Thanks Chris. I'm waiting for the Hero 3 Black to be available then I think I'll pick one up for testing.

I have to admit I'm still a little skeptical regarding the quality, and how it will mix with other cameras, but I'm willing to give it a go and can see lots of possibilities for new shots :)

It can be a frustrating experience to use the on- camera controls to set up or to check or change settings because the screens are so small; plus the cams are more often than not placed in positions which do not make quick easy access feasible, and light on the screens adds to the problem.

This is why the new apps to control via phones and tablets are terrific even if you don't currently get previews during actual recording.

I used a Hero 2 today during a rehearsal and used my Galaxy S3 android to check fields of view and to try the difference between the wide and medium settings.

An added bonus which I had not anticipated was that the vicar was somewhat anti-obtrusive video cams, but on seeing the actual live preview through such a small device as the Hero 2 was suitably pacified.

Chris, can I be lazy and ask whether you see a significant quility drop when shooting in medium rather than in wide. I was under the impression that medium simply crops the sensor in-camera so might just as well be done in post. Must admit I hadn't even considered shooting in medium until you mentioned it but now I realise that there are many siuations where medium is more pleasing to the eye than wide.

Pete

Hi Pete

I have never really done a wedding live so I have no idea if there is a quality shift between wide and medium? I would assume it's cropped on the sensor but it's not much and we are talking about a CMOS chip here so I think they get away with cropping as the image is also pretty wide still!! I really have no idea on the chip size but you shouldn't lose too much resolution..the way the larger sensor cameras are working now is actually offering lossless digital zoom!! If your sensor is 16 megapixels and you crop/zoom the image even 4 X you still have a 4 megapixel image..which exceeds 1920x1080 res anyway.

I do you the Hero footage in edits (especially if my other cams are blocked!) and haven't really seen anything to be worried about. The wide FOV is simply too distorted for a wedding I think

Chris

The Hero 2 crops the sensor and the quality goes down.
Just shoot wide and crop it in your NLE.

Did you just have a cable to your S3, its a great phone,
Even plays the RAW 35mbps Protune files from the Hero 2.

...ChrisHi Chris...a bit of change of tack...

You've said a number of times that the GoPro LCD bacpac is a waste of time...or something like that...

I was just thinking about that today...because I have been using the GoPro as a still camera to get shots for the project I'm working on and having the LCD is great for framing the photo I want. Just taken a few today which are going to be on screen for about a second and it was real handy. I take a regular camera and the Gopro when I go out to get such photos because sometimes the wide angle of the GoPro is what is needed, whereas other times a regular or telephoto shot is best...

And..on another note...I have been searching the web for Royalty Free photos for my project, and am slacked off by all these sites which google finds offering 'free photos' and virtually all so far have turned out to be charging heaps...I've just about given away the idea of getting photos off the web, and will shoot my own instead...

Hey Renton

It works pretty well but in the great outdoors you cannot see a thing....Now a simple loupe over the LCD back would certainly be a huge improvement and you could actually see your framing in sunlight. Truthfully I have never taken a still on the Hero (except by accident) and I really wanted the LCD for framing only ...Otherwise I might suggest go to the art store and buy a sheet of black foamboard and make a little box for the LCD to try to keep out the bright light....I must admit it worked fine in a Church but was useless for outdoor weddings. I sold it and bought the WiFi back and remote with the "spoils"

Chris

Well Chris my tripod adapter is on it's way - I've a small wedding this weekend where I'll debut it, but in a few weeks I've a Cathedral wedding on - hopefully I'll get some great results from it - it's sort of what I got it for.

BTW the wedding this weekend, the groom is a grip for a large TV company - I'll be under scrutiny from him and some of his workmates no doubt!

Pete

So Peter, I'm hoping you have some feedback of how this went :) How does the footage compare to what you thought/hoped it would be like?

Did you shoot in a dark church ? :)

The Hero 2 crops the sensor and the quality goes down.
Just shoot wide and crop it in your NLE.

Did you just have a cable to your S3, its a great phone,
Even plays the RAW 35mbps Protune files from the Hero 2.

Thanks for the clarification.

I used wifi to preview the composition on my S3, holding the Gopro up in one hand and the phone in the other. There is very little lag in the latest version of the official android app so it worked well even with other people watching :- )

Didn't even think to try using a cable. The app doesn't work with it but yes I was able to play the videos on the S3 direct from the Gopro. Even the ProTune ones. Brilliant.

The special USB cable adapter I used is this:

Samsung USB Connector to microUSB for Samsung Galaxy S2: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Thought I'd try that with a TM900 as well but sadly no deal.

Pete

So Peter, I'm hoping you have some feedback of how this went :) How does the footage compare to what you thought/hoped it would be like?

Did you shoot in a dark church ? :)

Hi Dave - yesterday's wedding was in a hotel so quite modest but loved the footage from the GoPro - even though I might only use a few shots - it will definitely add something extra. I also love how I can control it from my Android phone.

The only thing that threw me was that it splits files when they get to 2GB - apparently it's been implemented in the new firmware to allow for better WiFi support. Easy enough to join back together on the timeline though. Also it captures MP4 files which makes Premiere wait a while (pending) to import them every time I open the project but it's no biggie.

