The all GoPro models discussion thread

[dotty]

Disastrous said:

XB70 said:

DodoRacing said:

After a bit of research, I've ordered the Olympus ME-51S which looked like a good choice for the price and size.

Thanks!

Seconded. It's awfully difficult to get good info about what inputs the GoPro will accept so that helps, ta!

Audio Technica mic is what I use, but that is wired, this one looks good

[rufusruffcutt]

Gruffy said:

mrmr96 said:

Let's also not forget they can shoot 4K at 15fps. Admittedly 15fps isn't going to be ultra smooth - but it's a 4K camera you can strap to your skateboard!

Kinda pointless though. If you're quality-focused enough to shoot 4K I doubt you'd consider 15fps to cut the mustard.

This is true, but for time lapse stuff, 4K @ 15fps on this should be amazing (needs to see test footage first!). See link for an example, admittedly its not shot been shot with a GoPro 3:

http://vimeo.com/22439234

[Salgar]

rufusruffcutt said:

Gruffy said:

mrmr96 said:

Let's also not forget they can shoot 4K at 15fps. Admittedly 15fps isn't going to be ultra smooth - but it's a 4K camera you can strap to your skateboard!

Kinda pointless though. If you're quality-focused enough to shoot 4K I doubt you'd consider 15fps to cut the mustard.

This is true, but for time lapse stuff, 4K @ 15fps on this should be amazing (needs to see test footage first!). See link for an example, admittedly its not shot been shot with a GoPro 3:

http://vimeo.com/22439234

This is true too, but because my monitor, and everyone elses, only goes up to 1080p, I don't believe that video would have looked any different if it was filmed in 1080p.

[RizzoTheRat]

I always use 1200 on my monitors, 1080's not even an option. However shooting in a higher resolution gives you the option to crop the picture to make up for the lack of zoom.

I'd actually like to be able to shoot video at slightly higher than 720p so I could use post processed image stabilisation without losing any quality on playback at 720, the same would be true for 1080 if I had enough hard drive space to justify recording at the higher resolution. I take it they've not built any image stabilisation in to these, quite a few compact cameras and camcorders seem to come with it now.

[Otispunkmeyer]

furtive said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

While Im here

as anyone checked out the Sony Action Cam?

Hmm, they look pretty good. Now I'm not sure whether to get one of them or a GoPro3

Forgot to mention steady shot in there as well, though its probably not of the optical stabilization sort and more of the image-shifting sort.

[gp1699]

Otispunkmeyer said:

furtive said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

While Im here

as anyone checked out the Sony Action Cam?

Hmm, they look pretty good. Now I'm not sure whether to get one of them or a GoPro3

Forgot to mention steady shot in there as well, though its probably not of the optical stabilization sort and more of the image-shifting sort.

the only problem i can see with the sony is that it wont record sound in the 60/120FPS modes.

decisions decisions!

[XB70]

dotty said:

Audio Technica mic is what I use, but that is wired, this one looks good

Is that Olympus a 'plu and play' in the sense that you can add an extension lead, plug it in, attach to GoPro and you are set?

I was reading something about the need for power and that the GoPro mic input only has a certain level of power?

• sorry for being vague, I will try and track down the forum post that I read*

[ben_h100]

y2blade said:

ben_h100 said:

Cool, so how much can we expect the Hero 2 to be selling for when this comes out?

I have no idea, my crystal ball is in the workshop.
BTW You can get the Motorsports pack Hero2 for £200 right now...with free postage.

Digital Rev or do you have another link? Very interested in getting one at that price :-)

[Gruffy]

rufusruffcutt said:

Gruffy said:

mrmr96 said:

Let's also not forget they can shoot 4K at 15fps. Admittedly 15fps isn't going to be ultra smooth - but it's a 4K camera you can strap to your skateboard!

Kinda pointless though. If you're quality-focused enough to shoot 4K I doubt you'd consider 15fps to cut the mustard.

This is true, but for time lapse stuff, 4K @ 15fps on this should be amazing (needs to see test footage first!). See link for an example, admittedly its not shot been shot with a GoPro 3:

http://vimeo.com/22439234

We can already use stills that big for time-lapse footage and that'll be much more storage-efficient than footage at 15fps.

[dxg]

dotty said:

Disastrous said:

XB70 said:

DodoRacing said:

After a bit of research, I've ordered the Olympus ME-51S which looked like a good choice for the price and size.

Thanks!

Seconded. It's awfully difficult to get good info about what inputs the GoPro will accept so that helps, ta!

Audio Technica mic is what I use, but that is wired, this one looks good

Although it doesn't look as if the black edition has an actual mic socket. You have to buy an adaptor as an accessory. I wonder what that will cost.

I really like the idea of the black edition, as it seems good value with the wifi controller, but this is an extra cost.

[RizzoTheRat]

While the black looks like a fantastic bit of kit, I really think it's over the top for what most people want. What do you want to do with the footage? For the likes of Ken Block producing broadcast quality films it'll be fantastic, but personally I put all mine on youtube, and only bother with 720p. Tempted to get a HD3 for the better image quality but not sure I'd use any of the features of the black that the next one down doesn't have. Mind you I've not seen any comparison of footage between the 3 versions yet.

