9 Tips for shooting mountain biking with a GoPro Hero12

We’ve all taken the time to strap on a GoPro and pull off the dream run only to find that the footage is all sky, full of dark shadows, or that there is just a single photo instead of a video!

In this article and accompanying video, we share our top 9 tips for getting the most out of your GoPro Hero 12. If you don’t have the latest Hero, don’t worry; most of these tips will work for any Hero from the last 4-5 years.

Watch our Top Tips on shooting with a GoPro Hero camera here:

gopro hero 12 camera
The GoPro Hero 12 is an incredibly powerful camera, but it does take a bit of know-how to get the most out of it.

1 | Shooting in the right light

This is tip number 1 for a reason; it is by far the most important thing to consider when trying to get the best-looking footage or photos. 

If it’s too dark your footage will be noisy, and the HyperSmooth stabilisation will struggle to work.

If it’s midday and the sun is directly overhead, you will have strong shadows and bright spots on the trail, making it hard to see the features.

You want to shoot while the sun is low in the sky and try to point the camera into the light.

Ideally you want to shoot in the mornings and afternoons when the sun is lower to the horizon but still bright enough to give you the needed light.

Aim to be shooting into the sun, so if you are shooting POV footage, you will be looking towards the sun while you ride. This gives the camera the light it needs while eliminating harsh shadows that distract from the footage.

If it’s cloudy then you can basically shoot in all directions as the clouds filter and soften the light. However, be aware that it will get darker quicker, especially in heavily treed areas.

On overcast days the clouds defuse the sun into a nice soft, flat light and you don’t need to think about where the sun is in the sky.

2 | Settings

If you aren’t sure what settings to use on your Hero 12, GoPro has made it simple by providing two options; Easy and Pro.

While Pro gives you access to every possible adjustment, so you can spend hours tweaking to perfection, the Easy Controls setting is the fastest way to get great-looking footage.

To toggle between Easy and Pro, swipe down to show the main menu, then swipe right to see the ‘Controls’ button.

Once set to Easy, you will have just a few options on the back of the screen; here is what we recommend.

Video Mode set to Highest Quality. This will give you 5.3K resolution, the most detailed footage the Hero 12 can provide. If your device struggles to play this footage back or you have limited card space, then you can drop to Standard Quality, which is still 4K, or Basic Quality, which is 1080p. If you’re only ever uploading footage to social media, chances are the Basic Quality setting will be sufficient, and the smaller file sizes will be easier to manage and upload.

Also on the back screen are quick-access buttons for lens choice, Framing, and Slomo, which will be useful later in this article.

Keen to explore the Advanced Settings? Stay tuned as we dive into ‘Flow’s Secret Sauce’ shortly!

If you’re after a bit more control of the image your GoPro captures, take the time to get to know the Pro controls.

3 | Using the chesty for POV footage

The POV riding shot is by far the most popular use of the GoPro for mountain bikers. It can be tricky to get it right but once you do, it’s very easy to repeat the setup at the start of each ride and know you are going to get the same results.

While helmet mounts are popular, we prefer using the regular Chesty Mount from GoPro. It’s easy to adjust, relatively comfortable and gives a feeling of being ‘in the shot.’ The lower point of view also gives the footage more of a sense of speed and it shows off more of the bike, which is what we’re trying to achieve with our reviews.

The Chesty Mount is a mountain biker’s best friend.

While it may seem easier just to mount the camera on top of your helmet, the footage can sometimes feel a bit disconnected, almost like you are floating above the trail. It’s also possible to mount it on the chin of a full-face helmet, and while this can provide a good POV angle, it can require helmet modifications.

Ok, now that we have decided how to mount our camera, what settings do we need?

Finally, it’s important to get the angle of the camera right. You want to ensure that you can see the handlebars, trail, and sky in the shot to give a complete frame of the environment.

Be sure to mount your camera upside down so that you can angle it up a little to compensate for being over the bars in the attack position.

It takes a bit of trial and error to get the camera positioned correctly so that you get the right ratio of bars to the sky. Once you have it nailed, score the mount with a knife or your keys so that you just have to line the mark up next time you’re shooting.

It can take a little trial and error, as everyone’s riding position is different. Once you have found the perfect angle, we recommend carefully marking the mounts with a knife; this way, all you have to do is line up your markings, and you are good to go!

Oh, and don’t forget that the footage will look best while you are riding towards the sun. The better the light, the better your footage!

4 | The Reverse Chesty

This is an easy one to add some variety to your footage, especially if the light is coming from behind you. If you are riding with a mate, turn your Chesty Mount around and ride in front of them.  

Use the same settings as the POV setup above, but change the lens to Linear + Horizon Levelling. This will give you an almost drone-like shot, looking back at the rider behind you.

The Reverse Chesty makes for a really unique perspective as your mates chase you down a descent.

The angle of the camera is even more critical with this one. The narrower lens makes it easy to be too high or too low and either get mostly sky or your own back in the frame.

Also, be sure to tuck in your jersey, as it can flap around and enter the shot.

We use the Reverse Chesty all the time, as seen here from our Heli-biking trip on the West Coast of Tassie.

