23 replies to this topic

[Dan]

Given what GoPros are used for the chances of a used one being damaged are quite good. And considering how poor an image they create when healthy and the size of the lens any damage at all will be hard to get around. They cost a fair bit to repair too. They are reasonable cameras when new but don't age that well. Personally I'd avoid a used one. While using one at work last year the card reader in it stopped responding after a minor shunt and we lost the shot. Not good for a supposed crash camera.

[Tamworthbay]

Given what GoPros are used for the chances of a used one being damaged are quite good. And considering how poor an image they create when healthy and the size of the lens any damage at all will be hard to get around. They cost a fair bit to repair too. They are reasonable cameras when new but don't age that well. Personally I'd avoid a used one. While using one at work last year the card reader in it stopped responding after a minor shunt and we lost the shot. Not good for a supposed crash camera.

not sure which ones you have used but our go pros are superb. Footage is brilliant and they are very hard to damage. Ours have been up a glacier, dropped in a hot salt lagoon, repeatedly bounced off the roof of a lava tube (you can hear the repeated thuds, barely even a mark on the case), slid down the main straight at Goodwood and suffered teenagers going 'what does this button do?'. They are both still perfect. They aren't designed to be used 'naked' and if you were ever to damage a case (unlikely) they are cheap enough to replace. We have had the films on a large screen (size of small cinema screen) with no noticeable loss of clarity.

[Dan]

The thing is most days I work with this:
 image.jpg   45.04K   2 downloads
Or this:
 image.jpg   30.88K   2 downloads

Anyone who works with movie cameras can pick GoPro footage out a mile off. They market them as full HD but they aren't, not to the full colour and exposure latitude standard. The images are very flat, it's about more than pixels. Some shows I work on make us use them to save money on crash cameras, but the footage doesn't cut in well and you have to be very selective about where you put them. In fact for professional crash camera mounting of a GoPro I fix them (case and all) inside a solid ally cage which costs more than the camera. As soon as the polycarbonate case gets squeezed and twists, the latch fails and the door opens. The cage stops that. I still wouldn't drop a car on one, but I've done that with much more complex cine film cameras and never lost one. Digital cameras tend to get image break up at the point of impact, film cameras don't. And framing with GoPros is horrible, even with the WiFi viewfinder. The one I was using that broke so badly was modified (by a proper company) with better software and lens mount to make it more movie friendly, but it was the card slot that failed rather than anything that had been played with. It's a shame because getting the shot (on-board footage from a model train) with a regular camera was too complex for our schedule, although it can be done. I know most people don't need a camera to be that good, and for most people these are great, but that's what I said at the start. The camera you need depends on what the footage is for.

Edited by Dan, 13 April 2014 - 11:55 PM.

[Tamworthbay]

The thing is most days I work with this:
image.jpg
Or this:
image.jpg
Anyone who works with movie cameras can pick GoPro footage out a mile off. They market them as full HD but they aren't, not to the full colour and exposure latitude standard. The images are very flat, it's about more than pixels. Some shows I work on make us use them to save money on crash cameras, but the footage doesn't cut in well and you have to be very selective about where you put them. In fact for professional crash camera mounting of a GoPro I fix them (case and all) inside a solid ally cage which costs more than the camera. As soon as the polycarbonate case gets squeezed and twists, the latch fails and the door opens. The cage stops that. I still wouldn't drop a car on one, but I've done that with much more complex cine film cameras and never lost one. Digital cameras tend to get image break up at the point of impact, film cameras don't. And framing with GoPros is horrible, even with the WiFi viewfinder. The one I was using that broke so badly was modified (by a proper company) with better software and lens mount to make it more movie friendly, but it was the card slot that failed rather than anything that had been played with. It's a shame because getting the shot (on-board footage from a model train) with a regular camera was too complex for our schedule, although it can be done. I know most people don't need a camera to be that good, and for most people these are great, but that's what I said at the start. The camera you need depends on what the footage is for.

but you can't compare something that costs a few grand with something that costs a couple of hundred! Its like saying a ford focus is rubbish because it's not as comfortable as a DB7. Horses for courses. And try to mount one of those cameras on a mini windscreen and it would fall out

[minimaxie]

I got a Veho Muvi HD7 off Amazon a few years back for something like £88 quid! Comes with a tonne of mounts and straps (some you will never ever use) plus a remote so you can record without even getting out the car! They're tiny things too, only problem is they record with a fish eye lens and the clarity isn't Go Pro quality but does the job brilliantly IMO. I bought a waterproof case made for mine too, took it on holiday and went diving with it. Recorded beautifully!

 

They have the HD10 out now which claims to record in 1080p (doubt it) but still far cheaper than a Go Pro (even a second hand one)

http://www.amazon.co...l/dp/B004AP9FSE

[Mini 360]

USed GoPro from eBay......

[Dan]

And try to mount one of those cameras on a mini windscreen and it would fall out

Not if I did it! . But I wasn't saying it was rubbish anyway, just that it would be easy for an abused one to become rubbish.

Edited by Dan, 14 April 2014 - 05:34 PM.

[mini93]

I have a Gopro, I rate them reasonably, but a lot is going to be getting used to the camera and finding what style of filming suits what im wanting it for. Like I used my gp snowboarding this year, whilst the quality was good, apparently im more concentrating on where im going than what im pointing the camera at, ha! as such its not the best footage.

 

Toshiba have brought out their responce to go-pros camera, WhiteLines seems to rate them ok. but I havent seen much talk of them as yet. It might however push Gopro to be more competative with their price seeing as the Toshiba is considerably cheaper. If im looking at getting a 2nd camera (ya know, for different angles!) Id strongly consider the Toshiba

 

http://whitelines.co...-the-gopro.html

[Tamworthbay]

And try to mount one of those cameras on a mini windscreen and it would fall out

Not if I did it! . But I wasn't saying it was rubbish anyway, just that it would be easy for an abused one to become rubbish.

can't wait for pics of the head mount