The all GoPro models discussion thread

[andyp79]

V8A*ndy said:

Have a look at this.....

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/archive/index.p...

However your problem is really overexposure due to the bright sky. A polariser is really for glare and reflections but will also stop down the bright light somewhat but will make your footage generally darker.

Less sky in your footage (point the camera down a bit) will probably help just as much.

Edited by V8A*ndy on Thursday 7th August 10:33

Cheers, that's useful stuff.

I'll try aiming down a bit next time and see how that works out too. It was a lot brighter on the evening of that footage than the video shows. That was the last session though so it was approaching 8pm in that clip and the sun was low enough to affect the camera when it wasn't earlier on.

Some food for thought for me...

[boxsternoob56]

I'm a newbie as far as GoPro is concerned but can you not switch on either -

(pasted from the manual for the 3+ Black)

'Make sure Auto Low Light mode is turned ON (default)
when shooting in low-light environments or if quickly
transitioning in and out of low-light conditions. The camera
will automatically adjust fps to achieve the optimal exposure
and best results. Available in select video modes only.'

or

'Turn on Spot Meter when filming from within a dark space pointing the
camera into a brighter setting, such as filming the outdoors from within a car.
When Spot Meter is set to ON, appears in the LCD window.'

...to deal with it?

I would think a polariser or ND filter is likely just to degrade your quality and mean that everything is darker overall...so it will deal with your bright issues but cause you another set instead...

[boxsternoob56]

BTW I rec'd a nice replacement GoPro 3+ Black under RMA yesterday (see previous posts)...bonus was they sent another battery as well!

All booted up ok with the new Sandisk (approved) micro SD card and appears to work ok....

[andyp79]

boxsternoob56 said:

I'm a newbie as far as GoPro is concerned but can you not switch on either -

(pasted from the manual for the 3+ Black)

'Make sure Auto Low Light mode is turned ON (default)
when shooting in low-light environments or if quickly
transitioning in and out of low-light conditions. The camera
will automatically adjust fps to achieve the optimal exposure
and best results. Available in select video modes only.'

or

'Turn on Spot Meter when filming from within a dark space pointing the
camera into a brighter setting, such as filming the outdoors from within a car.
When Spot Meter is set to ON, appears in the LCD window.'

...to deal with it?

I would think a polariser or ND filter is likely just to degrade your quality and mean that everything is darker overall...so it will deal with your bright issues but cause you another set instead...

Hmmmmm. Wasn't aware of those modes to be honest. I pretty much set it up when I got it and have left it at that ever since, but this sounds well worth a look. More the spot metering than the auto low-light mode. I'm not 100% sure whether my 3 Silver has these as it certainly lacks a few of the nicer features of the Black edition but I'll check it out this weekend.

Cheers.

[andyp79]

On another subject now, I'm gonna borrow a mate's camera (exactly the same as mine) for a track evening next week. How easy / difficult is it to sync both of them to start and stop recording at the same time? If I use the iPhone app, how does that work in terms of previews and controlling them?

My setup will be very simple as I've only got a few places that work on the bike but I've got a few ideas to try out. I think it would be a lot easier come editing time if I could start and stop both cameras at the same time so I can match the sound and footage up for cutting between angles.

Anyone tried this?

[JonRB]

andyp79 said:

On another subject now, I'm gonna borrow a mate's camera (exactly the same as mine) for a track evening next week. How easy / difficult is it to sync both of them to start and stop recording at the same time? If I use the iPhone app, how does that work in terms of previews and controlling them?

My setup will be very simple as I've only got a few places that work on the bike but I've got a few ideas to try out. I think it would be a lot easier come editing time if I could start and stop both cameras at the same time so I can match the sound and footage up for cutting between angles.

Anyone tried this?

Just make sure that you synchronise the clocks on both via the app because that makes it easier post-production to line them up. Starting them both at exactly the same isn't necessary (and would be virtually impossible anyway). If both cameras can see the same thing at the same time then clapping your hands clapper-board style in shot of both can help with syncing them post-production.

Some software like the latest Cyberlink PowerDirector have built-in support for multiple cameras. I've recently upgraded my version but haven't tried it yet. But on the older version, all I did was find an event common to both and then slide one source left and right till the same event lined up. I then knew the whole lot was lined up.

Note: You do need video editing software that can handle multiple video streams. Most do though.

[Disastrous]

And if your edit suite can't sync, Pluraleyes is the go-to for multicam sync. FCP X is pretty good at it these days though so often not needed.

Might be difficult as most of them use sound to auto-sync and with Gopro, all you get is wind noise so as JonRB says, a 'clap' would be a good idea if you're doing it manually.

[andyp79]

Cheers, that's some good advice.

I probably won't be able to see the same events on both cameras but I'll be able to work something out. I use Sony Movie Studio 12 and it's pretty powerful - it's me that's the weak link - but I reckon it can handle this stuff. It has multiple timelines where you can overlay things so I might just need to play around with it and see how it will work. I think I can have the two sets of footage parallel with each other and drag them left and right to match up the timing. It's when it comes to cutting bits out and realigning them that I was wondering about. Like keeping the sound consistent when switching angles. I guess I just cut footage and sound out all as one and make a "clean" cut from one shot to the next.

