Go Pro cameras

[Evan Bourcier]

I got a GoPro a week or two ago now, I really like it! Haven't had a ton of time to use it yet, but definitely will soon. I just found out I might be attaching a few to some boats soon, anyone have experience with sticking one right at water level on a boat so it'll go over/under water as the boat turns? not sure I trust the suction cup entirely, might make a modified plate or something.

I used it in a band promo video, put it on a box in the back corner of the stage, it unfortunately was low on battery and died after about 15 seconds but I was able to use a little bit of it, it's at 0:43 and 0:52

Phone Calls From Home - Warped Tour 2012 - YouTube

I think it mixed pretty well, I was lazy and actually color corrected it exactly the same as the rest of the footage. For any of us we could tell it's something different, but I don't think your average viewer would think it looks bad or anything.

[Renton Maclachlan]

Depends how fast the boat goes...and I wouldn't do it without tying it on so you don't lose it if it does fall off...

[Evan Bourcier]

I was thinking that, is there a generally accepted fail-safe leash technique to use? some kind of rope running inside to a solid part of the boat.

Right now I think it'll be college rowing boats, but might extend to some other stuff if the footage looks good.

[Renton Maclachlan]

I don't think rowing boats would be a problem. With the suction cup you have to make sure the suction cup is on a smooth surface. I just used it on the front of a snow ski but found the surface of the ski was a bit rough. I sanded where the suction cup was to go with very fine wet and dry emery paper and tied it on with fine nylon rope just in case...but it stuck like crazy even though it was really banging around. I'd read about them falling of skis but it seems to me they didn't check the surface they put it on. They can supposedly stand up to 250mph on the wing of a plane...

Re the rope, just buy fine nylon braded rope and tie back to anything suitable...

[Ian Slessor]

Hey Gang,

Still shooting SD with my DVX100s...yeah, I know, next year. :)

Anyway, shooting a ton of figure skating this year and was thinking of the GoPro 3 for a nice, centered, wide angle shot just over the glass on the parent's side. Staff won't remove glass from the boards so I can get clean shots so I was thinking this was a workaround :(

Would the GoPro, mounted on top of the glass, or at, say, head level on the ice side of the glass work for a nice 3rd cam? And I can crop from the 1080 to SD for tighter framing if needed?

Thanks for listening.

sincerely,

ian

[Daniel Latimer]

Originally Posted by Ian Slessor

Hey Gang,

Still shooting SD with my DVX100s...yeah, I know, next year. :)

Anyway, shooting a ton of figure skating this year and was thinking of the GoPro 3 for a nice, centered, wide angle shot just over the glass on the parent's side. Staff won't remove glass from the boards so I can get clean shots so I was thinking this was a workaround :(

Would the GoPro, mounted on top of the glass, or at, say, head level on the ice side of the glass work for a nice 3rd cam? And I can crop from the 1080 to SD for tighter framing if needed?

Thanks for listening.

sincerely,

ian

If you're using the GoPro 3 black edition you can shoot at 2.7K and crop it way down (especially to SD) without losing resolution.

[Peter Riding]

It would work but I suspect you could be fighting fogging in the scenario you've described. What a lot of users do is get the Skeleton case instead of the standard one to allow more air circulation. Some go further and drill more holes in the case and even remove the lens protector on the front of the case. There are also anti-fog inserts plus some users put tear-offs of tissue in the case. You should ask on a dedicated gopro forum as there are bound to be users who do exactly what you want.

Pete

[Ian Slessor]

Daniel, Peter.

Thanks for the info.

Greatly appreciated.


ian