Gopro Hero 6 Affordable, And Some Other Thoughts

[Peter Riding]

Recently I bought a couple of Gopro Hero 6's now at just £296. That is around £100 cheaper than the mainstream retailers here in the UK.

I used grey market from Hong Kong / China that I've used several times before and alls been very quick and brand new etc.

Why not get cheaper Chinese knockoffs? Well despite Gopro's well-documented equipment and commercial episodes I still think of them as the product likely to be the most reliable in high pressure one time only weddings. I would be interested to hear from members who have had good long-term usage from the rivals though for future reference.

I still have a Hero 2 but unused as it was tricky to set up with its multiple button presses and no LCD to view (couldn't rely on a smartphone via its then wifi bacpac to do that either).And of course the low light performance left a lot to be desired. Surprisingly my Gopro wfif remote I bought with the hero 2 works with the Hero 6.

The Hero 6 is infinitely easier to use with its touch screen. No flip-out screen obviously but you can use a little rectangular shaving mirror (in a metal folding case) to view the screen in a very confined space; I've done that with various other cams with no flip-out screen as well e.g. Canon 5D Mark IV's of which I use two.

Couple of features I particular like with the Hero 6 (may have 5 etc as well). One, it has a new "linear" option which does away with the fisheye look. Its field of view can be altered by swiping the screen between approx. 50 degrees and 85 degrees. So its ideal for a 2nd cam close up in confined spaces. Two, it has a flat as well as a normal result, and can switch amount of unsharp mask, white balance, exposure compensation etc so editing in post has much more usability.

The grey I used is Eglobal Central UK. I always use Paypal just in case of problems but alls been well anyway. I got a Zhiyun Crane 2 from them at just £404 whereas the sellers were charging over £700. I did have the earlier Crane for a short time but it was not up to working well with heavy equipment. And got a Canon 6D Mark II from them at just £911. The UK main sellers want around £1500. It is an ideal mix with the Crane especially with the Crane's optional mini dual grip.

So much of the equipment coming out is so "disruptive" to how wedding videography could be worked for so long. The gimbals that can handle heavy dSLRs being a particular point.

[Mark Williams]

I picked up a Hero 6 a couple of weeks ago for some stream work. I am still experimenting with it, especially the wi-fi range underwater. The h.265 clips ingest well into my NLE (Edius 8.5 Workgroup).

[Noa Put]

The reason you pay less is that you don’t pay taxes on these grey market products, I don’t buy from these companies for a few reasons, as a company I can deduct tax anyway so I prefer to buy local and when somethings wrong with it I don’t have to send it back to China and communicate with a person that speaks even worse English then me. If I buy in a local store I at least get 2 year warranty and bring the product in myself and get helped quicker.

I do have a gopro 5 black but don’t use it for anything critical, especially not for weddings, I have had a few lock ups with that camera and while only annoying if I”m shooting for fun it’s something I don’t want to be happening during a ceremony. I rather would buy two 4K handycams like sony a ax53 for extra angles as they are a lot more reliable and easier to quickly setup.

[Steve Burkett]

There was a time I used GoPros a lot, but their Hero 4 was too unreliable. It would stop recording at random moments. I worked with a few other Videographers who used them and they've stopped using them for much the same reason. Now I own 4 quality cameras, so don't need to supplement with the GoPro and whilst their small size has advantages, it doesn't sit well in my workflow. Frankly I don't miss them except to attach to the car for following or being following by the wedding car for driving shots. However as church Weddings have diminished in recent years, so too has a call for such shots. GoPro lost its edge years ago. Now I see them in the hands of kids on small gimbals. Maybe they've improved since the Hero 4. I'd be interested to know.

[Mark Williams]

I will be mixing 4K hero 6 clips with GH5 4k clips so we will see.

[David Barnett]

Man, this thread makes me not feel bad for nearly giving up on my GoPro. It's a GoPro 3, and my problems are twofold.

First, (personal choice), they're just too one dimensional. The 'fisheye/trick shot' works once maybe twice in a highlights video, but thats about it. Maybe can be considered a 'backup to the backup' in case the 2nd camera failed or I forget to hit record or something on it. And a 3rd camera without carrying around a 3rd tripod. Otherwise, the look is generally too GoPro-ey for much use. (Streaming tho could be a different issue & possible good use for it).

Secondly, and a bit more pressing lately, I had issues with it this past year. I use a 64GB miniSD card, yet when I go to record sometimes it says it'll only record 6 minutes?? 6 minutes?? I think it's a setting Protune or something, and needs to be set to Off. Then it record 3 hours, quite a leap. Bigger picture I dislike the menu & adjusting settings on it. Too much diving into the menus & if I don't remember how to adjust something it definitely won't get done on the fly. For me the phone app worked ok, however occasionally I felt like I was on my phone at the church while I was checking or hitting record on the device.

The picture looks pretty dated anymore, maybe I can hang onto it for a webstream 2nd input camera or something. I'm sure the 6 looks better and cleaner, but for the money I think I might invest elsewhere unless I really see the need for it with video for me.

[Mark Williams]

I have used the Hero 6 very little since I recently acquired it but the imagery looks passable for situations where I couldn't or wouldn't use my GH5. It is a specialty camera for sure and not much more than a toy. Since I got it for free then nothing lost.

[Nigel Barker]

I took a look at the Eglobal Central UK website. This company is not selling Grey Market goods. They are based in Kowloon & smuggling items to the UK so that no VAT or import duty is paid.

Buying goods without paying the proper tax & import duties that pay for schools, hospitals, roads etc is just as shady as buying stolen goods. You are also adding the demise of UK retailers. Personally I would also be more careful about confessing to breaking the law on a public forum.