I use action cameras to capture my hobbies including driving the on the track (HPDE), off-road motorcycling, and electric mountain biking off-road. I am very much an amateur but I have learned a few basics from years of experimentation and learning from others. I have very little patience with video editing and I am not so interested in making engaging videos that attract hits. Instead I like to capture and share the videos to relive the moments, and to give others a sense of what the event was like from the drivers, or riders, seat. My off-road videos are especially focused on showing others what these trails are like so they know what they are getting into if they choose to ride them. I typically spend about a minute per video "editing" the videos captured from the camera in preparation for upload to YouTube. I am far from an expert on video capture or editing but I share my thoughts in this article mostly for those who are just getting started.
As an Engineer, I think it is important to understand some of the basics around what is going on with digital video. This helps to create better video.
I have details of my action camera setup in this blog post: https://jimroal.blogspot.com/2025/01/my-action-camera-setup.html . I upgraded to the Insta360 X5, describing that in this post: https://jimroal.blogspot.com/2025/06/action-camera-upgrade.html . You can see my videos on my YouTube channel here: https://youtube.com/@JimRoal
Image Stabilization
One very important note to begin with is the differences between Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) and their use cases.
Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)
Optical image stabilization is accomplished by adding physical suspension and damping to the camera lens. This allows the lens to move somewhat independently from the camera body. This works similar to suspension on a car ort motorcycle, allowing the wheels to follow the ground while the body is semi-isolated, giving the vehicle a smoother ride. This works well in the case of light shaking or vibrations but it cannot handle any significant shaking or vibrations. OIS is commonly used in traditional video camcorders and higher-end smartphone cameras. OIS can also improve still image quality since the electronic image sensor in the camera takes time to capture the image, it is critical the camera stay in the exact same position as long as possible. This allows for a much crisper image. The same concept applies to video as the camera is collecting a series of images to make the video.
One key point here is that you never want optical image stabilization (OIS) for action video from a camera mounted on a moving object, like a car or bike. OIS works great for a human holding a camera but not for a camera mounted to just about any moving object. In fact, using an OIS camera on a moving object will eventually destroy the camera as the excessive forces make the OIS mechanism slam against its limits. This also creates horrible video. In the case where a human is holding the camera OIS works great since the person holding the camera is already compensating for shock loads, damping them out.
Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS)
Electronic image stabilization is a totally different approach. Instead of stabilizing the lens and optical image sensor, it captures frames very quickly and then aligns them afterwards (although pretty much in real-time). This can be done in post-processing as well. Think of it as a series of images while making a video. The shaking causes each image to misalign with the prior image which results in shaky video. EIS realigns image-by-image (actually using groups of images) to make each frame align correctly. In order to do this, you must sacrifice the edges of each image, meaning you must reduce the resolution of the images you originally captured. For instance the Garmin Virb I have drops from 4k to 2.7k when you turn ON EIS. It also zooms in a bit for the same reason so you loose field of view as well. There are limits to how much stabilization you can get based on the field of view and resolution of each image captured. This is where 360 cameras shine. They capture everything, infinite field of view. Of course you are also spreading those pixels across a much larger field of view, losing resolution. This is why you need very high total resolution when shooting 360 video, like 8k. EIS does not totally fix all the issues caused by high vibration. As each frame is captured, it still takes a certain amount of time. This requires a high-performance image processor (very high bitrate). Even then, high frequency vibrations will cause fuzzy images. Here is where a vibration isolating mount helps. While this will cause each frame to misalign even more, modern EIS can easily correct that.
For an action camera mounted to anything moving you must have Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS). All action cameras have only EIS. Cellular phones often have OIS and therefor cannot be used in harsh situations.
Bitrate and Frame Rate
Bitrate is a measure of how fast data can flow to create the video. Raw video would require a very high bitrate to be lossless (meaning not lose resolution due to compression). Modern video formats all have some level of compression (except certain raw formats generally reserved for high-end or professional cameras). The less compression, the better the video quality but the higher the bitrate required. When you watch a video, you are at the mercy of the slowest data rate between your device and the web server hosting the video. Many things along the way add restrictions and delays. When this happens the video will get more compressed. At some point the resolution will jump to the next lower (such as dropping from 4k to 1080) in an attempt to let you continue watching. If it still can't keep up you get the pause with the wait animation (buffering). Because of this you generally get a much better playback experience at 30 frames/sec (29.97) than you will at 60 frame/sec. To support the same 4k resolution at 60 frames/sec takes twice the bitrate, doubling the problems with playback and doubling the likelihood this bitrate limit will begin compressing your video or pausing during playback.
