Gopro sailing camera

[kito]

I got to admit, I was going to buy a GoPro Hero 3 Black this week myself. That was before I checked out the Sony action camera head to head comparison with Gopro on Youtube. Color, sharpness,image quality and stabilization the Sony wins hands down....plus cheaper. Only thing Gopro is better is underwater images and advertising. Tons of videos out there. Don't just hop on the Gopro bandwagon until you shop around....just saying.

 

[Delezynski]

I got to admit, I was going to buy a GoPro Hero 3 Black this week myself. That was before I checked out the Sony action camera head to head comparison with Gopro on Youtube. Color, sharpness,image quality and stabilization the Sony wins hands down....plus cheaper. Only thing Gopro is better is underwater images and advertising. Tons of videos out there. Don't just hop on the Gopro bandwagon until you shop around....just saying.

Waiting to purchase a camera myself. I keep going back and forth between the GoPro and the Sony 30. The drawback with the Sony is I hear it can overheat and shut down in tropical heat when in it's waterproof case. But, it also has a GPS in it for recording where the shots were taken.

I expect we will see new models early next year, with a price drop on what's out there now.

Greg

 

[Deadhead]

Not Quite a Bed of Roses

I do love the Go Pro Hero3 Black I bought last spring. The video quality is great. But there were a couple of snafus though.

First - out of the box you need to install a firmware update. This update does not work with windows xp. The Go Pro tech guys said easy - just install it from a windows 7 machine. Well, I don't have a windows 7 computer in my back pocket.

Second - I bought 64 gig micro sd card. For some reason, and the Go Pro tech guys could not tell me why, the 64 micro SD does not work seamlessly with a 64 gig iPad. I had to buy an adapter for the micro SD card, copy the files to my xp machine once I finally found a windows 7 machine to update the firmware, then use iTunes to get the files onto the iPad.

And I still haven't figured out how to edit them using iMovie.

To be honest, I spent at least 5 hours on the phone with the support guys the week I bought the camera. I was taught to curse by an old Italian farmer that I worked for in high school, and I used every phrase the guy taught those nights on the phone with Go Pro, but I had warned the kids up front that I am a guy who curses so that makes it ok, right?)

Anyway, the support guys are American kids who are very easy to work with, and now they now how to use invective like a sailor . . .

DH

 

[fstbttms]

So your problem with the GoPro is that it doesn't work seamlessly with your outdated technology?

 

[Meriachee]

There's a new GoPro accessory, it looks like a big "chip clip" and has a bendy pole thing. It's great for mounting the GoPro to a rail or stanchion. I'm making a ball bearing attachment to keep the camera level to the horizon.

The thing I don't like about the GoPro is that "you get what you get". there's limited aperture, zoom, etc. It's pretty much a point and shoot solution, and sometimes it's too wide a field of view. (but that's probably being too finicky, are we sailing or filming?)

 

[Chris Patterson]

Well, if you're using this thing, you're filming.

 

[Meriachee]

Well, if you're using this thing, you're filming.

I am looking forward to having one on the rail and the other that Santa brought, up the mast.

 

[Navicula]

great info here..........I just bought one myself and the wifi is really neat...however I am having trouble with the video editing....what are you guys using to edit your video.......
I am using the gopro 2.0 software....but my files are huge.....there to big to email

 

[Meriachee]

great info here..........I just bought one myself and the wifi is really neat...however I am having trouble with the video editing....what are you guys using to edit your video.......
I am using the gopro 2.0 software....but my files are huge.....there to big to email

Being a Mac house, we use iMovie. It's small, fast, and allows decent cut and paste. It will not deal with the native format that the GoPro outputs, so the files need to be converted first. The files will almost always be too big to email. That's why we have YouTube. Email the link.

 

[Ted]

GoPro camera mount

Jackdaw: Was the video that you posted of the Kestrel Raceweek 2013 shot using a HorizonTrue stabilizing mount? I was surprised that the images were so unstable. I know that the conditions were a bit "sporty" but it looks like the stabilizing mount actually made the video more active than the conditions justified. Which model did you use? Some of those HorizonTrue mounts cost more than the camera.

 

[Deadhead]

So your problem with the GoPro is that it doesn't work seamlessly with your outdated technology?

Actually the iPad is the latest version 64 gig w/ 4G & wifi.

 

[fstbttms]

Do you own yesterdays computer? A LOT of people still do, why not. Will the camera work with it? No? It's worthless.

Using your logic, every piece of technology should work with every other piece of technology, regardless of how old and archaeic it may be. Windows XP has been superseded by new OSs twice since it was first released twelve years ago (an eternity in the world of electronics.) Just how long is GoPro supposed to support obsolete software?

