Go Pro explained in "laymans" terms .... """PLEASE""""

Submitted: Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 22:14
ThreadID: 95784 Views:2405 Replies:9 FollowUps:7
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Hi all,
I am going to buy one of the "Go Pro" cameras and i have read the few threads on them so i know they are good but i need your, the actual users, opinion on them and also what one do i buy, i am NOT after the cheapest but dont want the model that dont suit me, i will be using it on some of our trips around here and some of you know what i get up to and will know what i need to buy, i would really love to be able to be given a complete shopping list so i get all i need and not have to come back later to buy more bits...
From what i have read about there are available the following types, can anyone tell me what will suit me best ....... as i speak some chicky is swimming past me on the right with one of them on (ad on the page, not actually here haha)

HD HERO2 Professional .....................
>HD HERO2: Outdoor Edition
>HD HERO2: Motorsports Edition
>HD HERO2: Surf Edition

HD HERO Original ..........................
>HD Helmet HERO
>HD Motorsports HERO
>HD Surf HERO
>HD HERO Naked
>HD HERO 960

Cheeers and thanks in advance..
Joe n Mel n kids

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Reply By: GrumpyOldFart - Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 22:52

Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 22:52
Joe N Mel

I got the Hero2 Motorsports Edition
This one is High Definition capable, does time lapse shots & etc
You can run it in low def and when you edit you can even go as low as mobile phone quality.
It seems to do a few things that the Original and the 960 won't do and it wasn't much dearer.

The Hero2 range has the same camera only the included mounts differ. Motorsports suits us 4wd'ers, the housing is still waterproof.

Since I got it I have added the bike seat mount kit (attach to quad bike), Skeleton housing (for 4wd windscreen mounting so I can charge from lighter), and the grab bag of mount bits (great for getting the camera pointing where you want).
I am watching for the WiFi back to be available, sounds interesting.

The Motorsport edition gives you the roll bar mount that fits perfectly on a bull bar tube. I put a wrist strap off an old torch on to my GoPro case then loop that around bull bar or quad rack, then if a mount breaks on the corrugations the camera is held by the strap.

They are great to use and you will spent hours editing video!!! I have a Mac so it's a bit easier and then post direct to Facebook or similar.

Try sticking one to the dog's collar for an interesting outlook on your world. They have a wide angle view that is not over the top. I had ours aimed at us shooting over the car bonnet and the targets 50M away and near 90degrees to the right are clear and sharp, you can see the bursts as the bullets hit the bottles.

Just get one you won't regret it

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Follow Up By: GrumpyOldFart - Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 23:01

Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 23:01
Forgot to mention
the suction cup mount is fantastic.
Lets you stick your GoPro on any smooth surface pointed in almost any direction. Inside of windscreen, bonnet, bald head, etc. You can even pop some dents out with the mount it's that strong.
We had a film crew up here a while ago filming remote area truckers. They had GoPros stuck in lots of places on the trucks. Drivers outside mirror pointing at driver. back door of pan tech filming behind, top of mudguard pointing forewords and inside the cab covering driver and out front. All on and running! all with suction mounts and they said 1700km of corrugations and mud and rain and not one fell off.
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Follow Up By: Member - Joe n Mel n kids (FNQ - Monday, May 28, 2012 at 12:49

Monday, May 28, 2012 at 12:49
Hi again,
Just a few questions .......
How long does it record for if say it is a 32g card and i turn on video and drive, do i need 2 cards or more and do i need spare batterys ...............
Does it charge via USB, if so that is good

List of what i "want" .........
Go Pro Outdoor .... (for the straps mainly)
Grab Bag of Mounts
Suction Cup Mount
extra battery and charger
LCD back
2 x 32 g cards
Skeleton Housing

Hope i will have all bases covered ..
Cheers and thanks all for replys
Joe
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Follow Up By: Member - Joe n Mel n kids (FNQ - Monday, May 28, 2012 at 18:43

Monday, May 28, 2012 at 18:43
Hey also does it come with any "editing" programs or do i have to get them seperate, i am not good at that stuff, getting there but very slow ..
Cheers
Joe
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Follow Up By: GrumpyOldFart - Tuesday, May 29, 2012 at 08:11

Tuesday, May 29, 2012 at 08:11
Joe
found this on GoPro's web site

AVERAGE RECORDING TIME WITH 32GB SD CARD:
1080p30: 4 hours
960p30: 6 hours
720p60: 4 hours
720p30: 6 hours
WVGA 120: 4.5 hours

With the skeleton housing you can charge from ciggy lighter with USB adaptor so no need for second battery.

Don't know if you've had a look here GoPro, some good info if you haven't.

I use iMovie on my Mac for editing, came with it free!
Windows has something similar but I have not used it, so can't comment. You can get more advanced video editing programs at more $$$ but wait till you outgrow the free ones.

Hope I have covered all your questions, any more just ask. I'll do my best to confuse you.

Dru
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Reply By: Member - Toyocrusa (NSW) - Friday, May 25, 2012 at 06:34

Friday, May 25, 2012 at 06:34
Hi Joe. Same as Grumpy, I bought the Hero2 Motorsports Edition and have found it takes some fantastic photography. I also bought the extra battery and charger which are good when you don't have access to power redily. I have found it a bit awkward to mount on the inside of a vehicle windscreen because of the mount configuration so the "skeleton" thing Grumpy talks about may be the answer to that. I am also yet to learn how to put a timelapse film into a watchable sequence but that may be just me being technoligy backwards. They can definately be mounted into a variety of places. Cheers,Bob.

