Best action camera

[Josh Greer]

If you live stream to Facebook, can you later download the video from Facebook ?

You can. But I never like to depend on a live for my saved files. I always like to stream with 1 device and record with another. This way if I lose one method, I can rely on the other. But yes, if you go into the saved live and click the 3 dots, you will see an option to download the video (if it is yours):

 

[uncdrew]

I just want to be on a team where another person does all the filming/live streaming.

 

[fastfeet007]

Has anyone used one of the 360 cameras? Seems like it would be neat to see a player hit a ball, and then watch the ball go to the outfield or wherever with the edit. While keeping the camera at the same position. At least that's my understanding of how they work.

Also seems like you'd never miss the shot. Just hold it out, and it would capture all the action.

 

[Josh Greer]

Has anyone used one of the 360 cameras? Seems like it would be neat to see a player hit a ball, and then watch the ball go to the outfield or wherever with the edit. While keeping the camera at the same position. At least that's my understanding of how they work.

Also seems like you'd never miss the shot. Just hold it out, and it would capture all the action.

(sorry to interject in every conversation here....we play with a lot of cameras)

We've played with the Insta360 One R as we didn't like the idea of investing in a camera that only shoots 360 (GoPro Max). The One R is a very neat modular design. The 1" mod has a 1" 5K sensor and the "360 Mod" has front and back lenses to shoot in 360 degrees. The video is interesting, but I'd mention a few points:

(preface): As most action cameras are Chinese made, it is important to note that Insta360 is a Chinese company. There are sales distribution channels domestically, but support is most certainly off shore.

1.) GoPro termed the phrase Field Of View (FOV, or what they now call "Digital Lenses" in the HERO's 8 and 9). FOV determines how wide the shot is. Much like focal length in the photography world, the wider the shot, the farther the depth. If you compose a nice wide shot of a mountain range, you won't see the detail of the trees. With a telephoto lens, you can zoom into a branch, but you lose the mountains. So the FOV you choose depends on what you want to capture. In softball, the baselines are at 90 degrees to each other. But mounted to a fence, you move that "apex" point back and that angle begins to narrow. On our test field, that angle is 73 degrees; meaning, at 73 degrees, we would capture 1st to 3rd base at the side edges of the shot. This maximizes the amount of depth we can capture. On the HERO9, Linear FOV with horizontal leveling is about 87 degrees. That with some zoom gets us the shot we want.

I say all of that to say, if 87 degrees captures the shot, 273 degrees would be wasted on a 360 camera. So in that regard, using it to track the motion could be accomplished with a non-360 camera with, perhaps, better results. At least on the Insta360, when you start digitally zooming into the action (which is what the 360 tracking feature does) the details fall off pretty quickly.

2.) With essentially 2 cameras running at all times, the file sizes and process times are ridiculous. Our production computer has an Intel i7-10875 Processor, 64GB RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce RTS 2060 6GB RAM video. This 30 second click processed in about 4 minutes. All things being equal (and they probably aren't), this means a 2 hour game would take about 16 hours to process.

 

[Rick M]

Has anyone used one of the 360 cameras? Seems like it would be neat to see a player hit a ball, and then watch the ball go to the outfield or wherever with the edit. While keeping the camera at the same position... Also seems like you'd never miss the shot. Just hold it out, and it would capture all the action.

Would just add to Josh’s excellent post: The only way that a 360 camera would cover the whole field in the way you describe would be if you could somehow mount it over second base. Mounted on a backstop, it would only give you additional footage of the fans, maybe the snack stand

If you want better footage of the outfield play, better to mount a second camera on the outfield fence.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[fastfeet007]

Makes sense on half the 360 camera not being used... But I was thinking more if you were sitting on the 1st baseline or 3rd. You could pan to a foul ball hit - crowd. Or if it was hit into the outfield.

 

[Softballin]

I'm following this as well. Every Camera mostly GoPros seem to get way to hot and overheat in this Central Valley California heat. I cant get one solid full game at a respectable resolution. I might be doing something wrong. IDK

 

[tange51]

Is there a good option using a camera that costs under $100?

 

[wheresmycar]

Has anyone used one of the 360 cameras? Seems like it would be neat to see a player hit a ball, and then watch the ball go to the outfield or wherever with the edit. While keeping the camera at the same position. At least that's my understanding of how they work.

If you are talking about post production editing, then recording at a higher resolution, like 4k, would give you the ability to zoom in on outfield play in the edit, and still produce an HD (1080p) end result video.

The time to edit a video like this is substantial, and likely not something amateurs are going to do more than once.

For live streaming, the Mevo Plus allows you to zoom and pan during the live stream, which is a really cool feature. But doing this during a live game, would basically require someone who doesn't look up from their tablet during the entire game. I did use this feature during the HS season, to zoom in on the score board in between innings, to help viewers keep track of the score, since we didn't have a score overlay.

 

[Canonq]

I'm following this as well. Every Camera mostly GoPros seem to get way to hot and overheat in this Central Valley California heat. I cant get one solid full game at a respectable resolution. I might be doing something wrong. IDK

The key is to keep the sun off the camera. I use a landscaping shade fabric that I clip onto the fence above the camera. This seems to work really well and I haven't had an overheat in 2 seasons. When the sun is in front of the camera, you're just SOL.