The higher the video resolution, the higher the bitrate required. For instance, 4k video requires 4 times the bitrate (typically 35Mbps to 68Mbps) as 1080 video (Typically 8Mbps to 12Mbps).
The biggest benefit of shooting video at 60 frame/sec is you can get good slow motion video at 30 frames/sec. This is useful when you want to capture something that happens very fast and see it in slow motion. Here you need that extra frame rate to capture more frames in a short time. If you upload it at 60 frames/sec, then the person watching can play it back in slow motion for the same benefit.
Most modern TVs have smoothing built-in. When watching a video at 24 frames/sec on an 80" big screen, you may start to notice the frames and see some shakiness between frames. The smoothing algorithms in the TV can smooth this back out by interpolating between the frames to create a higher frame rate. Generally 30 frames/sec produces smooth video even on a big screen. The bigger the screen, the more noticeable the frame rate is.
In my experience I find better playback quality on YouTube with 4k 30 (29.97) frames/sec and 90Mbps. This lets you use the bitrate to produce much clearer frames than you would get with 60 frame/sec. At normal playback speed it produces smooth video. The case for higher frame rate is for viewing at slow motion.
Maybe when everything from servers, to internet service providers (including cellular data), and our devices all get much faster we will be able to reliably support over 400Mbps and have very smooth and high resolution 8k video at 60 frame/sec. I have Cox 1Gbps fiber and I still can get data rate issues on 360 8k video even at 30 frames/sec. Often it is back at the server end where they pay for bandwidth and are pumping enormous amounts of video data through a limited data rate connection. Some ISPs (especially cellular) will limit bandwidth on purpose.
SD Memory Speed
It is critical that you use memory cards (typically SD or micro-SD cards) that can support the bitrate you plan to record in. If you card is too slow you will end up with poor video quality or worse. Most cards proudly advertise their maximum data rates, not their minimum. The maximum is not important, you need to know the limit (worst case) data rates. Luckily there are industry standards for this now. Ignore the "up to" data rates and instead focus on the industry standard minimum speed class ratings. There is UHS speed class ratings as well a Video Speed Class (Vxx) speed ratings. Read this article from the SD Association for more details: https://www.sdcard.org/developers/sd-standard-overview/speed-class/ . I have also found that no-name SD cards are generally trash. Finding a V60 or V90 from a reputable company that is compatible with my cameras is difficult and expensive at the time I wrote this article. I have been using V30 cards so far with reasonable results. As soon as more V60 or V90 cards become available from reputable manufacturers I plan to upgrade. Follow the camera manufacturers requirements and recommendations for best performance.
In-Car Video
Originally I expected these to need image stabilization. I bought a Gamin Virb Ultra 30 back in 2017 to record in-car video. This camera, like most action cameras, have a trade-off between max resolution and image stabilization. You can shoot in 4k but if you want image stabilization you need to drop to 2.7k. I later found that if you firmly mount the camera to the vehicle body (like the windshield) the video is very stable and you don't need the camera to smooth the video at all. I switched to shooting in 4k all the time in-car. Since the car is a large suspended mass, most of the harsh vibrations and impulses have been significantly dampened. I would not use OIS cameras in a moving vehicle though.
Here is an example where I used a camcorder to record in-car video. I even had it on a vibration isolating mount.
You can hear the cameras OIS mechanism getting hammered against its limits. You can also see how shaky the video is. Lesson learned: never use OIS when mounting a camera in a moving vehicle. Use OIS when holding the camera in your hand.Off-Road Video
Off-road video on a bicycle or motorcycle has severe vibrations and shaking. This is especially true for 2-wheeled light vehicles like a dirt bike, dual sport or adventure motorcycle, or a mountain bike. Here you do need electronic image stabilization. In most cases you also need a vibration damping mount. More on this topic in the mounts discussion below.
