3:36 am
Club Member
January 20, 2009
Offline
Now that we have a little one we are thinking of getting an HD video camera. One thought was to get an action camera (GoPro, Sports-Vue, Contour, Drift) and use it for both home videos and off-road action videos.
Would this be a good idea? Anyone have any of the action cameras? Thoughts/ideas?
Thanks.
4:06 am
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline I know several people who own the go pro. It seems good. A32 gb card is about six hrs of recording. The batteries last about two hrs each so you need two.
4:14 am
I've got experience with the traditional video camera when our little ones had (invaded) born and now a GoPro Hero. For the price....any of the action cameras are my vote. Biggest factor being transfer of data using flash disk. Some brands, like Sony, use own type of memory cards and software...just a pain in the booty.
There are all kinds of accessories for the action cameras out there. My dad picked up the Contour recently, but can't report on experience as of yet. I'm happy with my Hero. Used it on my recent motorcycle trip. Mounted to my helmet and 70+ mph not a problem with the stills or videos. These action cameras have lots of features packed into the small resilient packages. I can take 3 stills in a second, take a still every x seconds, HD video in various formats, timer shots, etc. LCD backpack and wireless control accessories are now available.
4:25 am
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline "Wh1t3Nukle" wrote: I've got experience with the traditional video camera when our little ones had (invaded) born and now a GoPro Hero. For the price....any of the action cameras are my vote. Biggest factor being transfer of data using flash disk. Some brands, like Sony, use own type of memory cards and software...just a pain in the booty.
There are all kinds of accessories for the action cameras out there. My dad picked up the Contour recently, but can't report on experience as of yet. I'm happy with my Hero. Used it on my recent motorcycle trip. Mounted to my helmet and 70+ mph not a problem with the stills or videos. These action cameras have lots of features packed into the small resilient packages. I can take 3 stills in a second, take a still every x seconds, HD video in various formats, timer shots, etc. LCD backpack and wireless control accessories are now available.
Hey Carl. What is the price range for your model? How much are spare batteries?
5:05 am
Club Member
September 3, 2008
Offline I believe the hero hd runs about $300. I plan to pick one up soon.
Um...what?
6:11 am
September 25, 2011
Offline
i have a Go-Pro and a Sony video camera picked up this spring. In my opinion it all depends on what you are going to use it for.
As far as picture quality goes the Sony wins hands down. As far as functionality the Sony wins with greater zoon, surround sounds, different recording modes and the ability to take 20mp stills when not recording in true 1080p. Now I wouldn't want to strap the Sony to my hood and drive down a road that is what the GoPro is for. The GoPro is a great camera for mounting and recording the action, but it doesn't work as well as a true video camera. Meaning if you get out of the video and try to use the GoPro to record someone going over an obstacle it won't work very well. The GoPro doesn't have any zoom capabilities, depending upon which case it is in (waterproof vs not) you may or may not get any sound. Additionally, unless you buy the screen accessory you can't tell what the GoPro is actually recording and it tends to round the edges of what you are viewing.
I love both cameras they just have different purposes. I wouldn't use a GoPro to film my son's Football Game. I wouldn't Strap the Sony to my Hood on a trail. If you have seen my YouTube videos from MOAB this year they were shot with the Sony. You can watch them in full High Def off the YouTUbe site and picture is amazing.
Lastly, they are both plug and play. Meaning you plug a USB into the computer and everything is transfered over. The Sony is nice because I can use the HDMI cable straight into the TV and not use a PC to see my movies.
I would vote Stand alone Video Camera like my Sony Handycam HDR-CX580.
Huck
2:48 pm
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline "huck271" wrote: i have a Go-Pro and a Sony video camera picked up this spring. In my opinion it all depends on what you are going to use it for.
As far as picture quality goes the Sony wins hands down. As far as functionality the Sony wins with greater zoon, surround sounds, different recording modes and the ability to take 20mp stills when not recording in true 1080p. Now I wouldn't want to strap the Sony to my hood and drive down a road that is what the GoPro is for. The GoPro is a great camera for mounting and recording the action, but it doesn't work as well as a true video camera. Meaning if you get out of the video and try to use the GoPro to record someone going over an obstacle it won't work very well. The GoPro doesn't have any zoom capabilities, depending upon which case it is in (waterproof vs not) you may or may not get any sound. Additionally, unless you buy the screen accessory you can't tell what the GoPro is actually recording and it tends to round the edges of what you are viewing.
I love both cameras they just have different purposes. I wouldn't use a GoPro to film my son's Football Game. I wouldn't Strap the Sony to my Hood on a trail. If you have seen my YouTube videos from MOAB this year they were shot with the Sony. You can watch them in full High Def off the YouTUbe site and picture is amazing.
Lastly, they are both plug and play. Meaning you plug a USB into the computer and everything is transfered over. The Sony is nice because I can use the HDMI cable straight into the TV and not use a PC to see my movies.
I would vote Stand alone Video Camera like my Sony Handycam HDR-CX580.
Huck
I just saw that the go pro offers a wireless remote now that allows the user to see the camera's status from the remote. I don't own one but they seem to work fine. I own two HD camcorders for recording trail runs. I'll try them on the next Rubicon trip.
3:05 pm
Club Member
September 3, 2008
Offline Huck brings up good points. The gopro is a rugged camera. But if you YouTube gopro you can see gopro's channel and watch videos made by the gopro.
Um...what?
3:18 pm
I picked up the package called the Naked and Best Buy priced it at $199. I'm sure shopping around, online, can maybe get it cheaper.
Then add what size/type of card for it.
I walked away with about $260 total I think. I've since added the suction cup mount and a tri-pod mount. I used the latter on Strawberry where I then strapped the tri-pod to my Thule rack. Just didn't have much time to figure other mounting options at the time.
Here is Fred being captured with my GoPro. I recorded in 60fps and then rendered it to 30fps. Makes it look smoother. I think it looks great for getting out and capturing a run over an obstacle. I was happy to not bump into someone or tumble over a rock though. 😯
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=5638#p73587
Definitely good points that you have to pic the type of camera that will fit your needs. Yes, I did forget to mention the fish eye and non-zoom capabilities. Those are things to keep in mind. Audio is picked up very well, from what I can tell when swapping out the waterproof back. I'm looking forward to getting the wireless capability. I have not gotten a spare battery...yet. Have not come close to being an issue. I have used 14GB up on the disk from the m/c trip though.
I was able to connect app on my phone to my Dad's Contour. Worked great testing at home. Connect's via bluetooth.
12:36 am
Club Member
January 20, 2009
Offline Thanks for all of the info.
In my research of action cameras there are more brands now than I realized. So far I've come across GoPro, Sports-Vue, Contour, Drift, Swann, Delkin, CamOne, Replay, VIO, Veho, Gobandit, Epic, ION, and I'm sure there are others. Some features I've seen in some cameras are zoom, gps, dual SD cards, waterproof without extra case. My research continues... 😯
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