Our trip to Mexico

[momoffduty]

Stayed a week on the Riviera Maya Mexico with trips to Playa del Carmen & Cozumel. Shot mostly on the GoPro and a few shots with the T4i. It was a crash course on using the GoPro and some gadgets. I took the Steadicam Curve and did not factor in that the slightest breeze knocked it out of balance. It did make for a nice handle. The GorillaPod came in handy. Used it to steady shots by holding the 2 feet and the 3rd foot resting on my shoulder.

I had to stabilize most of the shots in post. Crashed PrPro a dozen times with the mixed footage and the Warp Stabilizer. I edited the shots first. Went to use the Warp stabilizer and started crashing about 1/2 thru the clips. So, I exported the clips in sections and brought back into PrPro. Some of the shots I had slowed down and had to export before using the Warp Effect since you can't change time and Warp on the same shots. You can not Warp Effect on video that is different: example the 1080p T4i video in a 720p Sequence.

The GoPro was easy to carry around, very light weight and unassuming compared to the DSLR. Had it on the monopod most of the time walking around.

I have a rare appearance in the video. I prefer being behind the camera.

[sidd finch]

Nicely done. I found myself thirsting for a Corona watching the video. The GoPro is crystal clear and I noticed that Mr Mom (some call him Dad ) seemed to be more at ease being videotaped. I suspect that the small GP profile helped to encourage him in his thespian talents on the camera. I also noticed the recurring foot theme.... I also liked the water jets footage at the pool and the time lapses. As always nicely done.

Sidd

[tjodork]

very inspiring !!!!
do you do a lot of planning ahead of time ?
are the time lapse ones done with a tripod ?
I'm amazed at some of the shots that I would never think off..but when merged with everything else really add to the video...

Just totally cool.... I think you should be teaching a class !!!

Tim

[Steve Grisetti]

Terrific video, Cheryl! I especially loved the foot/walking montage in the middle and the selfie montage at the end.

But it must have been off-season there. It looks like you had the whole place to yourselves!

[Peru]

A very nice mix of stills, video, and time lapse (and of course your trademark - the feet ).

[momoffduty]

Muchas Gracias! It was really fun with the GoPro. After lugging the DSLR around the past 2 years, it was like carrying nothing.

Sidd, you should try Modelo Light in the blue bottle. Can only get it in Mexico. I thought the GoPro did a good job with closeups, but the faraway scenes seemed soft. Some of the shots had bad mid day lighting. My husband has become quite the ham. A few times I had to tell him to get out of the shot or walk behind me. He wanted to play with the GoPro and he had fun in the pool. His shots were all over the place, no chance of stabilizing there. He did shoot the under the water jet clip.

Tim, I did create a shot list and sad to say didn't look at it once. It did give me thought on what I wanted to try out. The pool timelapse was on a timer attached to the GorillaPod gripped to the rail. The town timelapse the GoPro was on the timer with little feet. The beach timelapse the GoPro was on the GorillaPod standing on the table of the palpaya. As we walked around the resort I would scout out locations for timelapse, but weren't in the right spot with the gear at the right time or not enough clouds.

Steve, this time of year is the slow season and the resort had a 35% occupancy. In past years it was about 60%. The taxi driver said business has been down. He said the peak year was 2008. A lot of resorts built up and I think there is a glut now and add in the recession. I did hear spring break was almost 100% at the resort.

Bob, yes the feet trademark. I have some feet shots when we were in town. May use them for a future project.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but there were guys in capris!

[Bob]

I thought the GoPro did a good job with closeups, but the faraway scenes seemed soft.

That seems to be a common complaint with the Hero 3+. Is that what you have?

[momoffduty]

I thought the GoPro did a good job with closeups, but the faraway scenes seemed soft.

That seems to be a common complaint with the Hero 3+. Is that what you have?

Yes, I have the 3+ and have heard of the complaints. I thought it was different batch #s and some were recalled and focus fixed. The 2nd clip thru the 4th of the shoreline & boats you can see the soft focus. The beads closeup is sharp. Some of the pool shots are soft focus, but you have to factor in a wet case & bad lighting mid day.

[sidd finch]

Because of the 33% increase in image quality from the 3 to the 3+ all of this “crisp detail” is intended for close range but it lost the infinity focus entirely. But it is still an awesome camera.

Sidd

[momoffduty]

Thanks Sidd for the explanation. Have you tried the Protune? I may do some testing.

[ed]

Nice. Love the day drinking!

The time lapse was very smooth.

[momoffduty]

Thanks ed! We went to several places looking for his Modelo Light blue bottle

[Ron Hunter]

Mom, how did you do the rotation in your timelapse at the 30 sec point?

[sidd finch]

Have you tried the Protune? I may do some testing.

I have not done very much with Protune as it is very system intense. But I have started to see folks who are recording in Protune and pulling out still images for eding in Photoshop.

Sidd

[momoffduty]

Mom, how did you do the rotation in your timelapse at the 30 sec point?

I used the Muvi X-Lapse. It has 3 small feet that I extended to sit on the ground. For the pool timelapse, it sat on the GorillaPod which gripped the large railing.

http://www.amazon.com/VEHO-UK-VCC-100-X ... vi+x-lapse