 

[finding41]

I'm testing one of these. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Waterproof-...rofessional_Video_Cameras&hash=item3f2b14eb9c
I got mine for $39. We took it tobogganing yesterday. I'll get a video up when I can. The quality seems good.
I had one in the summer attached to the aft of the boat via suction cup mount... Had one. (Must remember to tether if I use the suction cup!) It's with the fishes.

 

[sinnettc]

I've had a GoPro Hero HD for several years and it works great. I stuck one of the snap release helmet mounts on my boom and I have a handlebar mount that I've used on the rail. I've also been known to use the head-strap mount, though it looks a bit . . . weird. I've got a Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) mount ready to try out on a good windy day next summer.

https://vimeo.com/album/1598718

It also works really well on my landsailor. Not that we've had any wind lately.

https://vimeo.com/album/2372604

 

[Jackdaw]

Jackdaw: Was the video that you posted of the Kestrel Raceweek 2013 shot using a HorizonTrue stabilizing mount? I was surprised that the images were so unstable. I know that the conditions were a bit "sporty" but it looks like the stabilizing mount actually made the video more active than the conditions justified. Which model did you use? Some of those HorizonTrue mounts cost more than the camera.

It was. We were heading upwind at 7.5 knots into 12 knots and chop. It's was pretty hairy. The HorizonTrue units have adjustable dampening based on the weight of the unit, as they can handle much larger units. We play with that all the time.

The guy who makes them sails at our club, so he often comes to adjust it.

 

[koolfrog]

Using your logic, every piece of technology should work with every other piece of technology, regardless of how old and archaeic it may be. Windows XP has been superseded by new OSs twice since it was first released twelve years ago (an eternity in the world of electronics.) Just how long is GoPro supposed to support obsolete software?

My 2011 NIKON digital camera accept the lenses that I still have from my 1964 NIKON Photomic !!!! Foresight ,state of the art engineering and refusal of the (unfortunately) accepted concept of planned obsolescence makes this company one of the best ever !!!

 

[Crackaloon]

I bought a Hero3 Black early this year, THEN they came out with the Hero3+ which ticked me off. That being said, I took some great shots at the beach and out sailing last summer. I was digging in the closet and found one of my old tripods with a tie-down on the bottom, and my monopod for next summer. This past summer I just tethered it to me, but it did get in the way at the winches.

 

[Chris Patterson]

I mean....yeah, that's what I was saying in my usual caustic way, plus some. I have nothing against these toys, could not care less. If I stumbled across one in a store and thought it was fun, throw a few bucks at it and call it entertainment, and when it inevitably frustrated me, ALL electronic junky things eventually do, I give it, or throw it away. I call it the deliberate manufacture of your own misery. And even got to pay three hundred bucks for it. Maybe I missed it, but I've not read yet anyone say, 'It was affordable, easy to use, the images are great zero complaint, stable, convenient, whatever'. The common denominator appears yesterdays technology at tomorrows prices. Computers, phones, digital cameras, hell, I'll bet they've got the hero3+++ already built, stockpiled, and the planned obsolescence already done.
Seriously, I don't KNOW how many computers and phones I've 86'd just because they got stupid. Some brand new ones. I threw a phone so hard a couple of years ago, despite a very protracted effort by the neighbors, (I didn't want it, I think it kind of turned into some kind of weird Easter-egg hunt or something. Pharmaceuticals, uggh), it never turned up. I figured it flamed out on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. See? Even sorry heat shields.
Anyway, it ain't worth the time folks. If it frustrates you, stomp it. It is immediate gratification; and will harm no one ever again.
I wonder......if a man were dying, and absolutely knew when that time was coming, lets just say it were very soon, maybe minutes, or one hour. I'll contend that Bill Gates, Donald Trumpy, and the King of Siam would give every last cent for another minute on this sorry ol' rock.
But wasted those minutes jerking your hair out, and a great wailing and gnashing of teeth over a chinese camera.

Just a thought. A strange one albeit, but a thought..

 

[Crackaloon]

I bought my 8yr old a Nikon coolpix30 waterproof camera. I'd like to say it's just a kid friendly camera (modern day electronic age kid), but the controls are just exactly what most people use. I wouldn't put it underwater on purpose, but I'm not afraid of a splash. It was clearanced at Walmart. The thing takes good pictures and decent movies.

 

[RECESS]

I drop my Gopro to the bottom when fishing to see what the bottom looks like. I have also been working on a kite mount so it will trail the sail boat and film it.