About to buy a GoPro HD Hero 2

[Peter Rush]

I've a wedding in a cathedral coming up in December and I think it's time i invested in a GoPro - would be great in this situation - I can buy the Hero 2 for £100 less than the 3 - is it worth it?

Also anyone got advice on mounting it on a hotshoe? they seem to come with a ton of various 'extreme' mounts but not any way of getting one onto a shoe

Thanks

Pete

[Corey Graham]

They're absolutely worth it, but only under decent lighting conditions. I use my GoPro's at every wedding, and they've added tremendous value to the final product. I use them sparingly, though.

As for a hotshoe mount, you'd probably have to get the tripod mount and then adapt that for a hotshoe, which is fairly inexpensive I think.

[George Kilroy]

Though the Hero2 is cheaper the Hero3 does come with the LCD back and the WiFi remote, both of which are extras for the 2. I bought a motorsport edition of the 2 but ended up buying an LCD back for another £80 as aiming it was a bit hit and miss otherwise. They do come with a fair few attachments, but not a tripod mount, they are another £8 or £9 and you could use one of those with one of these to attach it to a hot shoe.
New Pro Type 1/4" mount adapter for tripod screw to flash hot shoe UK | eBay

The wifi app is out now so having built-in wifi and the remote would certainly make the Hero3 a better option for me as it would be much easier to frame the shot with a smart phone or tablet and trigger it with the remote..

I believe that the 3 is better in low light, which I agree can be a problem with the 2.

[Peter Rush]

Thanks guys - I'm going for the 3 - the LCD and remote have swung it - just need to decide between the silver or black edition.

I shoot 1080i (50i) - anyone had any issues mixing the footage?

[George Kilroy]

The Silver doesn't come with a remote, it's an extra £80.
The Black will shoot 1080p50, the Silver is 1080p25.

I've mixed 1080p25 from the Hero2 with 1080i50 from various sources without a problem on CS4.

[Peter Rush]

Thanks George - where have you seen the Hero 3 with the LCD back? - I'm still seeing it as a £70 add-on

[George Kilroy]

You're right Peter. I thought that I had read that it was included but just checked the spec and it is another 80 quid, the same price I paid although it is now a touch screen.
I'd check the app for remote viewing. It seems that whilst it is available now for the 2 it won't be available for the 3 until mid December. So going on GoPro's track record don't hold your breath for it.

[Chris Harding]

Hi George

The App for the Silver Hero3 is supposed to be here in December (so make that March at least) The Black model App will be even longer.

Just make sure that you have an iPhone ..They are STILL messing around with doing an app for Android for the Hero2 so the 3 app will probably take until 2014.

However if you don't really need that side, the Hero 3 is supposed to be better in low light too...that being said I'm off to my second wedding this weekend and I'll have my Hero 2 on the Church balcony too!

Mine cuts well with my 1080 50i footage but keep the Hero on Medium angle in a Church (not wide)

Chris

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Peter Rush

I've a wedding in a cathedral coming up in December and I think it's time i invested in a GoPro ...

Pete

I shot one in York Minster in August and would have loved a GoPro in one very specific place.... but couldn't get one in time.

Anyway, low light has always been my concern, so I'm looking at the Hero 3 with interest so please keep us updated with your results.

[Peter Rush]

Hi Dave - Mine's at Ripon Cathedral on 1st December - the Hero 3 estimated ship date is 29th November so I'm looking at the Hero2 with WiFi bacpac - as long as I can get it working with an Android phone that is

Pete

[Dave Partington]

Ah, Ripon's nice too, been there a while ago, though not since they had all the new works done. :)

[Peter Riding]

Originally Posted by Peter Rush

Hi Dave - Mine's at Ripon Cathedral on 1st December - the Hero 3 estimated ship date is 29th November so I'm looking at the Hero2 with WiFi bacpac - as long as I can get it working with an Android phone that is

Pete

Peter, my Hero2 works fine with both the official Gopro app for Ipad and the 3rd party android app called RemoteGo.

It also works fine with the new Protune option, which I use at 1080 25T and a Sandisk 32gb class 10 45mb/s card (yes it is "T"). I plan to use Neat Video to tidy up noise should the need arise; I suspect that this combination of Protune plus Neat Video will rival the Hero 3's performance.

Pete

[Steve Slattery]

Worth checking out the Sony HDR-AS10 Action Cam, it has IS built in and will shoot 60/120 frames/sec. The quality is excellent in good light, but limited if you use higher frame rates.

[Mark Rosenzweig]

The Sony Action Cam AS15 has buit-in WiFi and there is free Sony WORKING Android (and iPhone) app that lets you both control the camera and view in real time (tiny lag unlike for the GoPro) what the camera sees.

The low light performance is much better than the GoPro 2 (back-illuminated sensor). Normally shoots 108030p. It also has stabilization and a good stereo mic (unlike the Go Pro, whose sound is awful).

better low light performance, sharper, working remote control and view, stabilization, better audio, cheaper. You might want to consider this alternative.

[Peter Rush]

Mark - I was just about to order the GoPro but now I'm seriously looking at the Sony - better low light performance might swing it for me - not really bothered about the audio - I notice it's got steady shot, can this be turned off?

Protune on the Hero is pretty compelling though!