Tired of blurry, shaky MTB videos? In this helpful guide from Olfi, you’ll learn the best angles, mounts, settings and equipment you’ll need to make your MTB content look great! We also cover the best way to upload your footage to social media.
Olfi MTB Guide: Best angles, mounts, settings and equipment
Mountain biking, enduro, road biking, trials, we could go on! They all have something in common, two wheels. Add an Olfi and it makes your MTB’ing just that much more fun!
The Olfi captures all of the beautiful views when mountain biking, and enables you relive the adventure over and over again through playback. If you road bike, it’s a perfect chance to use your Olfi to shoot some silky smooth cycling footage.
Wondering what you can achieve with the Olfi, here’s a taster video of the type of footage you could be capturing. Watch Olfi Athlete Tom Reynolds perform some awesome dirt jumps on his mountain bike.
Awesome vid, right!? We’ll run you through how to achieve this type of quality video with your Olfi.
What’s the best Olfi action camera for MTB videos?
Whether you’re planning on recording some super speedy mountain biking action, or some cool tricks in your local dirt jump park, the Olfi one.five Black is definitely qualified for the job. With silky smooth 1080p full HD video at 60fps and built-in image stabilisation, your video is going to look semi-professional! There’s also the option to film in 2.5k if you want to capture some wide footage that’ll bring more of your arms into the shot.
10 Olfi Biking Tips and Tricks
1. Invest in the right accessories and mounts
When it comes to MTB riding, using the same mount over and over, as well as a 5-minute straight point of view video is plainly, boring. You need to change it up! Olfi offers many different mounts that make for great MTB footage – click here to see our range. Our advice is to invest in the chest harness, vented helmet strap (if you have a vented helmet), flexible tripod and aluminium bar mount, you’ll be able to capture your journey from interesting new perspectives!
Helmet and chest mounts are fantastic for capturing POV (point of view) videos, but on-bike mounts, the aluminium bar mount is great for grabbing unique angles. You can also angle the Olfi so that you record the movement of your bike spokes and pedals. Mixing it up with videos like this will make your video edit much more interesting and watchable. TIP – whilst you’re mountain biking, mount your Olfi on a tripod and cycle past it, splattering some mud or leaves onto the camera, it’ll definitely make interesting footage… Just remember to pick it up afterwards and clean it with a cloth! Distanced perspective will make you seem like a pro-video recorder!
2. Turn your Olfi upside down when attaching to the chest harness
Sounds weird, but it works and makes for better footage. By attaching it upside down, you’ll get a better perspective and avoid the awkward crotch shot, just remember to marginally angle the Olfi away from the chest harness plate. Once that’s done, you’ll be capturing nice handlebar shots. Remember to tighten the screw as firmly as you can, it takes the shudder out of your footage! TIP – remember to flip the video back in your video editor!
3. Bring a friend, they’re invaluable to your video
Capturing MTB footage with a friend opens up your filming options widely. They’re also the one who’s going to help you back up if you’re combating a tricky trail and face plant the floor.
Ask your friend to wear the Olfi vented helmet mount facing backwards, and to cycle in front of you. Now you’ll have cool video of you cycling towards the camera. Video edits like this make your videos look semi-professional and give you eternal bragging rights.
4. Don’t press stop until the Olfi is full!
We don’t need to tell you this, mountain biking is very fast paced! Whether you’re road cycling or zooming through MTB trails, you want to capture all the best bits. Keep your Olfi on for as long as it can film. You never know just what you could film. Sometimes some of the best videos have filler shots of friends fist-pumping each other, raw reactions of landing your biggest jump yet or hilarious out-takes.
TIP – If you decide you’re going to be out all day, you need to make sure you’re equipped with spare Olfi batteries. You’ll thank us later!
5. Turn digital image stabilisation ON
Imagine it – you’ve just spent a day filming and now your footage is ruined because it’s all blurry. What a nightmare! If you know it’s going to be a bumpy ride, turn the Olfi digital image stabilisation setting to ON. Also remember, whatever mount you’re using at the time of filming, make sure the Olfi is fastened securely and the screw is super-tight. TIP – get your friend to check your screw is tightened firmly.
6. Use the Olfi Watch Remote
The Olfi Watch Remote takes the hassle out of filming MTB videos. Turn your Olfi on, secure your Olfi to a mount, strap the Olfi Watch Remote to your wrist and now you’re free to control the action camera without having to mess around with the screen. It’s perfect for when you’ve mounted your Olfi out of reach.
What features does the watch remote have? You’ll be able to start and stop recording, turn the camera on or off, and even take a photo, all without needing to un-mount your Olfi.
7. Best Olfi Video Settings
If you have any Olfi one.five action camera, you’ll be able to make use of the 4K resolution at 24fps, that’s ultra high definition.
