Go Pro camera

[Wooden Skye]

I have been thinking about getting a go pro camera, but not sure I wanted to spend the money.  Today I was walking through Target and they had the Hero 3+ silver addition on sale for $199 (regular price $299) plus the head strap mount free.  Does anyone have the silver edition and what are your thoughts?  What are others thoughts about the Go pro in general?

 

[jmbfestool]

Love it and hate it!

My mates have same feeling with their GoPro.

I have the black edition latest.

Good points:
very very small
Video quality excellent
Wide viewing angle
Accessories plenty

Bad points:
Poor batterie life
On three different go pro generations/models they always seem to have a glitch. ( mine sometimes records for 4 seconds and stops which is very annoying if you think its recording and find out it hasn't recorded)  my mates does the does the same but instantly  and my other mate (oldest model) sometimes his videos where corrupt not readable on computer even using VLC player.
Buttons are to hard to press when in its waterproof case especially when snowboarding and you have gloves on.

Jmb

 

[atlr]

I have a GoPro Hero3 Black Edition purchased in March, 2013. 

I treasure videos and photos I have taken of our kids on water rides and visits to the ocean but I cannot recommend GoPro cameras based on my experience with the Black edition.

A battery lasts for about 45 minutes of continuous use.  It has been a camera I rarely pick up for casual photos because the battery is usually dead.  I have wondered if a parasitic current is drawn even when the camera appears to be off.

If I had known that sometimes the camera will cause all photos/video on a card to be lost, I would not have purchased it.  It has happened to me.  I recovered the files by running a utility to repair the filesystem but no one should have to know how to do that to use a camera.  I have read reports of this continuing to happen with the currently shipping Hero 3+.

Here is a year's worth of anecdotes about the Hero3 losing photos.
http://discussion.gopro.com/gopro/topics/why_am_i_getting_an_sd_err_on_my_hero3_black_64gb_10_card

 

[gjh119]

I have the Hero 3 Black Edition, had many issues with SD Card. Keep getting SD Error or no SD Card after formatting. I even purchased the recommended SD cards from the Go Pro list.
I finally opened a support case and sent the camera back a few days ago for service. Waiting to see if they send me back a refurb or a new camera.

Yes, I agree battery is always dead and/or life is short.

 

[Saskataper]

I love the gopro cameras. Just bought a black 3+, it has way more features than the silver for the money. A remote, 240fps, higher res video and pics, low light mode and protune (not sure what that does yet). I've only used it a couple times now but it takes really nice videos. Before this I used a hero 960 HD which I really liked, that's what I used for my planex vids.

 

[erock]

I have the Go Pro Hero 3 black edition.

Pros for me:  Able to mount it to tools for action shots in the shop. 
                    quality of picture.
                    remote control.  Some times the Go Pro is mounted from my ceiling.
                    small size is perfect for action shot…..that it's made for.
                    no need to take the SD card in/out for uploading the video files onto the laptop. 

Cons for me:  Battery life is terrible.  I have too keep a power cord near by.
                    You can't see how the shot will look with out the extra LCD back pack.  So I have to run a HDMI cable to my TV so I know what I want in the shot will be in the picture.
                      The Go Pro app for my android phone.  I've tried using the app 5 times and it won't recognize the camera.
                      And the battery life sucks,  I know I've said that already, but it annoys me.
                                                             

I like having the Go Pro for my PIP shots and action shots.    My main camera for recording my videos is a Sony Handycam.  It has a nice LCD screen that rotates so I can make sure I get what I want in the pictures.  Plus it gives me great video quality and sound.  I think the Sony was under $200 when I bought it.

Eric
                   

 

[jmbfestool]

I have the Go Pro Hero 3 black edition.

Pros for me:  Able to mount it to tools for action shots in the shop. 
                    quality of picture.
                    remote control.  Some times the Go Pro is mounted from my ceiling.
                    small size is perfect for action shot…..that it's made for.
                    no need to take the SD card in/out for uploading the video files onto the laptop. 

Cons for me:  Battery life is terrible.  I have too keep a power cord near by.
                     You can't see how the shot will look with out the extra LCD back pack.  So I have to run a HDMI cable to my TV so I know what I want in the shot will be in the picture.
                      The Go Pro app for my android phone.  I've tried using the app 5 times and it won't recognize the camera.
                      And the battery life sucks,  I know I've said that already, but it annoys me.
                                                             

I like having the Go Pro for my PIP shots and action shots.    My main camera for recording my videos is a Sony Handycam.  It has a nice LCD screen that rotates so I can make sure I get what I want in the pictures.  Plus it gives me great video quality and sound.  I think the Sony was under $200 when I bought it.

