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I have been experimenting with my iphone. I got a little tripod with a remote($35), I set it up, took video, shortened the video to a postable size (45 seconds), posted it to youtube... and it was awful. The image was small, but clear on the iphone, but by the time I got it on youtube it was not only small but very fuzzy. I wanted to at least experiment before spending money on a Soloshot3, and I found it frustrating just getting the vid on the phone and then on youtube so I am thinking I don't have the patience (or brains ) for a Soloshot...

The video from the phone was quite helpful for my own learning but I couldn't even get it from the phone to my computer (it won't text, or email) so I have to watch it on the tiny phone.

Any suggestions on an inexpensive video camera (<$100) ?

We have a Sony Handi-cam and have been using it for at least 15 years I think. Works beautifully. They were costly when we bought ours, but I think now they are around $200. More than you want to spend, but work very well even in a dark indoor. I love that I can watch my video through the window, pause, frame-by-frame, and then click to save a still shot on the memory stick. What you can't do (as far as I know) is upload the video to facebook or send it to a friend via email. You may be able to do all kinds of things, but I'm not technically adept. I have rarely uploaded the video to my apple computer, put it in Imovie, and later try to upload it to youtube. It was cumbersome for me. Thus, I have few videos to share.

We tried using the iPad for video and that worked well too on a tripod. I forget why we only did that once. Probably because getting DH out there to video is not easy.

Ditto on the Sony HandiCam. They are fantastic. Like MC said, you do have to take the video off and edit/upload through iMovie or another program. You won't be able to just upload on any device unless they are connected to internet.

I also have a Sony Handycam I just bought a couple months ago. I chose it because it's compatible with Pixio, in case I decide to buy one eventually. I found mine as a refurbished unit for $160. Rather than messing with the camera, I just take the micro-SD out, put it in an adapter and plug it straight into my computer to transfer files.

However, there are cheap no-name cameras for sale on Amazon that seem to have all the same functionality for well under $100. My husband bought one of the helmet cams and used it for a ski trip this winter, and I was really impressed with the image quality.

Here is a short clip of the video of my ride from yesterday. It is a lot more clear on the original file; a lot of quality is lost uploading to YouTube - also, I need a better tripod, I have a flexible one that attaches to the gate, but I had to re-adjust while on the horse, and it got all crooked. https://youtu.be/v4d35axGO3I

Thanks for the replies. I am slowly getting this

This is from the end of our session on Thursday. The irritating noise in the background is the local power company drilling 8 foot deep holes for new power lines.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ozPiLt3TF0k

I don’t think I need anything more than my iPhone for the time being. I still have more to learn on it.

I will post some more work from the same vid in the training forum later. Today is lesson day (yay!) so I need to go get ready. I’ve spent HOURS since Thursday just figuring out google YouTube iPhone blah blah blah!

I have a Canon Vixia, it's great and less expensive than the Sony.

I don't know if this will help or if you will want to slap me for telling you things you already know, but anytime you "message" a picture directly off your phone via messaging, email etc., you will normally lose quality bc phones automatically change the picture quality to send them.

Two solutions that work:

1. Use your phone's cord to directly transfer from the files on your phone to your computer. You shouldn't lose any quality doing this. It's just like plugging in a jump drive.

2. Upload to facebook. Typically on almost all phones you can upload to facebook directly without the phone compressing the picture and losing quality. Either on your phone as you post or on FB once posted you can change the privacy settings so that only certain people can see the video. That way if you don't want the entire internet seeing it, you can limit it.

I hope this helps!

I have a Cannon Vixia as well. It works great.
I believe what swayed me at the time I bought it was that it had better low-light capabilities (ie. indoor arenas) than competitors.
I'm sure there are other cameras now, but low-light function may be something to compare when looking at video cameras.

Once you start videoing, you will want something like a soloshot!

I am listening to all of this commentary with great interest!

