Gopro-Pros and Cons

[briancray]

so far i haven't heard any good arguments against the 5, i kinda like the built in case personally.



yes, the audio on these cameras will always be shitty. i recommend getting an external mic like this:


also, the battery life is about an hour per battery, that's what i get when filming 1080p and using the wifi (gopro app on my phone). i use the smatree batteries here:


it's under $20, so i bought another set of two, so the total was around $35 and i now have 6 gopro batteries, which is plenty enough to shoot video all day long.

Do you recommend any kind of mounts? I have a Hero 4 Black and really enjoy it. I just need to buy a Mic, more batteries and a mount of some kind, once I start work shortly. Thanks for the links though. I'm gonna refer back to this when I have an address.

This is a similar question you might know, is there anyway to disable the fisheye? Sometimes its cool but other times it would be nice to just take a normal picture.

 

[duderino]

My purpose is just to document my trip with something reliable. I'm not trying to make professional videos for youtube or anything like that. I also want to play around with editing video again, as it's something I used to enjoy and haven't done in a while. I actually have a certificate in studio production, but it's been over 6 years since I completed the course, and I haven't done shit with it. I barely edit photos anymore and no longer have any of the fancy programs I used to have. Anyways, I just got an older laptop to take with me. It's a Dell Latitude 2120, and I will be using it to edit with. I already put gimp on there to edit pictures, and as I understand most gopros come with video editing software. Would ya'all recommend carrying a second camera for stills, or are the stills decent with the gopro? My phone has a decent camera, but the lack of a zoom bothers me for some reason.

 

[duderino]

I own a $50 (yes, $50, with extra accessories) that i'm quite happy with

What is the name of the camera?

 

[briancray]

My purpose is just to document my trip with something reliable. I'm not trying to make professional videos for youtube or anything like that. I also want to play around with editing video again, as it's something I used to enjoy and haven't done in a while. I actually have a certificate in studio production, but it's been over 6 years since I completed the course, and I haven't done shit with it. I barely edit photos anymore and no longer have any of the fancy programs I used to have. Anyways, I just got an older laptop to take with me. It's a Dell Latitude 2120, and I will be using it to edit with. I already put gimp on there to edit pictures, and as I understand most gopros come with video editing software. Would ya'all recommend carrying a second camera for stills, or are the stills decent with the gopro? My phone has a decent camera, but the lack of a zoom bothers me for some reason.

I will be posting a huge thread on StP shortly with pictures of my recent travels train hopping so you can see stills from it there. The stills are good for action shots, but anything far off in the distance they are not since you cannot zoom. I like the GoPro because it's small, compact and easy to conceal, HD photos, good action shots. I might use another device to capture audio for documentary purposes. QuikCapture is editing software through Go Pro you can use to edit videos while traveling too. But I'm sure you know more about editing than me. I do not have a degree in it.

 

[Matt Derrick]

This is a similar question you might know, is there anyway to disable the fisheye? Sometimes its cool but other times it would be nice to just take a normal picture.

there is a setting in the camera menu to change the fov to wide, super wide, or normal (no fisheye).

Do you recommend any kind of mounts?

i mean, that really depends on what you want to do with it. for handheld, i use this bracket:


with the mic i mentioned before, and the usb to 1/8 mic adapter. i also use a custom case for the gopro to mount it more easily to the bracket (optional):

I understand most gopros come with video editing software

forget about the gopro editing studio, it's shit. only good for importing and converting clips. it doesn't really do multitrack editing. i suggest cyberlink powerdirector if you're on an old computer, and adobe premiere if you're on something semi-capable.

What is the name of the camera?

they constantly change the name unfortunately, but it's all the same hardware. mine was the dbpower brand, but it's not on amazon anymore. if you do a search on amazon for sports cameras you'll see a ton of options. just read the reviews or google the name to make sure it's not total garbage.

https://www.amazon.com/s?field-keywords=sports+camera&tag=squattheplan-20

 

[Matt Derrick]

although i did come across one of the SJ4000's on wish yesterday, for silly cheap. it's known to be a decent knockoff. it says 14 but it's $27 with the accessories, which is still a steal.

https://www.wish.com/search/camera#cid=571d7c73029c5d5d1d4610c7

if i had the cash right now, id pick up like 2 more, just to have some extra b-roll cameras lying around.

one thing to note on these cameras is that (with the accessory pack) you only get two batteries, and it's impossible to find extras, so i personally think they make better "b-roll" cameras than main cameras.

 

[Desperado Deluxe]

Mught be a bit off topic. But I've looked into go pros and sporting cams and never liked how expensive vs how few features you get. Kinda been a phone guy nowadays they take pretty good stills decent vid already connects to internet view screen etc. Just thought I'd throw that out there not the most tech savy guy.

 

[duderino]

although i did come across one of the SJ4000's on wish yesterday, for silly cheap. it's known to be a decent knockoff. it says 14 but it's $27 with the accessories, which is still a steal.

https://www.wish.com/search/camera#cid=571d7c73029c5d5d1d4610c7

if i had the cash right now, id pick up like 2 more, just to have some extra b-roll cameras lying around.

one thing to note on these cameras is that (with the accessory pack) you only get two batteries, and it's impossible to find extras, so i personally think they make better "b-roll" cameras than main cameras.

I'm tempted to get this, but it says it won't get here until after I leave. I might grab it anyways and have my folks ship it to me on the road or some shit.

 

[Matt Derrick]

Mught be a bit off topic. But I've looked into go pros and sporting cams and never liked how expensive vs how few features you get. Kinda been a phone guy nowadays they take pretty good stills decent vid already connects to internet view screen etc. Just thought I'd throw that out there not the most tech savy guy.

funny you mention that... i have a LG G4 smartphone, and the main reason i bought it is because it has an excellent camera. almost all the last 6-7 videos on the StP youtube channel were filmed with it, and i do like the simplicity in just being able to bust it out and film something. it's great for video blogging. i've combined it with the rode videomic me so it has pretty great sound as well.

another bonus is that you can pick up this phone used for about $150 on swappa.com, which is my preferred marketplace for buying used cell phones...

 

[Matt Derrick]

oh, and combined with an android video editor, i don't even have to bust out my laptop. the kinemaster app is an amazing multitrack editor. the only crappy part is it's $10/mo, which is ridiculous. you can find cracked versions that remove the watermark pretty easily so you don't have to pay that fee.