Go Pro cameras?

[737tdi]

Howdy: I received a GoPro Hero 3+ silver for my perfect attendance at work. A working knowledge of one of these would be helpful.

I have researched a bit on this little guy, I would just like any tips/advice on the use of this camera. I have downloaded the GoPro application but as always it is best to ask anyone who knows how to operate something. If you ever want to change an aircraft engine give me a holler. :lol: I would appreciate any advice from y'all. Thanks in advance.

Karl

 

[Don Lovel]

When I saw this video that was shot with a Go Pro, I really started wanting to get one, expensive has kept one away from me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B36Lr0Unp4

 

[737tdi]

Howdy Don: Thought I would give a perspective of a $300 camera v a lovely friend.







This little guy comes in a water proof case (not pictured), this is just the video camera. Wow. I just got it yesterday, went and bought a 64gb micro sd card for it today. Came with 3 different mount options and a charging cord and battery.

Any info. about the tricks and fails are appreciated. Thanks.

Karl

 

[cruzerlou]

Hey Karl .
I have no personal experience with them , but one good example of them in use is the show on the Street Outlaws on The Discovery Channel. Its my understanding that all the cameras mounted in and outside the cars are bone stock GoPro 300 series of camera. I looked at one at the Verizon store a few weeks ago and the picture was very high quality, you can get many different mounts for them and a water proof case so that you can scuba dive with them .
NICE SCORE!!!!!!
Sorry I can't be of more help ,but I do know their very nice camera's.
Congrats on the perfect attendance too.
I think once you get to know it you'll really enjoy it.
Lookin forward to some cool videos once you get squared away with it.
Check out that show, you can see the little cameras on the outside of the cars.
The same camera I was looking at was $300.00 bucks.
The salesman didn't ask me if I wanted to buy one, he just ask me if I wanted to pay for it outright or add it to my wireless bill !!!
Good thing Juanita was their with me else she'd probably be posting .high deff video of her kick in my butt here on the forum!!!!!! LOL
Congrats again and enjoy
Your Friend,
Lou
BTW please take some vidss to your beautiful German Shepard for me.

 

[737tdi]

"The salesman didn't ask me if I wanted to buy one, he just ask me if I wanted to pay for it outright or add it to my wireless bill !!!
"Good thing Juanita was their with me else she'd probably be posting .high deff video of her kick in my butt here on the forum!!!!!! LOL
Congrats again and enjoy
Your Friend,
Lou
BTW please take some vidss to your beautiful German Shepard for me."



Thanks Lou, I would love to see your bride kicking butt???LOL. Once I get to know how to use it I will post up some videos of Max the monster GSD. He has taken a liking to the back seat of my Jetta. He loves to ride, like most dogs, but he is hard to keep out if he can't. 136 pounds of dog is hard to control by a man who weighs 20 pounds more. Keep an eye out for videos, I will be testing?????

Karl

 

[cruzerlou]

Roger will do.
Lou

 

[contender]

I bought one a couple of years ago. My thought was to use it for a dash camera, as well as other things. Well, since it's battery operated, I'm limited in it's ability to be used as a dash cam. Mine came with the waterproof housing, and a few other accessories. I THOUGHT I could use mine outside the housing as a dash cam & added an external power source. So far, nada! I bought the plain metal, outside the housing, camera holder that mounts to the clips. I plugged in my adapter in my truck, but it won't charge & run like I wanted. (I spend a lot of time traveling between jobs etc.) So I've been using it on my dash, with just it's battery, and getting some footage in specific areas. My plan is to buy a dedicated dash camera sometime this summer.
Now, otherwise, this little camera is great.
I'm actually studying a multi-rotor UAV that can carry it aloft & take pics.
The quality is good, but any audio is muffled when it's in the waterproof housing.