Eric
                     

The app on my iphone connects to my gopro fine but you have to update the go pro  by connecting it to your pc and going online.

I only use it for setting the position when I am snowboarding. I get into my stand get my head where I want it and adjust the camera. Nothing worse when you get back to your hotel and find you have more ground or sky in your vids.   

Once I set it up I turn it off!  If you think it has poor battery now having the Bluetooth on connected to the app really drains the battery big time!

 

[Wooden Skye]

Thanks for all the responses.  I think I am going to stick with what I currently have.  I will probably try to find a mount to mount my iPad to should I start doing more videos of projects and such. 

 

[rvieceli]

I saw this at Best Buy today.

http://store.sony.com/action-cam/cat-27-catid-Action-Cam;pgid=wVpc2vcRdAlSRpSWC5EgOBsW0000e81cJ5dr;sid=Z61nE8q5Q7JQE5hlEGceF1KzCOEiYgOCKWi3OJK2

Looked interesting

 

[peter halle]

After all the great vies shot here with the GO PRO I was excited.  Now, maybe not so.  I bought my wife a Handycam about three years ago that has a 60 GB hard rive built in that I have used for my rough videos.  I think I will stay put.  Maybe technology will pass me by.

Peter

 

[Harvey]

I bought the Gopro Silver last May, The first one (a demo model) was DOA, so I returned it. The second (new) has worked fine. I updated the firmware online and used my iPod touch to setup the camera (the on camera menu system is usable, but slow and clunky). Turn off the bluetooth as soon as possible, as it drains the batteries.  I also bought the Wasabi kit- two extra batteries and an external charger.  For me the battery life is OK- I get about half an evening of skiing before the the battery dies- just videoing the runs. I’ve also used it snorkelling, and motorcycling. The video quality is as you expect from youtube- great in good light and surprisingly decent in poor lighting.
So for me the GoPro’s done all I expected of it.

 

[Stephen B]

[size=11pt]

Creating video entries with an IPad had me wondering about more rugged alternatives for shooting video in the workshop.

Some questions.

Can the GoPro operate directly from a power point?

Will it also take stills?

Will it feed data to an IPad for editing?

Thanks.    [smile]

 

[jmbfestool]

[size=11pt]

Creating video entries with an IPad had me wondering about more rugged alternatives for shooting video in the workshop.

Some questions.

Can the GoPro operate directly from a power point?

Will it also take stills?

Will it feed data to an IPad for editing?

Thanks.    [smile]

Can the GoPro operate directly from a power point? not sure never tried it

Will it also take stills? yes

Will it feed data to an IPad for editing?no

 

[PaulMarcel]

You can plug it into its USB charger and run it off that; the few times I used mine, I did it that way because otherwise it would invariably die in the middle of recording.

The LCD backpack comes with a battery, but even so, you get battery life in the minutes range.  I want to say less than 20, but I could be mistaken.  There's a battery backpack and claims you can get 4 hours of recording time with it. That assumes no wifi and no bluetooth.  So enable wifi and use a GoPro app to set the settings (much nicer than the 2-button interface) and preview how you have it framed.  Then disconnect the app and turn off wifi; you'll want to start recording using the camera's button, not the wifi app or all that disabling of the wifi will certainly mess up the firmware. In the shop, I used the GoPro app with the camera plugged in only to find that, for some strange reason, it stopped recording 7 minutes into it.  So watch the recording light to have an idea.  But it's silly that you need to do that.  They have bad firmware developers.

One thing that may catch you by surprise is that you can record 20 minutes and your video software may import it as several clips. This has to do with the file size limit on the micro SD card. There's no pause between the clips so just join them or append them in your software's timeline.  If you use their software, it will automatically import the clip as a single file. It also includes a de-fisheye filter to compensate for the fisheye effect of the wide-angle view.  Most modern NLEs will allow you to easily join the clips, though, and apply a de-fisheye filter so in my case, I never used their software as it would be a separate step.

The camera connection kit for iPad is the moral equivalent to a $30 brick: it's useless.  It seems none of my cameras make the coveted list of supported cameras.  I guess that's what I get for buying off-brands like Panasonic, Canon, and GoPro. :-/

So if you were planning on editing the video on iMovie on iPad, you won't easily get the clips imported.  If you have a desktop Mac, just use iMovie or FCPX on OSX; they'll import the clips no problem directly off the SD card.

If you have a Windows desktop box, Microsoft Live Movie Maker can import clips and export an MP4 viewable on iPad