GoPro- advice on getting the best from it.
Discussion
Having failed to do my homework, I've gone & bough a GoPro Plus. This was not a smart move. Non changeable battery & no mic port!
On Saturday I'll be heading on a two and a half hour drive with the owners club & wanted to attach the camera to the back of my car. I also wanted to use it a bit at the destination. Fixed battery clearly a bad move! I was also planning on my dash can being plugged into my one & only 12v outlet filming the front. To add to the already bad situation, I would need to control the GoPro via my phone, which seems to flatten the camera battery in about 5 minutes!
So, how do I squeeze the most from this poor scenario? Are there settings that use less power? Does anyone know of a 12v adaptor that splits into 2 outlets? HELP!!
On Saturday I'll be heading on a two and a half hour drive with the owners club & wanted to attach the camera to the back of my car. I also wanted to use it a bit at the destination. Fixed battery clearly a bad move! I was also planning on my dash can being plugged into my one & only 12v outlet filming the front. To add to the already bad situation, I would need to control the GoPro via my phone, which seems to flatten the camera battery in about 5 minutes!
So, how do I squeeze the most from this poor scenario? Are there settings that use less power? Does anyone know of a 12v adaptor that splits into 2 outlets? HELP!!
a decent capacity USB power bar, or several smaller ones would probably be your easiest option, but as said would mean that you couldn't seal the waterproof door.
Your local super market or maplins etc should have various 12v adaptors if you want to power it from inside the car
As for getting the most of your day, I assume you've just got the included sticky mounts to play with? A suction cup would give you the chance to move the camera about and get different angles, making for a more interesting final video. If you're going to mount it on the outside of the car I would always Tether it to something to prevent an accidental tumble down the road or into someone else's windscreen.
At the other end I'd recommend a selfie stick or handle of some sort just to smooth the footage out and also decrease the likely hood of getting your hands in the shot. The lens is WIDE so you will capture things you wouldn't normally.
Your local super market or maplins etc should have various 12v adaptors if you want to power it from inside the car
As for getting the most of your day, I assume you've just got the included sticky mounts to play with? A suction cup would give you the chance to move the camera about and get different angles, making for a more interesting final video. If you're going to mount it on the outside of the car I would always Tether it to something to prevent an accidental tumble down the road or into someone else's windscreen.
At the other end I'd recommend a selfie stick or handle of some sort just to smooth the footage out and also decrease the likely hood of getting your hands in the shot. The lens is WIDE so you will capture things you wouldn't normally.
Edited by Fubles on Wednesday 27th April 16:28
Fubles said:
a decent capacity USB power bar, or several smaller ones would probably be your easiest option, but as said would mean that you couldn't seal the waterproof door.
Your local super market or maplins etc should have various 12v adaptors if you want to power it from inside the car
As for getting the most of your day, I assume you've just got the included sticky mounts to play with? A suction cup would give you the chance to move the camera about and get different angles, making for a more interesting final video. If you're going to mount it on the outside of the car I would always Tether it to something to prevent an accidental tumble down the road or into someone else's windscreen.
At the other end I'd recommend a selfie stick or handle of some sort just to smooth the footage out and also decrease the likely hood of getting your hands in the shot. The lens is WIDE so you will capture things you wouldn't normally.
I've bought myself a hard wire kit from Halfords, but it's for mini usb. I can use this for my dash cam as I'd like that hard wired anyway. That then leaves me the mini usb lead that came with it to use for the GoPro. Only problem is the GoPro is micro usb not mini (if I've understood my usbs correctly!). So in an ideal world I need a female mini usb to female usb, so I can join the original GoPro lead into the original dash can lead. Can I find female to female? Can I fYour local super market or maplins etc should have various 12v adaptors if you want to power it from inside the car
As for getting the most of your day, I assume you've just got the included sticky mounts to play with? A suction cup would give you the chance to move the camera about and get different angles, making for a more interesting final video. If you're going to mount it on the outside of the car I would always Tether it to something to prevent an accidental tumble down the road or into someone else's windscreen.
At the other end I'd recommend a selfie stick or handle of some sort just to smooth the footage out and also decrease the likely hood of getting your hands in the shot. The lens is WIDE so you will capture things you wouldn't normally.
Edited by Fubles on Wednesday 27th April 16:28
k!On another note, I have a suction pad, a sticky mount and a sticky mount tether. However there's nowhere on the camera body to loop the tether through. Am I missing something here?
I usually run the tether around the bottom on the camera/top of the mount above where the thumb screw sits. Either that or if I can I'll put it between the fingers of the mount. If you Google "GoPro Tethering" there are a lot of images of people finding interesting ways to tie them down, essentially you want a tight loop around part of teh camera which won't be able to slip itself off. It's not a 100% guarantee but 2 points of failure are better than one
Fubles said:
I usually run the tether around the bottom on the camera/top of the mount above where the thumb screw sits. Either that or if I can I'll put it between the fingers of the mount. If you Google "GoPro Tethering" there are a lot of images of people finding interesting ways to tie them down, essentially you want a tight loop around part of teh camera which won't be able to slip itself off. It's not a 100% guarantee but 2 points of failure are better than one
Cheers, I'll check that out.I usually suggest working backwards from what you want to film.
It sounds like you want to film forwards with your dashcam - what resolution?
What do you want to film with the GoPro?
How long do you want to film for? The whole trip? Or just key segments? Do you have the memory capacity for what you want to film?
If you're filming the whole drive timelapse (1 picture every x seconds) works better, as when stitched together the end film is of x hours of driving in y minutes, rather than having to sit through hours of footage.
It sounds like you want to film forwards with your dashcam - what resolution?
What do you want to film with the GoPro?
How long do you want to film for? The whole trip? Or just key segments? Do you have the memory capacity for what you want to film?
If you're filming the whole drive timelapse (1 picture every x seconds) works better, as when stitched together the end film is of x hours of driving in y minutes, rather than having to sit through hours of footage.
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