do you have a go-pro?

[TheBadger]

Hi,

Anyone here have a go-pro cam?

I was curious about how they work. Some of the video I have seen looks like a fish eye, and some more like 35mm (or some more traditional lens). I already think it looks like a pretty great cam for playing around. But has anyone used a go pro in a more serious way?.. (then filming themselves doing suicidal stuff like jumping out of airplanes and the like  ).

Have you used it in any sort of production enviro, even for indi or student work?

Can you give me some opinions, or even a useful link to a worthwhile review, best case use, stuff...

Thank you!

[yossam]

http://gopro.com/


Go to channel..............

[TheBadger]

^^ well there is a bunch of cool stuff there to be sure.

But for example, how are the users getting different lenses? I had the impression that the gopro was sorta like a smartphone, one lens and thats that. But in those videos most were super wide even fish. But there was this one that I saw right away from your link... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRC-8pCCCys So is that just a crop or what?.. Still a bit of distortion.

From the website I see that there is a 4k version. so at 4k you could crop pretty easy. there is also something called super view which is I guess the fish eye effect I see in most videos. But what is the standard shot you get when you turn it on? I don't see a clear answer from their sales page.

I found this http://peauproductions.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=124_148&products_id=706&zenid=e37cd67f0ea7692c0a08bd12c74edf6d
I guess you can send your cam out and a new lens can be installed... Pretty sure that would destroy the warranty though, not to mention make the cam incompatible with a water tight rig.

[JimB]

Looks like you have to mod them.

http://provideocoalition.com/jfoster/story/gopro-replacement-lenses-for-hero3-3
http://nofilmschool.com/2013/12/back-bone-ribcage-gopro-hero3-plus-interchangeable-lenses

Or there are these, but some only work on specific models, and some of them appear to need modding of the GoPro, too.

http://ragecams.com/shop/gopro-hero3action-lenses-c-72.html

[bigben]

It also uses different settings for different FOVs but these are just cropped images.  The lens is fisheye, but you can always reproject to rectilinear.  It's designed for action video so the focus is just shy of the hyperfocal distance on the 3+ Black. People buying them for photogrammetry have whinged about the softer focus in distant objects, but that's not what it's designed for. If focus at a distance is important then the Silver version is better for this.  Fixed focus, fixed aperture.

I'm not keen on the JPEG compression settings for stills (and lack of configurable options), although in bright conditions is pretty good. Colour is pretty good in most comparisons I've seen.

Here's a sample from my "death defying" stunts 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ben-kreunen/11813553025/  GoPro mounted on a broom stick strapped to the rear carrier of my bike.

There's heaps of interesting videos...  Here's a couple with mixed sources including GoPro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuDN2bCIyus and a twist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKOaF7esBFY

[TheBadger]

Thank you guys.

Its a nice little cam. But Im feeling like its use for serious work is pretty limited. I thought the cost would make it worth any problems. But I think it is not going to be a viable replacement for a real pro grade camera of any kind.

Still, I don't think there is a better cam for playing and going to interesting places with the fam. wish I had one of these when we went to the water and roller coaster parks this summer!

I have been looking at drones out of curiosity. And even in the case of good drones, you can get a DSLR on one of those rigs which would probably almost always be better than a go-pro. So not too many situations that a go pro would really be a best option.

But dam, it's one of those things that I think I must have anyway

[Upon Infinity]

I had the impression that the gopro was sorta like a smartphone, one lens and thats that.

Btw, you can get different lenses for cell phones now, too.  But these wouldn't be used for serious work, either.

[TheBadger]

I had the impression that the gopro was sorta like a smartphone, one lens and thats that.

Btw, you can get different lenses for cell phones now, too.  But these wouldn't be used for serious work, either.

I know what you mean. But actually an iphone was used recently in a major film. There is mention of it here in the forum with a link to an story. I can't remember right now which film that was. So you can get away with a lot. But perhaps its too much to hope to get away with everything just yet.

I took a look at the release for the iphone6. I wont buy one, but the camera is pretty nice. Dose stuff my DSLR cant... Like 240fps for slow mo... I think it was 240, may have been more.  Anyway, it just seems like these little cams are really trying to do what big cameras do for a lot less cash.

[Oshyan]

What exactly is the "serious pro work" you're doing? There are an absurd number of professionals using Go Pros either for secondary or even often primary capture. Sports in particular, of course, but lots of other stuff too, particularly now that drones are so widely available and Go Pros are light and mount easily on even small ones. Go Pro footage holds up in HD on large screens. It might not be ideal for theater projection or something, but for most uses it's going to be fine, as long as the wide angle isn't a problem.

- Oshyan

[TheBadger]

serious pro work"

I think I meant professional standards really. Just bad word choice. I don't think its a diverse enough cam for me. And yeah I know it gets used a lot by pros. But its used in a limited fashion for sure. Moding the lens is probably what a lot of people do.

I got my wife to sew together a bunch of bed sheets. And I am putting together a PVC piping rig to make a portable (very large green screen) to take on location.  I need it to be very back packable. So I can take it to the wisconsin river, and to some very nice cliffs on the glasial trails.

I dont know if it will work or not, but I wanted to do this since first learning of Terragen. I want to composite real foregrounds of some pretty great places with some TG backgrounds. On the river for example, it is an all sandstone geology. So when the water is low (with a green screen) it may as well be a desert... We even have native cactus that grow here believe it or not. Well, I did not believe it until I saw it the first time.

Anyway, The go pro is most definitely portable. And the water tight rig is very cheap. My only concern is the lens. Fish eye is too wide. And I also worry about resolution. I do have a good DSLR, but my camera does not do video. I can't afford a camera upgrade yet. I guess I could just use two cameras like a normal person. My DSLR for any still composites I want to make, and the GP for video... I am not sure the GP will work for me or not. I need to be flexible.

So thats what Im playing with.

All advice is welcome!