 

[vito]

You already have the camera, so that is not the issue. But for others who are contemplating such a purpose, you might want to really think it through. I really wanted one to use on my motorcycle, but didn't want to spend the $300 at the time for a GoPro. But on the Woot website, I bought an off brand for $35. It works well, and I made some less than GoPro quality videos of my everyday rides out in the country, but after a very short time decided enough was enough. I never really enjoyed watching the videos afterward; I'd rather just go riding. I considered using it as a dashcam but after a year or so of use it has been sitting unused in my car's glove box. I'm sure glad I didn't spend the $300. Maybe someday if I buy a wingsuit and jump off steep mountains, or take up surfing, a small quality video camera will be useful, but for now I can live without it.

 

[Pat-inCO]

The single most important item is to use class 10 SD cards
(Also known as SC-I). The class 4 will work, but not properly.

You can find them at Amazon for less than the class 4 sold
for just a few years ago. I'll bet that's because there are so
many people using them. :shock:

The GoPro is one of the items that is best learned by bumping
the head on trees, walls, etc. That way you pick up the
techniques that will work best for you.

 

[Pat-inCO]

I THOUGHT I could use mine outside the housing as a dash cam & added an external power source. So far, nada! ..... My plan is to buy a dedicated dash camera sometime this summer.

If/when you do, be sure you get one that has a save function that is impact
actuated. The camera will reuse the SD card space once it runs out, UNLESS
it is set up to automatically save the minute before an impact to several
minutes after. Having that, if you are involved in a collision, you have
audio and video history of what happened, including the impact forces.

When I got mine, it had/has that and I got it by accident (didn't realize the
importance, until I had it). Some times it pays to be lucky.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Karl, I don't have one but always wanted one for videoing hobby stuff (shooting, fishing, model airplanes, etc.).

btw, you might want to lock your Photobucket album.

 

[blume357]

True story... few years back was out with some friends for an evening meal while out of town.. We went to a sports bar... one of those places with a zillion flat screen TV's on the wall with different programs it seems on each one...
The TV across from me was showing a program who's title was dumb things people (guys) do on wheels... and for 20 minutes I sort of watched guys on skate boards, bicycles, motor cycles, cars... trucks... etc do different stupid things....
then a commercial came on.... for a Go-Pro camera... I thought that was really smart marketing until the next commercial came on which beat the Go-Pro add hands down... this was for a herbal supplement that would increase your testosterone level.... you can't make this stuff up.

I think what goes with the go pro is a helmet and a good life insurance policy.

 

[Don Lovel]

if these had a good zoom on them I would have already gotten one but they are fixed lens. Still, I would love to be able to play with one. I love the armor and control setup on it
http://www.amazon.com/Ricoh-WG-M1-Action-Camera-Orange/dp/B00Q7W8J4O/ref=sr_1_17?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1426438181&sr=1-17&keywords=ricoh+waterproof+camera

oops, I stand corrected, this thing does have a zoom but not sure how good it is. I would love to handle one in person before I drop money on it. I have handled Go Pro in the outfitter store in Alamosa, cool little units but accessories kinda pricey.
I just found a deal on the Ricoh that includes a bundle of accessories for $170

 

[Number9]

Many motorcycle guys use them on the Dragon...
they seem to hold-up and we get some good video from the one's
who discover.. the Dragon never sleeps! :shock:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0aXvGLO1nE

 

[SamV]

My son has one and has taken a bunch of cool videos. He has used it rapelling and sailing. He made one showing his fellow Scouts how to capsize and then recover a canoe. He has used it on his bicycle trips and even on skateboards. The quality is very good.
I call it the accident recorder for the ems crew that will be coming.

 

[Pat-inCO]

I call it the accident recorder for the ems crew that will be coming.

The truth can be so funny.

 

[powder smoke]

My friend has one on an AR he uses for coyotes got some nice kill shots. ps

 

[Pierow]

In case anyone is looking for a less expensive alternative Polaroid makes what they call the cube. I was going to buy all my nieces GoPro camera's this past Christmas until I walked in the store and saw the cheapest was $299.00 or something close to it. Times four nieces made me look elsewhere.

The cube was $99.00 and though I am sure it doesn't have as many bells and whistles as the GoPro, the girls seem to like them.