360 Video
360 cameras offer a shoot first and point later approach to video. This way you miss nothing. It captures spherical video. From this video you can produce framed video in any orientation you like. You can also zoom out to expand the field of view (although distorted). You can even upload the full 360 video to YouTube (and others) so the viewer can pan around while watching. However, this is very demanding on bitrate. 8k 360 video needs about 200Mbps. In the bitrate discussion above I explain how this can be hard to achieve in many situations, resulting in compression and resolution loss while watching. Since your field of view is infinite, you are spreading the pixels you capture over a much wider field of view. While 8K sounds really high resolution, in reality it has less pixel density than a single lens camera shooting 4k. You can export framed 4k from the 8k 360 video but it will not be quite as clear as a comparable quality single lens camera shooting at 4k.
Here is an example of the exact same video, the first reframed to 4k flat video.
and that same video uploaded in 8k 360.
Some apps and websites have not engaged with 360 photos or videos. For instance, you might see a 360 photo that is flattened out like this.
Here is the video showing the 360 image being viewed properly. In the video I show how you can pan around.
On mobile phones there is another viewing mode where you move the phone around to pan around as if the phone is a window into the image.
Facebook and YouTube do a pretty good job with this.
Data Overlays
The Garmin Virb Ultra 30 was my first camera that supported data overlays. It has GPS built into the camera and captures the GPS data along with the video. The Ultra 30 also supported Bluetooth data such as from an OBD2 dongle but I never tried that feature. These overlays add context to the video. I now capture the GPS data with all the video I shoot with any camera that supports it. I don't always use it but for in-car, motorcycling, or bicycling video I really like it. You can always capture it. Another great use for this data is you can export the GPX file that shows the actual route in a map of where the video was captured. I like to have the GPS coordinates shown so someone watching can locate exactly where each frame was captured.
Insta360 captures this data either from a cellular phone via the Insta360 app, or from one of the GPS remotes they offer. I use the GPS remote for the vast majority of my recording.
Here is an example of setting up these data overlays (Insta360 calls them "stats").
Here are my export settings for 360 video.
I always use Insta360 Studio on the PC to edit and produce. While the mobile app is about as good as it can be, editing on a phone screen is very tedious. While modern phones are pretty powerful, they are no match for a modern PC. I have also found limitations in the mobile app such as export resolution and frame rate limits that I don't have on the PC. The app is handy if you want a quick video short or reel maybe but it's not a great tool for producing high-quality video. Producing video will tie up the device for a while too, hogging it's resources.
My videos are landscape because it gives a much wider viewing angle which is better for my use cases. Personally I really dislike portrait video for all of my use cases. I can watch landscape format video on my phone by simply rotating it 90 degrees. Then the video fills the screen. I can watch them on a big screen TV which is my favorite way to view them. Portrait video on a TV is terrible in my opinion.
Microphones
When I first started recording action video (in-car) I realized the wind noise was horrible. After experimenting with several mic placements and wind protection, I found that you really need both the foam and the fuzzy mic protection. In the car I placed the mic behind the drivers seat in an attempt to find a less windy spot as well. This finally made much better audio, although not perfect. I really want to get the microphone from the Weather Channel dude. They can be in a hurricane and still get good audio.
I found the motorcycle the most challenging. In a very rough off-road situation, and with wind, as well as various rattles from zippers and such, it is very hard to get good audio. I started with the Insta360 foam mic covers but that did very little. I then tried a wired mic connected to the camera. I had both foam and fuzzy covers on it and this worked pretty well.
I finally went with the Insta360 wireless mic (Mic Air) that is available for the Insta360 X5 camera. This comes with a fuzzy wind sock too. Now the mic can be mounted in a better location (which I am still trying to find). I started with placing it on the front strap of my backpack but that catches the rattling of various zippers and things too. The X5 camera has improved wind noise protection. The X5 records both internal mics and the wireless mic at the same time. There is a mixes in Insta360 Studio where you can use one, the other, or mix both. This gives options.
