[bug_eyedmonster]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone else records themselves during a practice. I'm not sure even if I do what to pick up from the video other then a different view of a bad shooter . I was talking to my gun guru, and he mentioned that he does it to see what mistakes he makes and where he can shave off time. I'm more then willing to give it a shot, but I have a feeling my mistakes are at a much higher count and I'm not good enough to pick up on times or places for improvement. Any insight?

Jerry

[HoMiE]

The good thing is, you can post and ask other people for feedback. If you want to improve, viedo recording yourself is one way to do it if you don't have better shooting partners to help you out while you shoot.

[Viggen]

By all means record yourself. Sit down and watch the video a number of times. After watching it 4,5,6, or more times you will begin to see/notice/become aware of what you are actually doing. Based on that self evaluation you can begin to adjust your performance. You will find that what you think you are doing may not be very close to what you actually are doing. And even if you have better shooter partners around to help, it is still better to actually see what you are doing for yourself. You will change.
Sort of like practicing a sales presentation. If you give a presentation or a speech and view the performance you will make changes on your own, for you now see places where you are weak or need improvement.
Video yourself!

[Supermoto]

Definately video tape your practice. post it up in the video training section. you will get good feedback. I post there alot and have always learned alot about my shooting.

[bug_eyedmonster]

Supermoto, on Jul 14 2008, 03:27 PM, said:

Definately video tape your practice. post it up in the video training section. you will get good feedback. I post there alot and have always learned alot about my shooting.

Damn, I was hoping for answers like "don't waste your time with that"... now I hve to go out and either borrow or buy a cam corder. Thanks for the input guys, I'll see what I can get out of it and post them up.

Jerry

[maineshootah]

bug_eyedmonster, on Jul 14 2008, 08:10 PM, said:

Supermoto, on Jul 14 2008, 03:27 PM, said:

Definately video tape your practice. post it up in the video training section. you will get good feedback. I post there alot and have always learned alot about my shooting.

Damn, I was hoping for answers like "don't waste your time with that"... now I hve to go out and either borrow or buy a cam corder. Thanks for the input guys, I'll see what I can get out of it and post them up.

Jerry

get a tripod and try different angles.

Set it to look at your waist down to feet as you run into a box, so you can evaluate how your entrance is / is not working.
Put it low and in front of a target and aim it back at you, focus on the reload - do your drop it to your waist or is it up high?
Put it out in the field course so it can see you transition from target to target.... Are you SNAPPING to it or wandering to the next one.

etc etc etc..

You can get a cheap SD memory recorder that weights about 4 oz for under $150. add $30 for a tripod and get taping.. er.. digitizing.

[boba]

I am very new at this and have done some video taping of myself with the built in cam on my laptop. This won't work for everyone I realize but if you have a setup like this you may want to give it a try if you don't have a video camera. I have a range with one stage set up at home so this works for me.

PS...once I get somewhat smooth I will post a few videos. Right now my mistakes are so obvious to me when I play the video I don't need to post them...). Even my wife, a none shooter can see them. Is there any hope for me?

This post has been edited by boba: 14 July 2008 - 05:41 PM

[bug_eyedmonster]

boba, on Jul 14 2008, 05:39 PM, said:

Right now my mistakes are so obvious to me when I play the video I don't need to post them...). Even my wife, a none shooter can see them. Is there any hope for me?

Don't worry, I'm in the same boat... I think that's why we are all posting in the BEginners forum! ahahhaa.

Jerry

[Pharaoh Bender]

A "good enough" digital camera with video functionality can be purchased for under $100, and a 2 gig memory card can be picked up for under $15. Definitely take video of yourself when you are working on fundamentals as well as new skills that you are trying to acquire. Video taken at matches is another excellent training tool. Offer to film one of your friends (or buy them a beer) in exchange for having them film you...you will learn quite a bit.

I've recently picked up a self contained head-cam. Although I am still working out the bugs, it takes excellent video of target engagement, splits, transitions, and whether or not I am shooting fast enough on the move. The one thing that a head-cam does not capture is your overall movement.

A big +1 to posting some of your film here on the forums. There is plenty of expert assistance at your disposal here.

[Dave Gundry]

I picked up a cheap video camera early this year with full intent of using during matches. I paid $220 for it. I've got a shooting buddy who is a full 2 classes ahead of me, and since we both appreciate the video to critique ourselves, we often tape each other. Click on "Dave" in my signature to see what we've done (links to my Youtube account).

Even with a video from a match, you can tell what you are doing and where you can improve. It has really helped me realize what I need to focus on.

For what to get - any cheap camcorder will do. If you want to hack it up on a computer, I would make absolutely sure it is Windows Movie Maker compliant if you use a PC (this is the biggest gripe about my Panasonic). I went with the SDR-10P1. A 4gig SD card holds about 2 hours of footage, and the battery is good for at least that - plenty enough to cover several shooters (at least 5) on every stage at your average local match. If I were to buy one again, I'd look heavily at the Samsung sports cams and see what format they record in. Hard drive or memory card is a must for me though.

[shred]

Slo-mo really helps. Super slo-mo even more so, but that gets up in the $$. You can slow down regular-speed video in a computer quite a bit and still have it usable.

The downside to recording practice is you have to go review the video, and you'll need to do it often to get the benefit, so make sure it's easy-- if you review in-camera, make sure you can easily move around in the video playback, prefarably slow and fast as well . If you review on a PC, try to bring it with you and download then and there every so often for review. It's not nearly as useful to see 'hey, I'm dropping my head on the draw' after you get home as right there minutes after after you did it.

