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Action cameras, anything better than the Go Pro? (Read 4270 times)

ianv

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Will be used mostly for biking. For the same or less money?

Anyone used the drift, contour, sony, rollei, ion etc?

SA Chris

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I've only ever used a Go Pro, the waterproofing system for me is essential. If you watch anything filmed for telly or video where an action camera is needed they mostly use them. Get one from overseas if you can and save about 1/3 of price.

The garmin virb gets good reviews too though.

Durbs

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There was an excellent head-to-head comparison on a website somewhere (unhelpfully I don't know the link), which went through 6 different models, and event mounted them all simaltaneously on a helmet to show how the footage compared.

The GoPro essentially won, unless you want to save a bit of cash.

Durbs

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SA Chris

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Good review, but predates the Virb.

If you decide on Go-Pro it's worth looking at the slightly older and below top of the range models and comparing features and seeing if you really need all of them. You can save a bit of cash this way.

fatdoc

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Ian,

i have investigated this very recently.. ( shameless plug: on my avatar.. 9.5k watches on my pinkbike MTB channel) means i'm very particular about my POV cam.

I've just bought a Sony action cam. This was an upgrade on my original Hero go pro.

I have some helmet cam footage from Hamsterley last sunday.. on the sony. I'm not impressed.. but it was a  north facing wood..so dark that mates with mirrored lens were blind... and it is december!. I have the same footage ( chest cam) from my go pro.. which is currently in a mates car.

Gimmie a week and ill edit it all up, share the link and see what becomes.

as for hero 3s... terrible reliability... awful after sales.. as for drifts... the national racers i know that use them use them solely to learn tracks.. not for video to be edited and put up on the net. check out steve peats videos for the shocking quality..

as i say, gimmie a week to edit and you'll get the best contrast and compare you could ask for...

ianv

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Just found that I can get a go pro 3 black for a approx £200 brand new. Is this a no brainer?

lagerstarfish

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fatdoc

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No

They brick,   stall and freeze too frequently. Search the tinter web.. U can't afford to lose this sort of footage..

ianv

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Isn't there some software updates to sort most of that out?

fatdoc

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Vid is up on my PB channel. See below..hard to compare like with like, but old go pro hero is well grainy... Yet I intend to use both cams.. No, there is no firmware nor software to sort it out... U get a good unit, or u don't. Avoid the go pro3, or run the gauntlet..

gingerninja

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i got a hero 3 silver and it bricked straight out of the box. got it replaced and its been working fine since, touch wood. they also gave me a free suction mount for my troubles. a mate has the black and the quality is much better and it handles the darkness really well. hes not had any problems with it either. if i had the choice i would have got the black but funds wouldnt stretch that far.

ianv

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Quote
They brick,   stall and freeze too frequently. Search the tinter web.. U can't afford to lose this sort of footage..

Having done some research, it seems that most of these problems are down to wrong initial set up and not updating the firmware properly.

B Diamond

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And from what i hear, most have been using dodgy old sd cards.
You need to use a large, class 10, uhs1+ card (I say + as there are UHS2/3 coming out now)
which allow a minimum stable data stream to write to the card at a safe rate.

Then your footage and camera should remain error free.
Alas, ive not tried myself, but did pick up one of these cards of 64GB for £30, using for my phone.

 

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