTube video below was taken on a bright sunny day on what I thought would be a quiet ride through Peck Lake Park. Instead, I headed north on Gomez Road in Hobe Sound past Gomez Preserve and just over the boundary into Seabranch Preserve State Park and then returned to Peck Lake Park. This is almost four miles, not quite, round trip. Short and sweet.
Maybe not so sweet. Gomez Road was busy with lots of bicyclists (yea!) and cars and utility vehicles zipping by in both directions, not to mention stationary hazards and stray pedestrians now and then. However, tranquility returned when I made it to Gomez Preserve.
I’m new to action cameras. I borrowed a GoPro Session from the local library a couple of times and had fun. It gives me a sense of purpose when I head out. It’s liberating, too, to know nothing much about what I’m doing. Generally, I pedal slowly and enjoy the view. I turn around and go back for another look if I ride past something of interest. Sometimes I take a book with me.
I’ve watched a few YouTube movies for ideas. At this point, I’m mostly interested in angles and editing. I plan to conquer esoteric settings sooner or later. However, for now, in case you are interested, I can tell you that I shot this film at 2K 30 fps with a view angle of 140˚ with the sound turned off. I edited it in iMovie and saved it at a resolution of 1080, high quality, before uploading it to YouTube.
I bought an Akaso Brave 6 because it was affordable at $85.00 and because Akaso has good reviews on Amazon. I leave the waterproof housing attached to the bicycle bars. It’s super easy to put the camera in or take it out. I especially love the two batteries, not that I’ve ever needed an extra one yet. Eventually, I will try out the remote that comes with the camera to turn it on and off.
Basically, I turn the camera on and watch for the Akaso logo as it lights up and then push the button and listen closely for the “video recording” message. Then I leave it on for the entire trip. I learned my lesson when I turned it off when the bridge went up to let a boat pass through in a previous movie and then forgot to turn back on as I rode to Rio Park. Fortunately, I used my cell phone to film some extra shots on that trip and combined them with the Akaso footage in iMovie.
I’ll share in future blog posts what I learn about movie making techniques or the features of this action camera. I’ll also keep you up-to-date on parks I visit, or the streets that lead me to some destination or other or around in a loop.
Piggy - Panda 