Playing with the GoPro

[Nobody]

Greetings all
I had composed this post, initially, as a comment into the "POV Camera : A good alternative to GoPro? thread
But then, as the clips below were made entirely with my old GoPro (that thread helped reignite my willingness to take the GoPro out and use it), I thought it was right not to insert it there but somewhere else.
So, here it is a "quick and dirty" sample of my attempts (poor man's 360...skiing one run with the GoPro facing rearward and the next same time run with it facing forward ) these last week ends...please observe the wobbling of the camera due to the sloppiness of the head-band adapter.

That need to be addressed, but I guess it's simple, just need to buy a couple of helmet adhesive adapters...

Rearward






Forward (not the same run, and to show what happened...I caught the GoPro just as it was flying off my head )






With the GoPro mounted on the selfie stick, I tried different "positions" of the stick, but never managed to be able to video more than 2/3 of my legs unlike you all where your clips show you in full, skis and all....I guess I have to try, try and try until I'll reach the optimal position for registering video, or is there something else? I got the standard selfie stick (114 cm 44.88 inch long) not the 3 mt / 9 feet new one (but I can't imagine skiing with a 3 mt long pole in one hand), one sample :






And a little "thank you" (teaser/show off??) for you that had, and will have, the patience to advice me on these matter

Pulling a "Ghedina" (do not try this at home, people, it's dangerous, I did it because the slope was empty...), with the GoPro "mounted" on chest, did it at the slowest possible speed (in fact air time is very short) barely enough to take off:






P.S: I managed to find a new (package still sealed) Battery BacPac for my Hero 3+ at a local shop...I'll see this coming week end what the extra battery will do in terms of increased power availability, the downside, I can feel it already, is the increased weight of the combo...

My poor neck is still aching for carrying around the unicorn stick mounted GoPro...

Comments and suggestions are welcome, on any and all aspects (included MA if you spot anything which deserves commenting) of the filming...

 

[cantunamunch]

So, here it is a "quick and dirty" sample of my attempts (poor man's 360...skiing one run with the GoPro facing rearward and the next same time run with it facing forward ) these last week ends...please observe the wobbling of the camera due to the sloppiness of the head-band adapter.

That need to be addressed, but I guess it's simple, just need to buy a couple of helmet adhesive adapters...

Yeh, this is where the new GoPros and the Insta360 do image stabilisation with horizon lock - in software.

With the GoPro mounted on the selfie stick, I tried different "positions" of the stick, but never managed to be able to video more than 2/3 of my legs unlike you all where your clips show you in full, skis and all....

Have you looked into the fisheye options in the settings menu?

 

[Nobody]

Yeh, this is where the new GoPros and the Insta360 do image stabilisation with horizon lock - in software.




Have you looked into the fisheye options in the settings menu?

I think that I have only a choice between "wide" or "normal" option. Where the "fisheye" should correspond to the "wide"...it's an old 3+ Silver.. .But now that you mention it, maybe I have to look elsewhere, meseem to remember the management sw (legacy "Quick" from GoPro) had an option to automatically correct the fisheye effect when importing clips from the camera onto the PC...need to check that)

 

[cantunamunch]

Ah, right. I think the native fisheye thing came in around the 5 or thereabouts.

 

[DesmoDog]

Ahh... GoPros. I've had numerous versions as the tech improved, used mainly on motorycles. The main issue with using them on motorcycles was vibration. At least on big V-twins the videos were about useless because of vibration.

I finally decided to build my own mount using parts from a drone to isolate the camera. I also decided to buy a new camera since the credit card was out.

I built up a mount using the fancy vibration dampers, complete with carbon fiber plates because, you know, carbon fiber. Mounted it on the bike - this time a Moto Guzzi that shook side to side instead of back and forth like a proper V-twin. The results were fantastic. SERIOUSLY impressive vibration isolation. Great video quality. This mount is amazing. I'm a genius.

In fact I'm going to do the same run with just the (new) camera so I can do a back to back demo of how much this mount helps.

Remounted camera. Re-took video. Picture quality without mount was exactly the same. Just as good. Mount did nothing. The improvement was entirely from the new camera. I'm an idiot.

Poing being, a few generations ago, Go Pro made amazing strides in reducing the effect of vibration. Seriously impressive strides.

The next time I was seriously impressed with the camera was on a trip to the Bahamas and some underwater footage. Holy cow they take nice underwater pictures. Me snorkeling is not a pretty thing (It's really just a prolonged attempt at not drowning) but the video of sea turtles and other things came out looking so much better than I was expecting.

All that said, I left the GoPros at home on my last ski trip because I didn't want to deal with them. but still. Current generation GoPros are worlds better than early ones.

 

[Nobody]

That's my feeling too, I usually leave the GoPro home when I go skliing. Too much hassle (for me) deciding where to mount it, how to shoot and so on, not to mention that until I got the extra battery pack, the battery duration was, to put it mildly, too short (10-20 mins at best)...of course it's because it's old, but even when it was new, the duration in cold temp wasn't much better. Not to mentinop that the additional weight put on with the extra battery makes it impossible to use for ling periods of time on an unicorn helmet mount...
I guess that'll I have to experiment with the selfie stick mounted on the backpack (or find the accessory belt)
OTOH I really like to use it in the water, whilst free diving, snorkeling, SUPping, rafting etc. The battery duration is similar of course. Still in both cases..
I miss out the what appears to be the best possible shots (like a specific spot whilst skiing, or a nice fish or sealife passing by etc, by that time battery is almost always out). Bad timing on my side? Bad choices? Probably.