Mounts
Mounting of the camera in or on a moving vehicle is very important. In the case of a car (or truck) where image stabilization is not used, the camera must be very firmly mounted to the vehicle so there is no relative movement between the camera and the vehicle. In this use case you are depending on the large suspended mass of the vehicle body to stabilize the camera for smooth video, which generally works well. Avoid long, cantilevered mounts. A suction mount to the windshield is often a decent approach, other than the effects of shooting through the windshield. Use a large suction mount that has the least amount of flex as possible. Don't extend the camera away from the mount. The video will be better if you don't have the windshield between the camera and the view but this comes with trade-offs. If you do shoot through the windshield it is critical that you keep the windshield very clean.
Off-road on a motorcycle or even a bicycle is a different story. I have a 700cc one cylinder motorcycle which is worst case for vibration, even with the engine having a balance shaft. The handlebar vibration is bad enough but when riding over rocks the shock adds to this. Here you need both a firm mount as well as a vibration damper for the camera. The vibration damper mount is a challenge here. The flex in the mount causes frame-to-frame misalignment to increase. However it also keeps the image sensor and lens still longer to allow for better image capture (less fuzzy). The vibration damper mount is great for 360 cameras where you are capturing an entire spherical image. The 360 camera does not lose field of view at all. A single lens action camera is a different story. The vibration damper mount causes larger frame-to-frame misalignment which can exceed the field of view.
In the case of mounting the camera to off-road motorcycle handlebars, you also need a vibration damping mount. This is especially true for large single-cylinder motorcycles such as my Husqvarna 701 Enduro. The vibrations and impulses can be severe. This causes a fuzzy image. The engine vibration frequency can make this worse. Here is an example video with an Insta360 X3 mounted to the handlebars of my Husqvarna 701 Enduro.
As the engine rpm rises the impact of the vibration starts to blur the video. About a month later I bought an Insta360 X5 and rode this same trail again, still with the same rigid mount.The X5 has several improvements that made this video better but still you can see some of the effects of the high vibration.
This (Wheeler Pass) was a much rougher trail too, and a similar climb.
This next video was shot with the Insta360 X5 and the vibration damper mount but up a very rough trail.
At some points in the video the vibration and shaking become so violent that even this X5 plus the vibration mount are not enough and some frames are misaligned. This is the downside of handlebar mounting. Here is where mounting the camera to your helmet or a chest mount will make a huge difference.
Like the large suspended mass of a vehicle, our body is a great vibration damper. Our body is an even better vibration damper because we basically have active suspension (primarily our legs). This is even better than the best OIS since we use our balance to actively keep our body in position in real-time. Our head is where most of our body's inertia sensing is so mounting to your helmet will be the smoothest place. The camera will have a much easier time creating clear, high resolution frames. The camera will move far less as each frame is being captured. We actively keep our body aligned between frames as well, making the job easier for EIS. This really helps with single lens cameras as the frame-to-frame misalignment will be less.
Everything comes with different trade-offs. I like the perspective from the handlebar mount. I also like not having the camera on my helmet since it is heavy and branches can hit it. You may not notice the camera coming off and lose your camera with a mounting position where you can't see it. I used a chest mount before but it is not well positioned as you can't see the trail as well. Chin mounts can put the camera in your visible area addressing the lost camera issue but now you have this camera hanging off your chin in a position that is generally a bit too low.
Extended mounts are great for shooting 360 since you get almost drone-like video. However, I have not seen this work out in off-road situations. These mounts cantilever the camera at the end of a long rod. Off-road the shaking is far too violent and there are too many branches and things the camera will hit often ending up with a broken mount and a lost camera.
Light Balance and Focus
In the case where a camera is mounted inside the vehicle and shooting through a window, light balance and focus can be challenging. In this situation is is very important to use center weighted focus and light balance. If you don't, the camera will try to balance the light for the average across the entire viewing area and bright sunny days will entirely wash out the video since the interior is very dark in comparison. In some cases the camera may focus on the glass instead of the view through the glass. This gets much worse if the glass gets dirty or if the glass has a heating grid like many back vehicle windows do. Set your cameras focus to infinity in this case so it does not attempt to focus on the glass. I always set my cameras mounted inside the vehicle to center weighted focus. In the case of the rear-facing camera I also have it locked to infinity.
Externally mounted cameras will not have these problems in most cases. Passing through things like tunnels can cause these same types of issues, even when mounted externally, and you will need to make the trade-off as to which portion of the video you value more. A center weighted focus and light balance will bias towards seeing through the tunnel versus seeing inside the tunnel.
