what are your likes and dislike on your GOPRO

Im looking at getting the outdoor package with the HD HERO2. Does anyone feel real strongly ( positive or negative ) toward this camera? How user friendly is it? has anyone been caving with this camera?

I just bought one and used it for the first time climbing over the weekend. I didn't have high hopes to begin with but in case you were wondering it's really hard to get any quality video climbing with it on your head. Almost everything I got was unusable because there is so much movement.

I didn't buy it for this purpose so I'm not disappointed in the camera overall. For me I think it will have more use as a general waterproof camera for things like canyoneering/kayaking. I also like the timelapse feature. I think it can still be useful for climbing but it will take some time to learn how to get anything worthwhile.

As far as user friendliness goes I found it pretty easy to use even though it only has two buttons. I'm not sure how well it would do caving because from some initial testing it seemed to not do that great in low light.

Love my GoPro. Very quick learning curve. Very easy to edit pics and video.

I generally set mine to automatically take a pic every 30 or 60 seconds. I find that after a long multi-pitch climb that I've got at least a few keepers.

I would recommend the LCD backpack. I definitely helps to aim the camera correctly. However, it destroys battery life, so I use mine simply to get everything aimed correctly, then I take it off to start shooting.

Never been caving with mine, but it has performed pretty well on some deeper wreck dives. However, I'll probably wind up modifying the curved lens cover for future dives or perhaps adding a filter.

I think the best thing about the GoPro is it durability. You can drop it, bang it into rocks, mount it to your dog, film from inside a pitcher of margarita, whatever. The thing is bulletproof.

Generally speaking they are very user friendly, especially the the hero2 which has better a better (more intuitive) settings menu compared to the original hero. Composing a shot w/o the LCD back screen when the camera is in 170º mode isn't too bad considering the field of view is so wide.

I don't have any experience caving, but I can say that climbing footage from a head mounted gopro (or any camera really) is nauseating and boring. Like some of the other posters said, I didn't buy it for that so it doesn't really bother me.

I dislike how people film themselves via a ski pole on the most groomer of ski days. I dislike how people gopro every single thing they do.

Oh wait...that's probably not what you were asking.

William Rhyne wrote:has anyone been caving with this camera?

I haven't been caving, but I used mine on a sunrise BASE jump and the video didn't really come out. I wouldn't suggest them for low-light situations/activities.

Scott McMahon wrote:I dislike how people gopro every single thing they do.

I saw someone using one while climbing on The Dome yesterday. Kind of amusing.

I would argue that you can make fun little climbing videos with it..but just viewing the footage straight through is pretty boring. It is great for adding b-roll to your latest video however. I shot this a couple of weeks ago and am pretty happy with how it turned out as a solely gopro project.

This is the crossing on the Ancient Art tower outside of Moab, UT. Just realize that you are going to have to edit a lot out in order to get interesting video. Another group using the gopro effectively is the Smileys.

smileysproject.com/Committe…

They use it in a couple of their videos as b-roll. Things like the kingswing are also really fun to watch from a helmet cam.
All in all I really do enjoy mine and would suggest it to anyone who wants a durable small camera.
vimeo.com/42720212

I've used one attached to a pole for climbing videos. I hate the view when its on someones head. The pole turns out pretty good, however it is a wee bit hard to hold dead still.

youtube.com/watch?v=2LNZzL4…

+1 on the time lapse feature. It is a great camera and pretty easy to use. I would recommend buying the $20 upgraded quicktime to edit/compile some of the footage and you can make some pretty good little movies.

I have the original hero and it appears the hero2 is much more user friendly which is good considering the original is still user friendly.

My only complaint is that the sound quality is generally very poor when using the water-proof case, as in almost completely unusable so if sound is important be aware of that or carry some sort of audio recorder.

It won't be great in low-light due to the actual design of the camera. However in my experience with snorkeling in somewhat clear water it turned out better footage then expected. Also it will never handle extreme bright and dark footage very good either, this is just something inherent with the camera which you won't resolve in a camera in this price-range.