Pierow

 

[Don Lovel]

My Ricoh WG-M1 arrived today
photobucket not cooperating today bug here is the factory listing on it
http://us.ricoh-imaging.com/digital-camera/WG-M1_Orange

mine is black instead of orange and came with a tripod and other goodies in a bundle buy from BuyDig.com. $164 delivered
only complaint is that the 16gb Sony class 10 memory chip for it is not being recognized by the camera so I will have to contact the seller for another one, but the camera has 100mb onboard internal memory
I was able to get my Kyocera Brigadier phone to operate the remote control and view finder with Bluetooth, that means I can use it for a game camera and hidden security camera here at the house.
Movie quality on these is excellent. Waterproof to 32 feet, comes with an underwater lens and the fisheye stock lens that you control the wide angle amount of in the digital controls.
I just watched some user group videos of a guy crashing his motorcycle on the Dragon with one of these on his helmet, pretty good video quality of him tumbling down through the woods

 

[Don Lovel]

finally got photobucket to work

 

[Don Lovel]

 

[Pal Val]

My pal Gabe bought one some time ago. He and his wife fill all their outdoors "adventures". Now, going to his apartment means sitting through an endless TV show of all their activities. It reminds me of when I was a kid and my uncle Juan bought a "Carousel" slide projector. I hated sitting though his endless slide shows.

"What goes around, comes around."

 

[Don Lovel]

I did a little music video with the Ricoh and my Epiphone Masterbuilt Cedar top acoustic

 

[FlyerTom]

Howdy: I received a GoPro Hero 3+ silver for my perfect attendance at work.
Karl

I'd take a couple days off work to learn how to use it.

 

[737tdi]

Hah! I won't do that but I will take some time while I am off work.

Karl

 

[7p's]

I've just watched the finest video I've ever seen relative to big bears and I've seen a few over the years. This video was shot from a quad-copter and the Go-Pro. You can do wonders with that camera and a little imagination on your part.

 

[Mobuck]

My old hunting buddy found a Go-Pro lying in the gravel road at a stop sign last fall. He didn't recognize the dude in the video stored on the cam and didn't get a response to his "due diligence" ad in the local news rag so he got an early Christmas.
He tried to record a couple of his bow hunts but said the video was not worthwhile. Guess watching a tiny fuzzy object(deer) in the vague distance wasn't too fulfilling. Either he doesn't understand the workings or the cam isn't meant for such use.

 

[Cracker-American]

Might explain why the camera was found in the road.

 

[Colonialgirl]

Hey Karl;
You can always use it when you have to fly into Cuba to repair one of the SWA 737's that has a problem there.

 

[redhawker]

My old hunting buddy found a Go-Pro lying in the gravel road at a stop sign last fall. He didn't recognize the dude in the video stored on the cam and didn't get a response to his "due diligence" ad in the local news rag so he got an early Christmas.
He tried to record a couple of his bow hunts but said the video was not worthwhile. Guess watching a tiny fuzzy object(deer) in the vague distance wasn't too fulfilling. Either he doesn't understand the workings or the cam isn't meant for such use.

The problem with using a Go-Pro for something like this is that they are a wide angle lens camera. The field of view is about 170 degrees which is very close to the human field of view which is nearly 180 degrees. This is why a Go-Pro is such a great camera for recording sports activity as you see on the video about what you'd see if you were there. The problem is that if you're trying to take video of things at a distance, like the deer mentioned above, or worse, if you're a duck or dove hunter, you won't be able to see much of your "target" as it will be very small in the wide angle lens. It's great for sporting events, like mountain biking for example because the far away stuff get big fast as you ride towards it but a passing duck at 40 yards looks like a little speck on the screen. As a camera lens gets more magnification the field of view shrinks. A 300 mm lens will bring you nice and close to things but only has about a 9 degree field of view. A standard 50 mm lens (which is the "stock" foal length of the lens that comes on most SLR cameras) is about 40 degrees.