Given what I spend on other things for horsey, why not a camera for me (and her training)?!

Flight wrote:Once you start videoing, you will want something like a soloshot!

Yep. I needed to play around with the iPhone for a while to see if I was up to the technical challange. Now the question is soloshot or pixio. Ive been following the facebook pages on both and still haven’t decided. I will play with the iPhone for a while longer...

Being able to see my own riding and analyze it is such a wonderful tool. Plus, in these great threads we have on DDBB, it will be so much easier if I can show the stuff I am trying to explain.

Piedmont, you need a video camera too!!

I thought you had or were getting a soloshot? Anyway, yes the soloshot is a bit temperamental but videoing helps a lot. Especially if you can get a reasonable zoom in.

I talked a lot about getting the soloshot but never actually got one. I just started videoing with my iPhone and need some more time to decide if I can handle a soloshot or pixio. I like it a lot so far, and will probably get a robot eventually...

HafDressage wrote:I don't know if this will help or if you will want to slap me for telling you things you already know, but anytime you "message" a picture directly off your phone via messaging, email etc., you will normally lose quality bc phones automatically change the picture quality to send them.

Two solutions that work:

1. Use your phone's cord to directly transfer from the files on your phone to your computer. You shouldn't lose any quality doing this. It's just like plugging in a jump drive.

2. Upload to facebook. Typically on almost all phones you can upload to facebook directly without the phone compressing the picture and losing quality. Either on your phone as you post or on FB once posted you can change the privacy settings so that only certain people can see the video. That way if you don't want the entire internet seeing it, you can limit it.

I hope this helps!

This is good advice, thank you! I appreciate all tips. Even if it's something I already know, I can always use reminders at this point.

One thing I discovered was that I need to TURN ON some of the things on my iphone and ipad. I am able to get video that I take on with the phone directly to my ipad since i turned on AirDrop. So the vid that is uncomfortably small for viewing on my phone, becomes reasonably visible on the bigger tablet screen.

Also, on the tablet, I am able to use three fingers to expand the view and get a much larger image. Then with one finger I can "follow" the larger image around the arena. But this only works on the video stored in my tablet, not on the Youtube replys.

Some people will pick these things up easily, but for others, like myself, I fumble around a good bit before I figure it out. Like, when I publish to Youtube, I need to choose HD vs standard something or other, or the video is fuzzy.

I changed the thread title to hopefully encourage more tips and experiences on videoing our rides.

One thing I'm learning is to put the video camera lower than you think to capture more of the ride (assuming a stationary camera).

I was putting it on a fencepost, but I ordered a tripod and will try putting it around 3' off the ground, without much sky showing, which cuts off less of the arena.

StraightForward wrote:One thing I'm learning is to put the video camera lower than you think to capture more of the ride (assuming a stationary camera).

I was putting it on a fencepost, but I ordered a tripod and will try putting it around 3' off the ground, without much sky showing, which cuts off less of the arena.

Good point. My tripod has short, maybe 8-10 inch flexible legs that wrap around stuff. I’ve been putting on the top fence rail which is about 4 1/2 - feet off the ground. And there’s lots of pretty sky in my videos. Tomorrow I’ll try it on the second rail which is around 3 feet high.

Hi Dressage Friends,

Update: Bought this to use with my celly- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07799XTMB/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


So, you have to set the zoom you want before hand of course, but it took relatively high quality video and the stand held the phone up really well. So, I walked by it, clicked the button and then did about 10 minutes of work. Of course not having zoom is not ideal, but really I could still get a decent idea of what was going on and my position. The video quality on my phone is pretty high, so until I want to splurge for the solo shot, I think this is easiest.

My husband bought me one of those tripods and remotes but couldn't get the remote to record video, it would only take pics so if anyone else is going to try that make sure that the remote is one that will work for the video too. Though I suppose it's not too big of a deal for the price if you're in the US but I just looked up the exact same model on Amazon here and it's $30.00.