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Reply By: Member - Lisa M (NSW) - Friday, May 25, 2012 at 11:36

Friday, May 25, 2012 at 11:36
Ours just arrived yesterday - for upcoming trip to Cape York - we got the motorsport kit (the camera is the same in all the kits, just the mounts differ) which came with waterproof housing, assortment of adhesive mounts, the suction mount, cables etc. We also got an extra battery, and a rollbar mount to put it on the roofrack. I haven't tested it out yet - love the idea of putting it on the dog, and the tip of putting a strap of some sort as an extra safety is a great idea.


We got it from Camerastore.com.au who are in south australia - ordered Wednesday, arrived Thursday (we are in central west NSW)



Its tiny and light, and I think we will use it heaps - now just need to learn all the editing etc.

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Reply By: 62woollybugger - Friday, May 25, 2012 at 15:52

Friday, May 25, 2012 at 15:52
I also recently got the motorsports addition. The other accessories I got were a spare battery & the LCD back. The standard camera has no viewfinder, so you just have to guestimate where you are aiming. I set up the camera position & then turn off the LCD screen to save battery power. You can also use it to play back the video you have shot, without the need to connect it to a computer.
AnswerID: 486767

Reply By: Member - Joe n Mel n kids (FNQ - Friday, May 25, 2012 at 23:28

Friday, May 25, 2012 at 23:28
hey many thanks for the replys all, will get back to all soon as the weekend is turning out to be a tab busy, sooo want one now eh .... and ta "Grumpy" will talk soon.
.
.
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Reply By: setsujoku - Monday, Jun 11, 2012 at 16:04

Monday, Jun 11, 2012 at 16:04
If you aren't completely set on the GoPro then also check out the contour. I recently got one myself and am really impressed by it, and as a bit of an extra it also has a GPSr built in as well so that you can track the location as you watch through the video.

If you go down this path though, I wouldn't get the car charger from them though as all it is is a 12v USB charger that you can get for a couple of $ from most car electronics places, etc.

Quality of the video is great though and you can also have two pre-configured settings on the camera and switch between them on the fly. It's a nice easy camera to operate as well. One button on the back to turn on, and then just slide the top piece forward to start recording.
There are plenty of mounting options for them, and like the GoPro the window mount is super strong and didn't budge at all in the 3 weeks I've had it mounted and that included a lot of corrugated dirt roads through the NT!
AnswerID: 488184

Reply By: PJR (NSW) - Monday, Jun 11, 2012 at 22:23

Monday, Jun 11, 2012 at 22:23
I have just been scanning youtube looking at some of the videos from the Gopro. Excellent but I wonder if they have been "enhanced" is given the photoshop treatment.

With this in mind it would be very helpful if someone here from exploroz would tell us where we could find one of theirs. One that hasn't had the "treatment". Edited and spliced is fine but to enhance the colour etc no thanks. I want to get an idea what mine would look like if I purchased one. All I can do is edit, add text or sound. So if anyone can give me a link it would be great.

I am not a member so I will respond with an email address if so desired.

It's a bunch of money to spend without knowing safely what you get.

Thanks
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Follow Up By: GrumpyOldFart - Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 at 07:39

Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 at 07:39
PJR
the clips on GoPro's website have not been "enhanced" only cut, spliced, etc.

I have a Canon Powershot SX40HS and for mobile video my GoPro HD gives a far better video. Sharper depth, bigger view, don't know how to explain but yes it does look enhanced!

Don't know how in a camera that is a 10th of the size of my Canon using the same SD card.

Just uploading a couple of clips to Vimeo to post in a blog here. Will come back with a blog link soon.

Dru

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Reply By: PJR (NSW) - Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 at 09:32

Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 at 09:32
Thanks Dru.

I have a cheap one from China at the moment. But I am sure that we can do better. Only paid around $80 for it.

Link:
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Reply By: GrumpyOldFart - Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 at 20:02

Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 at 20:02

Mmmm, I can embed a video on a post as well! Things you find out. Here is my bad attempt at showing what a GoPro HD can do. All I used to edit was Apple's iMovie, only snips and fades etc, no enhancements.

So I didn't have to create a blog. First is our GoPro HD camera stuck on the outside of the car screen with the lens about 500mm from my daughter. The range mound in the RH distance is 50meters away. Both extremities are clear and sharp.

Second is a quad bike outing with the GoPro HD mounted on my quads front rack. Again depth of view and clarity is amazing, especially from such a small camera.
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Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile

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Follow Up By: Member - Joe n Mel n kids (FNQ - Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 at 20:45

Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 at 20:45
Mine has turned up..... at last and i can vouch it is clear as a bell, it has got me beat as it is so small, light and i will go as far to say it even looks a bit "cheap" but when you start to use it it is perfect in that it is simple to operate yet complex if you want it to be ............
And what was the first thing i did .... strapped it to the dog hahahaha
I cant say i have used any others other than the "normal" video cameras but these little things are in there own world, all i have to do is work out how to edit, load ect...
Cheers
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Follow Up By: GrumpyOldFart - Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 at 20:54

Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 at 20:54
Joe
have fun trying different things.
Keeps an old fart like me amused for days.

A few days ago GoPro let me know the WiFi back was available so I ordered one!
Will be able to control camera from iPad or iPhone!!! Bloody brilliant

Got to get our pet python a bit bigger, then might try "snake cam".

Have fun

Dru

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Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile

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