For capturing MTB videos though, we’d recommend 1080p at 60fps (default setting) as the frame rate is higher and makes a smoother video, especially for a bumpy ride. You’ll also have the freedom to slow them down in the video editor afterwards. Slo-mo shots are awesome awesome to watch!
Recording in 1080p instead of 4K will enable you to write more footage to the memory card as it uses requires less battery.
8. Keep it in the Waterproof Case
Quite a straightforward one, the waterproof case will protect your Olfi if you take a tumble, or if it starts to rain.
Not planning on using your MTB in the rain? In most MTB trail parks there will still be mud splashes. Your Olfi won’t particularly appreciate getting mud clogged in its ports and lens!
The waterproof case may dampen the sound in your footage, so we created an audio back door that opens up the sound with the camera still being protected inside. We recommend finding some music to place over the video, it makes a nicer sound than WHOOOOOOSSHSHHSSHHSHSSSHHH (that’s our poor attempt of wind noise).
TIP – See if you can match up the timing of your video to timing the music, it makes it much more entertaining!
9. Capture close-ups of your bike
If you’re planning on sharing your video online for friends, family or customers, you might be surprised that your viewers are also interested in seeing footage of your bike as well! When you are in-between cycling, grab your Olfi handheld and record some close-ups of your bike and place these into your video edit, the bike enthusiasts will love it. It’s also a great way to mix up your video.
10. Film in nice weather conditions
We’ve all seen them. A grey, blurry mess of a 3-minute MTB video. It’s definitely a great way to bore your audience.
Unfortunately, your Olfi action camera can’t magically bring the sun out when you decide to film, so remember to plan your video and keep an eye on the weather! We’re not saying wait until the hottest day of the year in July, but just leave the Olfi in the wings when it’s a horrible grey day outside, or raining.
When’s a good time to film?
- When the sky is blue
- When it’s the brightest part of the day
- When it’s not raining
If it’s a very cold day but the weather conditions seem to be good, invest in some anti-fog inserts. They prevent condensation and stop your video footage from looking blurry.
TIP – Check your Olfi at the end of the day for any mud splats, rain drops and wipe them away with a cloth. Pay close attention to the lens.
Olfi MTB Guide: Best way to upload to social media
1. Facebook
Before anything, let’s make sure your Facebook page/profile is able to upload high definition videos.
To upload videos in HD using the Facebook app: Tap in the top right corner > Tap Settings & Privacy Settings > Scroll down and tap Video/Media and Contacts > Tap to select Upload Videos In HD
Recommended export settings from your video editor (iMovie, Final Cut, HitFilm Express, Movie Maker etc)
- Resolution: 1280 x 720p
- Export as .MP4 or .MOV (recommended)
- Frame rate: 30fps
- H.264 compression
- AAC audio
- Max file size: 4GB
2. Instagram
Recommended export settings from your video editor (iMovie, Final Cut, HitFilm Express, Movie Maker etc)
- Resolution: 640 x 640p
- Export as .MP4 or .MOV (recommended)
- Frame rate: 30fps
- H.264 compression
- AAC audio
- Max file size: 4GB
- Max Length/Size: 60secs
3. Twitter
Recommended export settings from your video editor (iMovie, Final Cut, HitFilm Express, Movie Maker etc)
- Resolution: 1280 x 720p
- Export as .MP4 or .MOV (recommended)
- Frame rate: 30fps
- H.264 compression
- AAC audio
- Max file size: 512MB
- Max Length/Size: 140secs
3. YouTube (Best Channel for Olfi footage)
Recommended export settings from your video editor (iMovie, Final Cut, HitFilm Express, Movie Maker etc)
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080p
- Export as .MP4 or .MOV (recommended)
- Frame rate: 60fps
- H.264 compression
- AAC audio
- Max file size: ∞
- Max Length/Size: ∞
TIP – Don’t share a ‘one fits all’ kind of video. For example, if you create a video for Instagram using the recommended settings above and upload the same video onto Facebook, the quality will not be good. Always make sure you accommodate your video edit for each social media channel you use. Yes, that may mean two or three different edits of the same video but the results will turn out fantastic.
Is your video editor not allowing you to change frame rate or audio? Use this website to convert your video: https://www.aconvert.com/video/ (be sure to avoid the spammy ads).
Are you using iMovie and don’t know how to create a square video? Watch the video below to find out:
david kennaway
hi my app is so slow, the video play back takes ages to work and load. is this normal? i am connecting through the app but that disconnects from wifi. is it meant to be slow?
Kerberos
Hi
This will depend on the device but yes large files can take some time when transferring using Wifi. Please email info@olficamera.com with details of your device and we’ll aim to assist you further. The Memory Card Reader available to purchase from us is an excellent way of transferring large files if that helps.
Thanks
Olfi Camera