My phone tripod is an Insignia from Bestbuy. Looks just like the ones Imperini and Hafdressage have. The box says it controls the shutter and no mention of the video, however, I was happy to find out it controls the vid, too. The thing is, it is temperamental. If you get out of range (and I don't know the exact range, yet) it doesn't work, even when you get back in range. It unpairs sometimes and I don't know exactly why. Today I couldn't get it to pair when I wanted to use it, but then later, inside, I was trying to figure out if it needed a new battery, and it paired up and started working.... for now I just get off and on to start and stop and consider it "good exercise"! It would be very convenient if it work, though.

I am still working on where and how to place the thing. About 3 feet off the ground, per Straightforward's advice, seems to be just right. For me, about 4 feet away from the arena works really well to get a fuller veiw. I put the mini tripod on a big tripod today to get just the right location but halfway through, the wind blew it around so I didnt get much good video. Gotta fix that issue.

Even with the limited footage I got today, it was enough to be very helpful. I could clearly see what I need to work on. I probably need to use it once a week for a while. Maybe next week I'll get some video worth sharing!

Demi my replacement soloshot has been brilliant. I even got most of my clinic that was in an undercover arena. By day 3 I had figured out how best to set it up and it got all my lesson in the undercover arena.
Just get one!

Flight wrote:Demi my replacement soloshot has been brilliant. I even got most of my clinic that was in an undercover arena. By day 3 I had figured out how best to set it up and it got all my lesson in the undercover arena.
Just get one!

That is great Flight! I am getting really close to pulling the trigger even though the indoor accessory seems to be a big question mark still. It might be kind of a moot point because when I haul to an indoor in winter, I rarely want to bother with the camera, and the barn I'm thinking of moving to would be pretty difficult to video in the indoor as there's nowhere outside of the arena to set the camera.

If anyone wants to buy a very lightly used HandyCam, I may have one available.

I got a proper tripod and set my HandyCam up on it on Tuesday about 2.5" from the ground, more in the corner of the arena and was pretty happy with the results. One problem is the picture gets grainy really quickly as the sun goes down, which is usually when I'm riding after work. Any experience with how the SoloShot performs in those conditions?

Maybe the pixio would work better for you, StraightForward?

I think the SS cameras struggle with the low light too. You have to drop the quality down ( to 1080p30 - which is still quite good) so it can record better in low light. If I get some footage after sunset I'll show you.

Flight wrote:Maybe the pixio would work better for you, StraightForward?

I think the SS cameras struggle with the low light too. You have to drop the quality down ( to 1080p30 - which is still quite good) so it can record better in low light. If I get some footage after sunset I'll show you.

I've looked at it, but the beacons seem to make it pretty limiting, especially for shows. I bought the HandyCam because it's Pixio-compatible, but I'd probably end up wanting to upgrade cameras, at which point it's as/more expensive than even the SS65 with the theoretical indoor accessory.

Flight wrote:Demi my replacement soloshot has been brilliant. I even got most of my clinic that was in an undercover arena. By day 3 I had figured out how best to set it up and it got all my lesson in the undercover arena.
Just get one!

“Just get one!” I know I know I know....but at least by waiting this long, SS seems to be getting a lot of bugs out.

I have 3 Sony Handycams, but the two more expensive models are ten times the camera that the cheaper model is, even though they only cost about twice as much ($500/$250).

The cheaper Handycam records to an internal hard drive, but the quality of the video is crap compared to the other ones because it records much smaller files. The cheap one is fine if the light is good, but get into low light or distance situations and the quality of the video sucks.

If I had it to do all over again I'd buy two good quality used video cameras like the Sony's and probably skip the Soloshot or Pixio, because it's just so much easier to set the cameras up at both ends of the arena and then sort out the footage that's close enough, than it is to futz around with trackers (BTDT).

