In my opinion, photos during videos are helpful. Your 3rd video would be a good example of something you did that people who know the process would understand with just the photos, but someone outside the audience would be confused by. To me, that's fine, as the only people who are the target of this video will understand and others don't need to understand.
The first video I'm 50/50. I liked the info from the phone app and actually did stop and rewind a few times to make sure i was hearing feet and not inches. . . wow - way higher than anything I've ever been around! I liked that part.
The second video I think highlights what would be the best balance (IMO, of course). The early still pictures didn't help me to know what I was about to watch. The LCO did give info that let me know, but it would have been nice to know what the subject was earlier, so I would know what to look at. The launch footage was good, but as you said, short due to tracking. Again, I've never seen rockets that fly this high, so I understand tracking must be difficult/impossible. The end part with the recovery is also good to see, so I liked that as well.
My 2 suggestions, since I think you were asking for opinions, would be to narrate a little when practical. Tell me the general story of what is going to happen earlier so I can know what to expect. Maybe instead of a song or silence, it could be something like 'This is my rocket that is going to fly on an Mxxx at blah-blah-blah next weekend. I'm using a blah-blah-blah for the first time. Hope it goes well.' (or similar).
The second suggestion would be about actually getting better footage. Personally, I've never tried it, but a guy at my home club used to get a pool chair (the kind that actually lay flat or incline the back to about 30 deg) and lay down in it. He would sit up when the rocket was on the pad and start the video, but when the rocket launched, he would pretty much just fall back into the chair, trying to keep the camera pointed toward the rocket. At that position, he was only fighting his alignment, not his alignment and the fact that he was craning his neck upwards etc. It looked odd when I first saw it, but he got about 80% of his flights to apogee (4000 ft, not 40k. . . ) whereas I would often lose mine after liftoff, as my neck just doesn't want to move that way. I really need to try the method myself.
Either way, I think the videos you posted would be worth posting moving forward. Adding a title page letting you know about it or adding audio to tell about it would be an improvement if practical.
Sandy.
