I’ve been recording my daughters hockey games for a few years and really want to try this out and free myself having to do it manually. I picked up the COMTEK Mojo and will be giving it a try this week. I will report back as to my experiences. Any hints from anyone who has tried Folocam with hockey?
@Ryan_R was the first beta tester for ice hockey: FoloCam has strong potential for recording Ice Hockey
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Hiya James,
Sorry for the delay getting back to ya. I did a bunch of tests back in the spring. Happy to answer any questions.
Thinking back… You will want to experiment with location of your stand. Start at centre ice, or as close as you can, right at the boards. Go up 12-13 feet. You don’t have to be exact. get your gimbal/phone on the stand and make sure the handle of the gimbal is dead center straight ahead. Do any last checks for setting and stuff. Hit record. you will see that the gimbal will start hunting for the action right away. (*Last time I used it, it would start hunting right away. Can’t speak to any current versions.) Now raise your stand up to the right height. And that’s the most basic route.
Bonus Round: If you happen to have another iphone, you can explore the possibility of using it as a remote monitor and control. Yeah, I know, who has yet another iphone lying around? But with all of the sports cams I’ve used, I’ve always liked the comfort of being able to check on the feed to make sure everything is ok. In order for the remote viewer iphone to talk to the recording iphone, both will have to be on the same rink wifi, AND wifi will have to permit devices finding other devices on the network. Some publice wifi’s don’t allow that for obvious security reasons. Have been through that issue with xbotgo camera’s, I have picked up a “travel wifi router" to set up my own private wifi network. I am not a network guy, so I have very little instructions beyond that. lol.
Overall, be patient. Manage your expectations. As far as I know, right now Folocam, is just one guy doing what an army of people are doing over at xbotgo and Veo. This system is still very much in it’s infancy and will gack out on you once in a while. You’re likely the only other hockey beta tester that I know of. Gilbert has been focusing primarily on training the AI for soccer and basketball.
All that being said… I have gone through Xbotgo Chameleon and Falcon. My kid’s team had budget for Veo cam, so I’m running that. BUT Folocam is my favourite of all three and shows most potential for growth over all systems.
If you’re just coming off of holding an iphone in the stands, this will blow your mind. You will love it.
Oh quick follow up on positioning. With the stand right up against the boards, the space underneath the camera will be a bit of a “blind spot” and you will briefly loose your player on screen and tracking will falter for a second until it can pick up again. Space permitting, try moving the stand back 5 and 10 feet away from the boards. I have yet to try but that might help with tracking. Plus, every arena is different and you may find yourself having to put the rig in a sub-optimal spot. Just go with it. You might be surprised with what ya get.
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