But that decision would probably depend on the size of the arena, and whether someone would prefer setting up more cameras and then sorting through more footage, or would rather set up a tracker.

kande50 wrote:....

If I had it to do all over again I'd buy two good quality used video cameras like the Sony's and probably skip the Soloshot or Pixio, because it's just so much easier to set the cameras up at both ends of the arena and then sort out the footage that's close enough, than it is to futz around with trackers (BTDT)....

Thats a really good idea, Kande. Just a few years ago I wouldn’t have even considered it, but with the editing programs available now, I think it may not be too difficult. I could use my iphone on one end and my ipad on the the other. Very interesting....

We are getting lots of rain today and it’s forecast to rain into next week, so it will be a while before I can try it.

Sometimes I forget to turn on both cameras, but it doesn't matter because I almost always remember to turn on one of them. And they're easy enough to transport and set up that I do it almost every time I ride, so I end up with plenty of footage.

I've used a lot of different editing programs and there's always been a fairly steep learning curve, but once I figured it out editing footage became almost automatic.

Just like riding, in fact....

Well, I bought a Pixio at the beginning of November and so far I’ve managed to use it once. I don’t think it would be this complicated for most people, but I’ve got little (curious, destructive) kids running around during the day, and after they go to bed, my brain is usually fried, so it was hard to find time to figure it out.

My first mistake was getting a USB drive instead of a microSD card. That’s a silly mistake I made because I read the instructions late at night, then went off memory the next day when I was buying it. But then the MicroSD card I got was too high capacity and not formatted correctly, so I had to get a second one (luckily the first one could go in the camera).

I was planning to use it with the GoPro which is not one of the compatible cameras, but still can be used. But when I tried to attach it, I found I needed to order an adapter from GoPro. So I got that, but when I went to attach the whole thing to the tripod I have, I found I needed an adapter for this too. It was mentioned in the user manual, so I could have known ahead of time if I’d known the measurement of the screw on my tripod.

I finally got the software onto the microSD card to update the robot, beacons, and watch, but I got interrupted while doing the watch and it ran out of batteries before it completed the update. Then it wouldn’t recharge from the wireless charger included. After corresponding with tech support, we determined it was the charger, and they offered to send me a new one but I’d already bought a new (and better) one to do the trouble shooting they’d had me do so I declined.

At this point I tried to set the system up for a test run, not knowing that the watch update had failed. I corresponded with tech support again and after two more attempts, I successfully updated the watch and got the system working.

This brings us to last week (remember we started in November?). I finally used it one time and it was not difficult to set up and it did track me. Since I was using the GoPro, I did not have the zoom feature or the ability to turn it on/off from the watch. It turns out that the GoPro placed at A can see pretty much the whole arena anyway, so the panning did not do much. I decided the zoom and ability to turn on/off from the watch would be worth it, so I bought a cheaper supported Sony Handycam. And when it came, I realized that I have misplaced the cable that would connect it to the robot. I could order one from Pixio for like €30 and wait for shipping from France. But I think I found a cable with the right jacks (a microUSB on one end and a 3.5mm on the other), and it should be here tomorrow so we’ll see. Of course, I will have to upload the software for the new camera, and then update the robot, beacons, and watch before I can use the system again.

Obviously it did not need to be this complicated. I think I might recommend buying the whole enchilada from Pixio, including the tripod and camera instead of assuming you have compatible accessories like I did. And don’t lose your cables. And don’t read your instructions late at night after a day of wrangling crazy 2’ tall people thentry to remember what you read in the morning.

Also, the shock of seeing myself ride on camera was horrifying and probably contributed to my taking the next day off to process. But I decided i will eventually get over that. Either I will get better, or I will get used to seeing myself bumble around up there.

demi wrote:The video from the phone was quite helpful for my own learning but I couldn't even get it from the phone to my computer (it won't text, or email) so I have to watch it on the tiny phone.

