Tell Me About HD SportsCams at DVinfo.net

Ivan Jasper · September 24th, 2010, 08:07 PM

What do you like in an HD sportscam?

Compact would be nice but not as important as battery life (2-4 hours would be good), must be HD, will get wet if not submerged and will be subjected to potentially high vibration locations such as aircraft landing gear and motorcycles.

I'm assuming none of them would be miniDV but that would actually be my preference. Under $1000 is a must. Under $500 would be fantastic.

John Abbey · September 24th, 2010, 09:08 PM

GoPro Official Store: Wearable Digital Cameras for Sports

Ivan Jasper · September 24th, 2010, 10:35 PM

So I just have to ask: really? That looks almost too good to be true. I've paid more than that for just an underwater housing for a run of the mill Canon still camera.

Marcus Martell · September 25th, 2010, 05:02 AM

Man go with §GOPRO, the new firmware is out with a lot of new goodies and....u can stick the lil gopro EVERYWHERE!
;)

James R. Wilson Sr. · September 25th, 2010, 11:11 PM

Here's a link to a test run I did with my first Hero:

This was shot in 920 (?) which is just under HD. I bought a second Hero a few days later because I was so impressed. I've run a couple more experiments and here's my take. These are amazing little cameras for the price. Going to HD mode narrows the field of view from 170 to 127 degrees and to tell you the truth, I don't see a bunch of difference between HD and the setting right under it, as far as quality goes. I thought the footage of me flying my Cub was kind of neat and the quality was pretty good for what it was. The camera is positionable in many spots you just couldn't stick any other camera.

I ran a side by side test with my POV 1.5 camera and the Hero put the $695.00 POV to shame in both color and over all quality. Further testing revealed that my first test just happened to be a scenario where the Hero performs well. I pointed the Hero forward and down a few degrees to see how it would do capturing sweeping low level fly over footage and it was mediocre at best. Sharpness of objects not fairly close (10 feet or so) is less than impressive. Lens flare is a problem due to the domed front element and no handy way to flag it.

The CMOS sensor has a little of that jello effect, but not too bad if you keep the g's under control. In my aviation application the weird prop effect caused by the rolling shutter is pretty annoying. All in all it's a fun camera for sports pov type of clips where you're just goofing around. I don't see much of a commercial application for me at this point.

BTW if you are thinking about buying one, or more. Do it somewhere other than the company website. I saved 60 bucks on my second one by going through Amazon.com

Bruce Watson · September 26th, 2010, 10:10 AM

GoPro seems to own this market. And it is almost too good to be true.

Marcus Martell · September 27th, 2010, 09:16 AM

Yep but remeber GP doesn't make miracles.....U have to calculate what u use it for!
;)

September 24th, 2010, 08:07 PM	#1
Ivan Jasper Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Billings MT Posts: 70	Tell Me About HD SportsCams What do you like in an HD sportscam? Compact would be nice but not as important as battery life (2-4 hours would be good), must be HD, will get wet if not submerged and will be subjected to potentially high vibration locations such as aircraft landing gear and motorcycles. I'm assuming none of them would be miniDV but that would actually be my preference. Under $1000 is a must. Under $500 would be fantastic. __________________ I'm Just Here For The Cookies.

September 24th, 2010, 10:35 PM	#3
Ivan Jasper Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Billings MT Posts: 70	So I just have to ask: really? That looks almost too good to be true. I've paid more than that for just an underwater housing for a run of the mill Canon still camera. __________________ I'm Just Here For The Cookies.

September 25th, 2010, 11:11 PM	#5
James R. Wilson Sr. Photographer Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Allen, Texas Posts: 155	GoPro Hero Here's a link to a test run I did with my first Hero: "Slipping The Surly Bonds........." on Vimeo This was shot in 920 (?) which is just under HD. I bought a second Hero a few days later because I was so impressed. I've run a couple more experiments and here's my take. These are amazing little cameras for the price. Going to HD mode narrows the field of view from 170 to 127 degrees and to tell you the truth, I don't see a bunch of difference between HD and the setting right under it, as far as quality goes. I thought the footage of me flying my Cub was kind of neat and the quality was pretty good for what it was. The camera is positionable in many spots you just couldn't stick any other camera. I ran a side by side test with my POV 1.5 camera and the Hero put the $695.00 POV to shame in both color and over all quality. Further testing revealed that my first test just happened to be a scenario where the Hero performs well. I pointed the Hero forward and down a few degrees to see how it would do capturing sweeping low level fly over footage and it was mediocre at best. Sharpness of objects not fairly close (10 feet or so) is less than impressive. Lens flare is a problem due to the domed front element and no handy way to flag it. The CMOS sensor has a little of that jello effect, but not too bad if you keep the g's under control. In my aviation application the weird prop effect caused by the rolling shutter is pretty annoying. All in all it's a fun camera for sports pov type of clips where you're just goofing around. I don't see much of a commercial application for me at this point. BTW if you are thinking about buying one, or more. Do it somewhere other than the company website. I saved 60 bucks on my second one by going through Amazon.com __________________ Jim

September 24th, 2010, 09:08 PM	#2
John Abbey Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: The Great Northwest Posts: 133	GoPro Official Store: Wearable Digital Cameras for Sports

September 25th, 2010, 05:02 AM	#4
Marcus Martell Trustee Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: spain Posts: 1,202	Man go with §GOPRO, the new firmware is out with a lot of new goodies and....u can stick the lil gopro EVERYWHERE! ;)

September 26th, 2010, 10:10 AM	#6
Bruce Watson Major Player Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Raleigh, NC, USA Posts: 710	GoPro seems to own this market. And it is almost too good to be true.

September 27th, 2010, 09:16 AM	#7
Marcus Martell Trustee Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: spain Posts: 1,202	Yep but remeber GP doesn't make miracles.....U have to calculate what u use it for! ;)