In 2 weeks I've a wedding in a Cathedral - can't wait :)

Pete

In 2 weeks I've a wedding in a Cathedral - can't wait :)

Pete


Definitely looking forward to hearing your thoughts after Ripon :)

The GoPro previously split files at 2GB. One very annoying thing is the stupid file naming as the continuation files are not listed in order so e.g. first file is GOPR0082.MP4 but second file is GO010082.MP4 but a subsequent new recording will be GOPR0083.MP4 with a continuation file of GO010083.MP4 so when you do a directory listing you see

GO010082.MP4
GO010083.MP4
GOPR0082.MP4
GOPR0083.MP4

Why they didn't use a sensible naming convention so that the files are named in order I have no idea. Perhaps they have fixed it with the new firmware that splits files into 2GB chunks as doubling the number of continuation files will just exacerbate the problem if they haven't changed the file naming. They could have just used a new filename like the 5D3 does when you hit 4GB so the example above would be

GOPR0082.MP4 followed by GOPR0083.MP4 & then GOPR0084.MP4 & GOPR0085.MP4.

Well My first impressions are.....impressive! I love the fact that I can get the whole room in one shot for the entire ceremony - picture is pretty sharp and it takes seconds to set up thanks to the android app.

Here it is in use from a wedding I did on Saturday are Ripon Cathedral - I used it again for the speeches but it performs not much better in low light than my Z1 (soon to be replaced) although well enough to use a few shots.

Audio is passable but I'll only use it to synch up anyway.

So I'm pretty pleased and I think I'll buy another - can't have too many angles when it comes to choices in the edit!

Pete

Yep thats the sort of placement from which the Gopro excels. Great for capturing the atmosphere and giving a sense of what it was like to be there. Not to mention being a valuable resource to cut to in post if something unexpected happens or someone doesn't go on their mark such as a reader taking up a "wrong" position.

And the app takes the guesswork out of positioning. You probably wouldn't have got quite such a good composition trying to do it blind.

The downside is that I too have now had the freezing up problem (HD2). Latest firmware, 1080P 25T Protune. Gopro are aware of it and working on a fix. The cam in question worked fine earlier in the day but when I wanted to shoot for real 15 mins before Saturdays ceremony it froze. Removing the battery would not fix it and that was a mess anyway because the cam was inaccessible and it also involves getting it out of its case and removing the wifi bacpac. The app was also frozen. I tried again from the app moments before kickoff and this time it did work, but the positioning was now far from ideal because of me trying to fix it earlier and it was too late to move it :- (

The audio is pretty much unusable for our purposes as we know and expect. But I'm finding that it is also not good enough for Pluraleyes to use to automatically sync all the cams and audio recorders; Pluraleyes will often reject some Gopro clips and put them in the unsynced section at the end of the tracks. I plan to try a Skeleton housing instead as that should improve the units mic pickup.

"You can't get too many angles". I disagree but when placing I am always aiming to exclude videographers / photographers from the composition whenever I can.

Nigel, I rename all my various video and audio clips using batch renaming in Adobe Bridge. Makes the whole thing much more manageable for me. You can drag the Gopro clips in Bridge to get them in the right order - displaying the time underneath helps you to do that if the clips are hard to distinguish one from another. You can customise batch rename and save the templates. So for example:

GOPRO-A-004-snbj-ceremony.MP4

means the clip was from a gopro, unit A, 4th keeper clip of the day, for clients with initials snbj, shot during the ceremony.

and:

SD04-002-snbj-speeches-bestman-wav

means the clip was from my "sound device" 04 (a Zoom H4n), 2nd keeper of the day, for clients with initials snbj, shot during the speeches.

Renaming Gopro clips in this manner does not stop their subsequent usability for editiing in Cineform Studio should you wish.

I'm self taught in video editing so I've no idea if it is a normal convention to rename clips but it works great for me. The latest version of Vegas Pro, 12, can also display each clip / event name within the track.

Pete

Something certainly unexpected did happen on Saturday - the father of the bride was due to stand on the alter to sing while the couple signed the register, but instead decided to do it from the back of the chapel - directly in front of my rear camera that was shooting straight down the aisle (got a great shot of the back of his legs!!!) - the GoPro saved my bacon while I could run down and reposition my camera to film him while I ran back to film the register signing.

As a single shooter I am used to shots getting blocked/guests bumping into tripods, which unfortunately I am not always aware of until it comes to reviewing the footage - a good reason to get another gopro for me

Pete

So I'm pretty pleased and I think I'll buy another - can't have too many angles when it comes to choices in the edit!I always used to think that but since trying to synch up a multicam edit of a wedding ceremony with eight cameras (C300, XF105, 5D3 x 3, 5D2 x 1 & GoPro x2) I have decided that it really was too much of a good thing. You can never have too many audio recordings but only because you want backups in case of failure not because you want to use each one.

I think you're right Nigel but when I got into the wedding business 5 years ago, after many years in the corporate/education video wilderness, I used to watch BBC 'Songs of Praise' to get ideas and the average church service from a small village church will have been covered from many more angles than I can achieve!

In truth I rarely use more than 3 cameras - the GoPro will give me a nice, unique, fourth viewpoint and i will be buying a spare for those occasions when I can use it.

Pete

Peter, I think four angles is about right too. Groom's side at the front, bride's side at the front one at the back straight down the aisle & a GoPro up high for when every other camera fails or is obstructed:-)