If your computer is an Apple, and you have the "iMovie" installed, plug in your phone to the computer via USB, and open iMovie. In iMovie, go to the pull down "File" and go to "Import from Camera." Open the camera dialog box and after a moment, you'll see your iPhone movies listed and you can select the ones you want to down load. The videos are loaded into iMove as events and then can be edited into "Projects."

This will probably work for other video editing software apps on an Apple and may work for other OSs including Windows but no guarantees, this is Apple after all!

Just got an email about price drop on soloshot. Free bag and tripod if ordered this weekend. I'm biting the bullet and buying one!

Literiding wrote:

demi wrote:The video from the phone was quite helpful for my own learning but I couldn't even get it from the phone to my computer (it won't text, or email) so I have to watch it on the tiny phone.

If your computer is an Apple, and you have the "iMovie" installed, plug in your phone to the computer via USB, and open iMovie. In iMovie, go to the pull down "File" and go to "Import from Camera." Open the camera dialog box and after a moment, you'll see your iPhone movies listed and you can select the ones you want to down load. The videos are loaded into iMove as events and then can be edited into "Projects."

This will probably work for other video editing software apps on an Apple and may work for other OSs including Windows but no guarantees, this is Apple after all!

Thanks for the advice. I love iMovie!! I just recently discovered it. My computer is a MS Surface Book so no iMovie there, but my iPad is large enough to watch vids from and I can easily “airdrop” vid from my phone to the pad.

StraightForward wrote:Just got an email about price drop on soloshot. Free bag and tripod if ordered this weekend. I'm biting the bullet and buying one!

Yay!!! For you!

I am having my furniture reupholstered at the moment and also want a new saddle so I am still holding off on the soloshot for now. The price drop looks good, though.

Bip, your pixio adventures sound harrowing!! I was thinking Pixio might be easier than soloshot, but at this point, with the soloshot price drop, I am leaning away from Pixio.

I hate seeing myself on vid, but it sure does give me incentive to improve. But even more than incentive, just seeing mistakes that are easily correctable is a good enough reason, for me, to suffer the embarrassment of watching myself!

demi wrote:

StraightForward wrote:Just got an email about price drop on soloshot. Free bag and tripod if ordered this weekend. I'm biting the bullet and buying one!

Yay!!! For you!

I am having my furniture reupholstered at the moment and also want a new saddle so I am still holding off on the soloshot for now. The price drop looks good, though.

I hear you. We just did taxes today; probably wouldn't have bought the SS if we'd done taxes first but oh well, at least I sold my "extra" saddle a couple weeks ago, which covered the SS purchase.

Just the video I've been getting with the HandyCam has helped me fix a couple problems and waste less time making the same errors (clearing the way for me to make different errors ), so I think it will pay for itself in getting more value out of my lessons (and maybe allow me to check in with the instructor in between lessons).

demi wrote:Bip, your pixio adventures sound harrowing!! I was thinking Pixio might be easier than soloshot, but at this point, with the soloshot price drop, I am leaning away from Pixio.

I hate seeing myself on vid, but it sure does give me incentive to improve. But even more than incentive, just seeing mistakes that are easily correctable is a good enough reason, for me, to suffer the embarrassment of watching myself!

I don’t think it would have been so harrowing if not for the kids. They are the wild cards making this all very complicated because I can’t have the pieces out while they are awake, and by the time they are asleep, I’m toast.

I think the decision between SoloShot vs Pixio is whether you plan to use it inside or outside. I plan to mostly use mine inside, and at the time I bought, it didn’t seem like SoloShot was ever going to get it together. I’m moving to a barn with xcty Course and come summertime, I will probably regret having the Pixio.

Update: One input of the cable I bought on Amazon is slightly different than what I need. I can’t find the exact cable anywhere except Pixio. In France. For kind of a lot of money considering how much I’ve already spent on this thing.

The worst part is that I know the cable is around here somewhere, but it could be anywhere in the entire house. I’ve looked in all the obvious places.