[Gruffy]

RizzoTheRat said:

While the black looks like a fantastic bit of kit, I really think it's over the top for what most people want. What do you want to do with the footage? For the likes of Ken Block producing broadcast quality films it'll be fantastic, but personally I put all mine on youtube, and only bother with 720p. Tempted to get a HD3 for the better image quality but not sure I'd use any of the features of the black that the next one down doesn't have. Mind you I've not seen any comparison of footage between the 3 versions yet.

I use it mostly for winter sports and the Black appeals for two reasons. I also shoot at 720 (but would love to go to 1080) and the 120fps is a huge bonus. The other feature that is great for me is the 30 shot photo burst that's great for 'stunts'.

[RizzoTheRat]

Hadn't thought of the slowmo aspect, 240fps @ WGA, 120 @ 720p and 60 at 1080p is double the frame rate of the silver and could be handy for some.

Like I say I'd love to see some good comparison footage, preferably of all the modes too. I found 1080p seemed really wobbly compared to 720p on my HD1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8eejQYWZHU&lis...

and the HD2 is definitly a better picture quality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hoMPa-lfaQ&lis...

I neeed to convince one of my mates to lend me thier HD2 at some point to do a proper comparison between the 1 and the 2.

[Stu R]

I've convinced myself I need one. Got a few things planned with the truck next year and I'd like to capture some of it, mainly off road hooning and parts of a road trip.

Utterly flummoxed by which microphone to choose and where to put it without it getting destroyed yet still able to capture the exhaust note. Guess they're cheap enough that trying a few options isn't a big deal. Will a long 3.5mm extension cable be a problem for microphones?

[LostCroc]

Stu R said:

Will a long 3.5mm extension cable be a problem for microphones?

You can do it on an unpowered mic but the quality is not good (static, clipping, etc). If you use a powered mic (with its own battery) then no problems for a 6 foot extension cable. I do this on my caterham where the camera is on the roll bar over the rear axle and the mic is under the bonnet next to the throttle bodies and I run the cable forward.

[LostCroc]

XB70 said:

I was reading something about the need for power and that the GoPro mic input only has a certain level of power?

• sorry for being vague, I will try and track down the forum post that I read*

Yes and no. There is limited power available from the Gopro to operate an unpowered mic. However, an unpowered mic will still work just fine in the right situation. For my track work I found it was just average as the mic was not able to cope with the variety and range of sounds it was trying to record (wind, mechanical, engine, diff, brakes, tires, etc). Here was my test of a HD2 with an unpowered mic (Olympus mic 145045-ME-15) similar cost to the one pictured above:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PuTqqjvYlw&fea...

For comparison, here is the same HD2 camera and car (different day) with an Audio Technica battery powered mic installed same way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Wn_pDEQI4&fea...

If you need really good sound then you are really needing to go for a digital audio recorder like a Tascam that you then sync the sound with the video in post production editing.

[Stu R]

LostCroc said:

Stu R said:

Will a long 3.5mm extension cable be a problem for microphones?

You can do it on an unpowered mic but the quality is not good (static, clipping, etc). If you use a powered mic (with its own battery) then no problems for a 6 foot extension cable. I do this on my caterham where the camera is on the roll bar over the rear axle and the mic is under the bonnet next to the throttle bodies and I run the cable forward.

Excellent, thanks for that - I'll try some powered ones out then. I was hoping to slot the mic near the airbox but the videos i've seen where people do that with the same truck the noise you get isn't a patch on what comes out the exhaust.

A mate has offered me his hero 2 as he's upgrading, so I might nab that if the price is right and try a couple of angles and audio feeds.

[nick s]

I really can't decide wether to go for the Silver or Black edition? I really don't think i need the wifi remote, but how much difference am i going to notice with the 30fps compared to 60fps at 1080p?

I would probably mostly shoot in 720p anyway, but say i did want to shoot at 1080p and make some nice slow mo shots, are they still going to look decent at 30fps? Can't work out if it's worth stumping up the extra money for the black when i'm not too serious about it! Just wanted it for some fun cycling, skiing, driving vids really!

[Gruffy]

nick s said:

I would probably mostly shoot in 720p anyway, but say i did want to shoot at 1080p and make some nice slow mo shots, are they still going to look decent at 30fps?

The short answer is no.

The human eye/brain needs a minimum of between 18-24fps to be tricked into seeing seamless movement rather than a sequence of stills.

[XB70]

LostCroc said:

Yes and no. There is limited power available from the Gopro to operate an unpowered mic. However, an unpowered mic will still work just fine in the right situation. For my track work I found it was just average as the mic was not able to cope with the variety and range of sounds it was trying to record (wind, mechanical, engine, diff, brakes, tires, etc). Here was my test of a HD2 with an unpowered mic (Olympus mic 145045-ME-15) similar cost to the one pictured above:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PuTqqjvYlw&fea...

For comparison, here is the same HD2 camera and car (different day) with an Audio Technica battery powered mic installed same way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Wn_pDEQI4&fea...

If you need really good sound then you are really needing to go for a digital audio recorder like a Tascam that you then sync the sound with the video in post production editing.

Thanks!