[Hi-Power Jack]

There's no disadvantage to recording yourself,
only possible benefits -

I've tried it or my wife has taped me, and you
can see some problems, and some things to
congralate yourself about, too:))

[Flyin40]

If your going to video tape yourself here are a couple helpful hints.


1. Don't zoom in at all.

2. Keep the camera at a distance so you can see your entire body including your feet. You don't really need to see the targets.

3. Buy a tripod so the camera isn't moving around when someone else tapes you. In matches, especially bigger matches there are
so many people that if you use a tripod quite often you have people stand in front of it you don't realize your taping. Also alot of the
stages at bigger matches are more elaborate and can't be filmed from one spot. So whoever video tapes you tell them not to zoom in
either.

Don't be afraid of post your video. We will help you out.


Flyin

[WizardOI]

I started recording my matches as I dont get to practice shooting stages but im stuck with only being able to shoot a single stationary target.

The very first match I decided to record I ended up DQing and got it all on video lol. I watched that stage over and over and over but I knew exactly what I did when I did it. I broke the 180 if your wondering what it was I did but I didnt fire the shot and the stage was a 180 trap. IIRC 3 other shooters did the same thing I did on that stage through out the day.

There are a few of us at the matches I go to that are at all the same matches every weekend so we jsut recored each other and then I burn off DVDs of the stages and mail them out to them and we call, PM or at the next match we jsut relate what we saw in our own shooting and then things the others think I can do to help my self as I only started shooting IPSC last Nov.

[dcarter]

I think you can learn a lot from video. Even if you never ask others you can pick up on things that you do that you are not even aware of. One thing I picked up from mine is just how choppy my movement was compared to better shooters. I have since attempted to work on my movement a lot since I could see just how much time I was waisting just trying to set up for a shot. Give it a try. The worst that could happen is you don't find it helpful and erase it then use the camera for the family.

[bug_eyedmonster]

Thanks for all of your help guys, my girlfriend and I are going to get a camera sometime soon hopefully. We are still trying to get all of the proper gear, and she just bought a CZ, so money is getting tight. At the moment, we are still saving to get a loader, so the camera is next on the list. Instead of getting a cheaper model, we are going to get a fancier one that she picked out. That way we can use it for family stuff as well, and it records directly onto a hard drive. I also need to get a new laptop to have a way to edit the videos... man, this stuff is adding up!

Jerry

[Rocket35]

I think, next to the practice itself, it is one of the most important entities! Be sure to post them on YouTube and share them with us bro.

[bug_eyedmonster]

Rocket35, on Jul 29 2008, 11:31 AM, said:

I think, next to the practice itself, it is one of the most important entities! Be sure to post them on YouTube and share them with us bro.

Sharing is caring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

[Dave Gundry]

No one can stand in front of your tripod if it's at the firing line or downrange Side and front views will also show you a lot about your technique. We had one reload intensive stage that I cut up and did some slow motion editing on - turned out very good:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=GlD1lQlnBuQ

[Lead slinger]

I have been thinking about doing this myself and wondering if it would help out. After reading this post I will definitly give it a world.

[Stuck in C]

You can learn a lot from videotaping practice, or a match. I don't have a camcorder, but my digital still camera can take Quicktime videos, and with a 2 gig SD card there is plenty of room. Quality is more than adequate. I always thought I did so poorly in matches because I didn't move well: old, fat, out of shape, etc. I had a friend use my camera to record me on a couple of stages at a major match and I saw that although I was a little slow I was actually moving well: smooth, not a lot of wasted motion or steps, no hesitation. It was my shooting that was really slow; i.e. bang, long pause, another bang, even longer pause, bang. That's not the way it felt shooting the stage, so I was surprised. Now I know what to work on.

[Supermoto]

I am using an Aiptek A-HD+ camcorder, its inexpensive, small and light weight, I leave it in my range bag. The only issue I have is that it records in either HD or 60fps, neither will run smoothly on my computer until they are compressed to 30fps, But it does look great on my TV.

[STI2011]

I just bought a video camera for this very purpose. I just made it into "B" class and am hoping that the video will help me to better understand and see the areas for improvement so I can get to A class or higher this year. I think it may be awhile before I am comfortable with posting any of these sessions and having others critique them.

This post has been edited by glockman2000: 12 February 2009 - 10:41 PM

[Rocket35]

Krautwagen, on Jul 31 2008, 08:39 PM, said:

No one can stand in front of your tripod if it's at the firing line or downrange Side and front views will also show you a lot about your technique. We had one reload intensive stage that I cut up and did some slow motion editing on - turned out very good:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=GlD1lQlnBuQ

Or when the camera is on your hat!

[G-ManBart]

glockman2000, on Feb 12 2009, 10:40 PM, said:

I just bought a video camera for this very purpose. I just made it into "B" class and am hoping that the video will help me to better understand and see the areas for improvement so I can get to A class or higher this year. I think it may be awhile before I am comfortable with posting any of these sessions and having others critique them.

That's a great way to move up to A because that's the point at which (it seems) where subtle stuff really starts to make a huge difference. I like to video stages in matches with my buddy NM3gnr. I try to video all his stages and he tries to get all mine. Afterwards I'll burn them to disc so he has a copy. We both agree that overall movement and footwork is where we want/need to improve to the next level. Video is really good for that. Watch the stages over and over and you'll see places where you took an unecessary step, or were a little slow leaving/entering etc. The really cool thing is if you get video of someone doing something different and then you can compare and see if it was better or worse. It's definitely worth the effort. R,