Here are a few caving videos I found on youtube:
youtube.com/watch?feature=e…
youtube.com/watch?v=f5Z8Uke…

me and a buddy of mine went up a 4 pitch climb bringing the go-pro along. got back and everytime he hit start and stop it was taking a picture, not recording and stop. then we ended up finding how to work the movie mode. turned out blurry as hell and in a brownish sepia mode WTF. Were prob just electronic illiterate but anyone now how this happens. done it twice now.

This will be on the PMI site soon, but for now you get the PG version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lTIZziUU3IY

So far, the only thing I dislike about the GoPro is that it's lens protecting case can be scratched easily. Especially when one is wearing it on the forehead area.

As soon as it has a small scratch, size of a needle head, there will be a blurry blob in the video. Solution: have the spare lens replacement kit available to swap the scratched lens out.

Bang wrote:So far, the only thing I dislike about the GoPro is that it's lens protecting case can be scratched easily. Especially when one is wearing it on the forehead area. As soon as it has a small scratch, size of a needle head, there will be a blurry blob in the video. Solution: have the spare lens replacement kit available to swap the scratched lens out.

I just learned today how many times I have something come within three inches of the top of my head when I am climbing. I now have all sorts of scratches on my lens cover.

I do like the videos that come out of the gopro, but it seems most applicable to alpine or ice climbing where the setting is cool. I imagine the gopro would be somewhat difficult to use while caving, since I generally smash my helmet pretty hard into something at least once per trip. Caves also tend to be dark and dirty, neither of which will positively contribute to an interesting video.

I bought one because I kept breaking the screens on regular digital cameras.

It has some features. But a lot of the footage is incredibly boring.

vimeo.com/36239423

See, that is exciting for about 15 seconds.

Bang wrote:So far, the only thing I dislike about the GoPro is that it's lens protecting case can be scratched easily...

You can polish plastic back to its original finish. It requires buffing compound and a drill, but it's also useful for getting the fog off old headlight covers on your car.

devkrev wrote:It has some features. But a lot of the footage is incredibly boring.

As for boring footage, well, what you see is what you get. Maybe you have a boring life? ;-)

But seriously, you have to edit video footage to make something out of it. Most unedited footage will not be that entertaining unless you are good with in the camera editing.

Try this sometime. Start recording and count to four seconds. Stop. Look in a new direction with the camera to create a new shot. Take five seconds of video and stop. Change your view again and repeat. This is not suitable for moving video, but for static shots of not very complicated subjects it gives you watchable footage without post editing.

If you intend to capture a long process or movement through a scene, this isn't suitable as you will miss large chunks of the action. Just have the discipline to edit the raw footage after the fact before you show it and you'll be a lot happier with the results.

Trask does a nice job of this on the link I posted and even adds nice titles.

Scott McMahon wrote:I dislike how people film themselves via a ski pole on the most groomer of ski days. I dislike how people gopro every single thing they do. Oh wait...that's probably not what you were asking.

Hah :) I like the diversion... I agree with the sentiment that they suck as helmet mounted climbing cameras. At least I've never seen a "good" video from one. (The one of a guy sliding down a slab was entertaining, at least). I could see them used to supplement other footage.

My girlfriend got me one for a cycling trip to the Pyrenees last year. I took lots of footage with it, but watching any of it was pretty boring until it was edited into shorter clips mixed with other footage.

I just saw one posted recently to this site for a great climb, but the video... doesn't really capture the experience It is mostly close up of the rock near his head, and screwy perspective since the horizon is horizontal much of the time.

The Hero user-friendliness really does stink, so hopefully the Hero2 is better. It is hard to cycle between modes without looking, and hard to tell if it is on or off. I've had rides where I was taking pictures when I thought I was filming, or turned it off while thinking I was turning it on. It has a beep to help tell you what you just did, but those can be pretty hard to hear while biking or other situations.