I could pretty much cry.

Update: I tossed the house and managed to find the original cable (which is a major miracle considering the state of my house). And it is identical. So I checked the manual and it should fit, so I went over the camera with a fine tooth comb and there’s a little door on the other side of the camera that is compatible with this cable. Phew.

So no tears necessary yet, lol

Dang Bip, I hope it works great for you after all of that.

Well, it took me an hour and a half to get it working, but I did get it working at 11:30 last night. About a half of that was due to it not working in the bedroom, which I guessed was because the beacons were not a full 2 meters from the camera. So I relocated to the living room and in the process, placed beacon 2 to the RIGHT of beacon 1, when it needs to be to the left (I know this but beacon #2 had not charged properly and needed to be plugged in, so I put it where the outlet was, then promptly forgot I needed to re-arrange the other beacons/robot). This caused an error that the Pixio couldn’t seem to resolve even when I shut them all down, put them in the correct positions, then re-started. I ended up taking the microSD card out and manually deleting the txt files (Pixio is supposed to do this automatically when it restarts, I think).

Then once the robot was tracking, it took a long time to iron out turning the camera on/off from the watch because it would timeout pretty quickly and not be able to respond to the watch. I’m hoping there’s a setting on the camera where I can either lengthen this time or turn it off completely so the camera doesn’t go to sleep while I’m mounting!

We will see if it works at the barn this afternoon. At this point I’m not sure if I bought a Pixio, or got a part time tech support job with no training and no pay.

I am still waiting for better, non-rainy weather to play with the iphone/remote set up. Maybe this coming weekend!

Well, it did work after a few minutes fiddling with it. So now I’ve used it for about 30% as much time as it took me to get it working, lol. And I’m not quite sure I had the auto zoom working right, but I’m going to re-read that part of the instructions/my camera’s instructions tonight.

Ideally, I will be able to use it for my lesson tomorrow. The ride I filmed yesterday was miserable. There was a beginner group lesson going on and I was never sure enough about where they were going to kick my horse into gear.

Keep us posted please, Bip.

Sadly, tonight is where I lose any credibility to criticize the Pixio. I very carefully set it up for my lesson. It recognized the watch perfectly. It started the camera from the watch perfectly. Too bad I had centered the thing on beacon #2 when I set up it up, instead of #1 like you are supposed to. AND I KNOW IT! I just put the camera at C instead of A (where I’d put it the first two times) because I wanted it to be closer to where my instructor sits, and I ...

So it’s a 40 min video of the space about a horse length behind me. Sigh.

So frustrating Bip! I've had a few frustrations with the Soloshot as well, but eventually you do work it out. My latest was forgetting to clear the SD card, so the card filled up and then it doesn't seem save the last file it makes when this happens. So I missed what I really wanted.
But once you have it sorted it will be great

My SoloShot is working beautifully so far. Unfortunately our arena is slop and I hauled out to an indoor for our lesson today, so my first video is just farting around with some in-hand work with Obie. Will share when I get some riding video later this week.

In the meantime, I have a Sony Handycam and tripod for sale.

ETA: here is a clip of my video from yesterday. Obie has never done in-hand work per se, and hasn't been asked to do anything in well over a year. The camera was facing into the sun, so it's rather dark, but any camera would have that problem. Can't wait to get some riding video!

https://youtu.be/rG_MAgCPRoU

First riding video today. I got 45 minutes of footage, and out of that, about 5 minutes of bad footage, where SS lost me and there's only a horse butt in the frame. Part of that is at the beginning when it was just starting to track. Really happy with this unit and have my fingers crossed that it continues to perform!

Flight may have a referral code to post as well, but I got this from SoloShot today, offering $50 off, getting the Optic25 below the $500 price point: http://soloshot.refr.cc/dominikal

ETA: here is the video clip https://youtu.be/4D0AOVYuOwc