About to buy a GoPro HD Hero 2

[Nigel Barker]

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.

[Peter Rush]

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

[Peter Riding]

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

[Peter Rush]

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

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Peter Rush

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.

[Peter Rush]

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

[Nigel Barker]

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:-)