5 | Max Lens Mod 2.0

With vertical social content like Shorts, Reels and TikToks becoming so popular, we were stoked to see native vertical video formats on the Hero 12. This means the GoPro doesn’t need to be mounted vertically to get those shots straight out of the camera. Just select 9:16 Vertical framing and away you go.

The only issue with vertical mountain biking POV footage is that even with HyperView it wasn’t really possible to get the full handlebar width in the frame. And this is where the Max Lens Mod 2.0 comes in.

Vertical video is here to stay and the new GoPro Hero 12 can natively shoot 9×16 footage. If you’re shooting from the Chesty Mount you’ll also need the Max Lens Mod to get the full handlebar width. 

The Max Lens Mod 2.0 is an optional physical lens that mounts to the Hero 12 and provides an even wider field of view in the Max Superview mode.

You can use it for vertical or horizontal footage, but we have found it most useful for vertical.  

One important thing to remember is that when you attach the lens, you need to enable ‘Max Lens Mod Mode’ in the main menu so the camera knows it’s on there. If you then take the lens off, remember to turn it off again.

Some of the screen grabs from the footage even make great phone backgrounds!

6 | Get the camera off the bike

Now that you have nailed your POV footage, it’s time to get off the bike and set up some different angles. These can really spice up an edit and give people some context on the bike, rider and surroundings.  

Firstly, if you are riding with friends, the easiest way is to get your friend to hold the camera and simply point it at you, following you as you ride through a section of trail.

This is also a great time to experiment with Slomo shots. Using the Easy Control settings, you can change from 1x to 2x, 4x, or even 8x right on the back of the screen. The higher number gives you the slowest footage.

The 3-in-1 Selfie Stick is one of our favourite accessories as it can be used to shoot a quick piece to camera and then converted into a tripod.

Keep in mind that while you can choose to play these videos at regular speed, they will look a bit unnatural due to the high frame rate.

You can also set up static angles if you are alone by using various mounts. Our favourites are the 3-in-1 Selfie Stick and the Jaws Grip Mount. 

These static shots are also a great way to review your technique on a particular feature or skill you are working on, as you can compare each attempt from exactly the same angle.

Once again, remember to shoot towards the light where possible.

7 | Shooting photos with a GoPro

While most of us use action cameras for video, the photos they produce can also be amazing.

That said, to get high-quality photos out on the trail, we need to go into the Pro settings to have a little more control over how the photos are taken.

Firstly, it will allow you to select RAW or jpg file types. If you want the image to look pretty good straight out of the camera, use jpg, but if you want a bit more control over the image by editing it later, you should use the RAW file type. It will still save a jpg version of the image, so you don’t need to edit it if you don’t want to. However, be aware that this setting will use a lot more card space.

Being able to shoot images from a GoPro came in handy for our recent review of the new Race Face Era handlebars.

When shooting another rider, I like to use the burst mode with a burst rate of 30/1s. This will give you 30 images to choose from over the space of 1 second, so if you press the shutter just before the action starts, you will have a heap of images to choose from.

If it’s a much longer feature, you could use 30/3s to be safe and press the shutter a bit earlier.

One clever technique used here at Flow is the interval setting, which allows you to press start, and the GoPro will take a single photo every 3 seconds. This means you can use your chesty mount or even mount the camera somewhere else on the bike, and during a 3-minute descent, the GoPro will take about 60 images.

Using Burst Mode gives you more chances to capture the perfect moment in time.

Of these 60, some will be too blurry, most will be ok, but one or two will be absolute bangers!

Finally, you will notice that the images taken by the Hero 12 are almost square, 8×7 to be exact. This is due to the camera’s unique sensor, which gives you a lot of flexibility to crop the image later to suit the specific use.

8 | Essential Accessories

There are many accessories available for the Hero range of cameras, but the following are the ones that come with us on almost every shoot.

Everything on this list is a genuine GoPro accessory, but there are plenty of third-party options as well.

These are the things that will go into our bag every time we use a GoPro.

9 | Flow’s GoPro Advanced Settings

If you’re looking for more control over the quality of video you’re shooting on a GoPro Hero 12, then now’s the time to switch over from the Easy to Pro settings. This will allow you to better adapt the camera’s settings to the conditions you’re shooting in, with the aim of getting better footage.

For my fellow camera nerds, these are the exact settings that we use here at Flow to get the footage you see in our bike reviews and travel features;

ProTune

ProTune gives you that bit of extra control, here is some of the settings we use for our reviews and destination content.

Shortcuts

Speed and efficiency are the name of the game, and using shortcuts allows for quick access to the settings that require regular fiddling.

These give you quick access to the most commonly changed settings:

Get out there and make some videos!

So now you have our top tips for getting better footage out of your GoPro; the only thing left to do is get out there and ride. 

Whatever you do, don’t let all those great moments disappear into your camera roll or hard drive. Try spending just a few minutes on the GoPro Quik App at the end of your day and upload something to YouTube or Instagram. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and it’s easier than you think!

Don’t forget to make something rad with what you’ve shot!

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