New Motovlog Setup with DJI Osmo Action Camera

Have you ever had one of those days where you just wanted to drop everything and go for a ride? I had one of those days earlier this week and, instead of telling myself how it was such a shame that I had to stay chained to my desk, I made a break for it. I announced “I’m taking an early lunch!” While running through the house to get my gear. My early lunch wound up being really early – I don’t think it was quite 9:30am when I put my Honda CB650F in gear and pulled away.

One of the reasons that I wanted to get out and ride was that I knew the afternoon and early evening were going to be hot. The weather forecast was calling for temperatures in the 90’s. I really didn’t want to be out in the heat of the day with the sun beating down on the back of my black riding jacket. Instead, I opted for a cooler morning cruise.

I wound up riding a little longer than anticipated and covered roughly fifty-miles on back roads. By the time I put the bike away, things were really starting to warm up and I was glad to be off the bike and in the air conditioned house. As I made my way to the front door, I noticed a package on my porch. It wasn’t very big and it looked like it had a rough trip. It wasn’t until I picked up the package that I realized what I was holding – after nearly two-weeks my DJI Osmo Action Camera hand finally arrived!

DJI Osmo Action Helmet Mount

The vast majority of motovlogs follow the same general recipe for camera setup. It boils down to using a sticky mount to attach an action camera to their helmet. Chin Mounts seem to be ideal as there are no obstructions and they provide a good representation of what the rider sees. Top Mounts (Top of the Helmet) and Profile Mounts (Side of the Helmet) are generally easier to implement but, in my opinion, don’t provide video as pleasing as the Chin Mount.

My preference was to set up my DJI Osmo Action Camera as a Chin Mount, however, my HJC F70 Helmet presented a problem. The narrow chin bar and triangular venting system would not allow for a simple GoPro “J” Mount that is commonly used. Instead, I had to start off to the side of the helmet and wrap around the front. I was able to find a Chin Mount on Amazon that would do what I needed to but I’m not thrilled with it. It gets the job done but there are a lot of connections which creates play in the arm itself (it just isn’t as solid as I had hoped for). With the mount fixed in place, I used the internal wire management system of my HJC F70 to run a Purple Panda Microphone.

At this point, the only thing left to do was test it out!

Testing the DJI Osmo Action Camera

The results of my initial video were better than expected. The audio was plenty loud (too loud, actually) and wind noise was not a problem at all. My only complaint is that the sound is a bit tinny – there is some weird reverberation going on when my visor is down and the helmet is all closed up. I’ve since added a Dead Cat and Foam Filter to the microphone in hopes that it clears things up a bit.

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