I'll figure it out I guess but I reckon it's going to take a fair while to edit it into something half-decent.

My concern was with sorting out the cameras starting and stopping but it sounds like there's no need to get overly worried about that bit of it.

[andyp79]

Having a wee think there...

My vision (if you can call it that) is to switch camera views a few times in the final edit but while keeping the sound from one camera all the way through. I think that's straightforward enough if I make sure it matches the footage before I start cutting out stuff.

[Disastrous]

andyp79 said:

Having a wee think there...

My vision (if you can call it that) is to switch camera views a few times in the final edit but while keeping the sound from one camera all the way through. I think that's straightforward enough if I make sure it matches the footage before I start cutting out stuff.

Totally sound thinking. Quite normal to use one audio track as master and the others for sync.

[JonRB]

andyp79 said:

Like keeping the sound consistent when switching angles.

I generally cheat and just mute one stream and use the audio from the same one throughout. But that's because my videos have always been different angles on the same on-car footage (ie. no static track-side footage, because I'm Billy Nomates).

(Edit: As you and Disastrous say)

andyp79 said:

I reckon it's going to take a fair while to edit it into something half-decent.

Always does.

[Freakuk]

You can do it when you edit.

I had a camera on my MTB (facing forwards) and a mate with one (facing backwards) doing a run in Wales, he set off before me and I caught him up mid trail. I just had to sync at the point when we had sight of each other on the respective cameras within the editing software.

So for the first minute or so side by side it looks out of place and then it makes sense, this was FCP

[GreigM]

JonRB said:

Just make sure that you synchronise the clocks on both via the app because that makes it easier post-production to line them up. Starting them both at exactly the same isn't necessary (and would be virtually impossible anyway). If both cameras can see the same thing at the same time then clapping your hands clapper-board style in shot of both can help with syncing them post-production.

Some software like the latest Cyberlink PowerDirector have built-in support for multiple cameras. I've recently upgraded my version but haven't tried it yet. But on the older version, all I did was find an event common to both and then slide one source left and right till the same event lined up. I then knew the whole lot was lined up.

Note: You do need video editing software that can handle multiple video streams. Most do though.

Just to add a small example. This is filmed with 2 GoPros on my car, then edited together using the rear as the sound source and using PowerDirectors 12 multi-camera function:
http://youtu.be/NiYhGLBseUU

[Boro]

andyp79 said:

On another subject now, I'm gonna borrow a mate's camera (exactly the same as mine) for a track evening next week. How easy / difficult is it to sync both of them to start and stop recording at the same time? If I use the iPhone app, how does that work in terms of previews and controlling them?

My setup will be very simple as I've only got a few places that work on the bike but I've got a few ideas to try out. I think it would be a lot easier come editing time if I could start and stop both cameras at the same time so I can match the sound and footage up for cutting between angles.

Anyone tried this?

If you have the GoPro Wifi Remote you can control upto 50 cameras at the same time ;-)

[JonRB]

GreigM said:

Just to add a small example. This is filmed with 2 GoPros on my car, then edited together using the rear as the sound source and using PowerDirectors 12 multi-camera function:
http://youtu.be/NiYhGLBseUU

Cool. I should try something like that. So far all my videos have been very lazy because I've gone for picture-in-picture.

eg
http://youtu.be/q3dvwiGe8As and
http://youtu.be/o8jVaEUxqPY

Edit: You can really tell the difference between the Drift HD and the GoPro Hero3 in the first vid. I'm really not impressed with the Drift HD.

Edited by JonRB on Friday 8th August 15:04

[Boro]

Interesting little GoPro light coming from SP Gadgets next month. I believe the light doubles as a dual charger too...



Technical Specifications

Max. ~300 lumen (120min)
Max. 20 Hours at 60 lumen
Waterproof < 130ft, 40m
Battery capacity: 3.89Wh, 1050mAh
Input: 5V,500mA
Working temperature: -20 – 40C / -4-104F
Working humidity:30-95% RH

[andyp79]

Boro said:

If you have the GoPro Wifi Remote you can control upto 50 cameras at the same time ;-)

50??!!

How does the iPhone app handle multiple cams?

[JonRB]

andyp79 said:

How does the iPhone app handle multiple cams?

It doesn't. Same as the Android apps. It's a 1-to-1 connection, which is increasingly archaic

[andyp79]

That's what I thought to be honest. Never mind. I tend to only use the app to line up a shot then turn the wifi off to try and maximise battery life.

I looked for a filter adapter thing to let me use the 52mm one from my SLR but I can only find these to fit the 3+ which has a smaller case than the Hero 3... I'll investigate the camera setting a bit further to see if that helps my evening sun issues.

[Boro]

Would this work for you?



No housing but it does fit 52mm filters.