Everyone's First Road Video

[MDOTFanFB]

Well, such a thread already exists for photos, but no one has made one for videos...until now. Here's mine:

I just made and uploaded that video today. It is of a drive through a small town southwest of Detroit, which then continues past the city's airport.

So, what was the first road video you've made and uploaded to Youtube?

[Ian]

Shield your eyes...

My video taking skills haven't changed a whole lot since then...

[Sanctimoniously]

This is mine. More of a weather video than a roads video, as it turned out.

[Takumi]

^ I'm also in that video, but it wasn't my first. I don't think I uploaded my first one.

[Alps]

My first videos are actually hosted on my site, because YouTube didn't exist yet. Problem is, I've changed computers, so I don't know which is the oldest. However, I believe it's the Big Dig NB after it opened.

[Dr Frankenstein]

I don't even know why I'm posting this here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucAFUJOC05k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbxsajc5frs

That was before I started scotch-taping my camera to my rearview mirror.

[vtk]

First video about roads (more specifically, road maps):

First video taken on the road:

(recently enhanced and annotated)

[MVHighways]

TECHNICALLY this one was my first on I-95 filmed when I was 8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lujx85pT1Y

(Coincidentally, I was heading back from that SAME mall today and I filmed that EXACT stretch of Interstate 95. Video soon.)

For recent times:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scy7FgMndrI

11/3/12.

Made in iMovie and posted to my elevator account.

[Takumi]

Here's the first one I deemed acceptable enough to upload. It was the second of three I made that day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEBDWSLcrhA

[1995hoo]

Not on YouTube. This is from several years ago with a small digital video camera; I tried hanging it from the rearview with a rubber band but gave up and started the video once I was already on the highway and up in 6th gear so I could operate it without having to shift. The point of the video was that we were having a discussion on Dr. Gridlock's blog at the Washington Post website about the signage for the then-new split between the LOCAL and THRU carriageways over the Wilson Bridge. (Click thumbnail to play)

Nowadays I seldom upload any videos of any length because I use an iPhone to film and the resulting files are almost always too big, and I don't have software to edit QuickTime videos (I really ought to get something for that purpose.....anyone got a recommendation?).

[kphoger]

I haven't made any road videos yet, but I've been thinking about how to make one happen–specifically, how to mount a normal digital camera on the dash.  I'm cheap, so I'm not about to buy an actual mount; I'd rather make something out of free/cheap stuff.  I've seen the giant sponge idea on the web, but I don't know how to keep the camera in there and still have it be usable.  What ideas do y'all have?

[vtk]

I hold the camera by hand, switching left/right as muscle fatigue requires.  This is of course safer if the person holding the camera is not the person driving.

[MVHighways]

I hold the camera by hand, switching left/right as muscle fatigue requires.  This is of course safer if the person holding the camera is not the person driving.

I have to do that too. Glad I'm not old enough to drive yet

Oh, and speaking of road videos, the copyright nazis have blocked my Interstate 90/Mass. Turnpike  video in Germany:



(Referenced them as the copyright "nazis" instead of "police" because it was blocked in Germany and as all of us should know Germany used to be a heavily Nazi country, so I took advantage of the coincidence.)

[kphoger]

I hold the camera by hand, switching left/right as muscle fatigue requires.  This is of course safer if the person holding the camera is not the person driving.

I find that videos shot by handheld devices tend to make me carsick to watch, whereas ones shot while the unit was somehow mounted on the dash tend to have a steadier picture.

[1995hoo]

I haven't made any road videos yet, but I've been thinking about how to make one happen–specifically, how to mount a normal digital camera on the dash.  I'm cheap, so I'm not about to buy an actual mount; I'd rather make something out of free/cheap stuff.  I've seen the giant sponge idea on the web, but I don't know how to keep the camera in there and still have it be usable.  What ideas do y'all have?

The only idea I've been able to come up with is using a rubber band or twine (perhaps butcher's string, since I keep a spool of it in the kitchen) to hang the camera from the rearview. I wrestled with that issue for quite a while before making the video I linked in this thread because both of my cars are manual-shift and so it was a fairly important issue, but as I said before I gave up. Now what I do with the iPhone is to turn on the camera and then put it in the belt clip and attach that to the passenger-side sun visor. Usually works pretty well except for the file size problem I mentioned before.

I should mention that what options you have would obviously be HIGHLY dependent on your video camera, too. The non-phone camera I have has a flip-style design and so it isn't practical to rest it on the dash on a sponge or other such thing. That's why I was trying to find a way to suspend it from the rearview so it would remain upright.

[kphoger]

I've had bad luck trying to suspend anything from the ceiling of a vehicle.  After just a few bumps or turns, the thing ends up swaying wildly.  Talk about getting carsick watching the video!

[MVHighways]

I hold the camera by hand, switching left/right as muscle fatigue requires.  This is of course safer if the person holding the camera is not the person driving.

I find that videos shot by handheld devices tend to make me carsick to watch, whereas ones shot while the unit was somehow mounted on the dash tend to have a steadier picture.

I agree. Unfortunately I have to hold my camera (for now). I'm going to Target in a few mins and have to take the Lowell Connector so I will film that AND see if I can find a mount.

[Takumi]

My dashboard is completely flat, so I just set my camera on it. Sure, you get my windshield washer sprayers in the video, but it stays put unless there's a major inertial shift, like a hard turn at speed or downshifting.

[vtk]

I hold the camera by hand, switching left/right as muscle fatigue requires.  This is of course safer if the person holding the camera is not the person driving.

I find that videos shot by handheld devices tend to make me carsick to watch, whereas ones shot while the unit was somehow mounted on the dash tend to have a steadier picture.

I've previewed YouTube's picture-stabilizing effect; it removes the shaking, but to me it looks too weird, like the car is floating.  The motion of the camera is a more honest depiction of the bumps one feels while driving that particular road.  But if I could figure out how to mount my camera, I'd probably do so for safety.