School me on GoPro’s

[outerlimits]

Thinking of getting one
Happy to buy new or used but the cheaper the better. Not sure on what I need in a camera, what’s useful, what’s not useful. I don’t want to pay for features I won’t use.
So as a minimum what features should I be looking for in a camera ?
What would be the preferred mount for riding with. ?

 

[apac]

I find they bring bad luck. Every time ive used mine on a bike ive had a crash.

As for advice, i have none, aprt from get a chest attachment. It gives the best most dynamic view.

 

[outerlimits]

I find they bring bad luck. Every time ive used mine on a bike ive had a crash.

As for advice, i have none, aprt from get a chest attachment. It gives the best most dynamic view.

I only crash when someone is filming me?‍

 

[wepn]

For a conventional camera like the Hero where you point the camera toward wherever you think the action will be i.e. straight ahead then I agree let your chest do the work.

If you want to achieve better results without trying then get a 360 camera like the Fusion Max and put it in a range of mount points in various shots. Creative camera positions can then be made to come alive when you edit allowing pan tilt & zoom as opposed to just static & straight ahead.

Shots that would be lost by the camera that just looks ahead are captured by the camera that sees all around.

 

[SquireRides]

You want a GoPro (or DJI Osmo Action) with decent stabilisation. That means at least a GoPro 6 or later, in my opinion. That's when stabilisation started to be good-enough.

Then, where do you want to mount it? Bars, chest, or helmet? Check out some other people's videos to compare the 'look'. I prefer chest mount (e.g. GoPro Chesty strap) for action shots, but also use a bar mount for a smoother look at times.

 

[outerlimits]

You want a GoPro (or DJI Osmo Action) with decent stabilisation. That means at least a GoPro 6 or later, in my opinion. That's when stabilisation started to be good-enough.

Then, where do you want to mount it? Bars, chest, or helmet? Check out some other people's videos to compare the 'look'. I prefer chest mount (e.g. GoPro Chesty strap) for action shots, but also use a bar mount for a smoother look at times.

Which 6 ?
I see the 7 black has some wiz bang hyper smooth stabilization.

 

[SquireRides]

Which 6 ?
I see the 7 black has some wiz bang hyper smooth stabilization.

GoPro 6 Black has 'okay' video stabilisation. Can be a bit jumpy at times (not... hypersmooth) but it's still so much better than cheaper non-stabilised action cams.

 

[DAZ1925]

I'd go for the 7 black if you can afford it. It has hypersmooth, superview (came in on hero3+ black) , user replaceable lens (hero 8 hasn't). The silver and white versions of the 7 have fixed batteries which is a no no from me.

I've had hero 2 and hero 3 in the past and currently have a hero 7 black.

 

[wepn]

Definitely Hypersmooth I’d say.

A huge advantage with the Fusion, the auto edit Quik - now part of the GoPro app - does a much better job than it does with the 7 or 8, leveraging all the coverage & resolution.

That means you can bypass the high end processor and time intensive render and edit while still achieving an amazing result considering the simplicity. The soundtrack selection for the synchronised edits is a bit wanting. For professional results, forget Quik, you'll want to do it all yourself and will need a very powerful PC or Mac.

An advantage: You can shoot some radical footage, stop and in a few seconds edit, compile & send to your favourite forum for rock star adulation...then keep riding. I'm getting on a bit so no massive chutes, nothing startling just some landscapes but in the right hands...

P-7.mp4

• wepn
• Nov 4, 2019
• stealth p-7

P-7 Quik auto edit

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

Hero7 Black has my vote.

 

[outerlimits]

So a bit of searching I have narrowed it to 3
Used Hero 6 black, mostly around $300
New Hero 7 silver $299
New Hero 7 black $529

So is the hyper smooth really worth the extra $230, that along with a removable battery over the silver ?
Or is a 6 going to be better for about the same price even tho used when comparing with the 7 silver?

 

[DAZ1925]

If you've going to be riding anything other than smooth trails I'd say yes, the hypersmooth is worth it. I have countless hours of footage without hypersmooth recorded using a chest mount / Hero 3 black and just can't be bothered to edit it as it's unwatchable.

The removable battery has benefits as multiple batteries/ card for longer rides. Every so often the camera will lock up and the only way I know around this is to remove the battery (this has only happened to me twice in many hours of use).

As wpen says the disadvantage is in editing the footage, but you could record at a lower resolution/frame rate if you wanted.

 

[Mcharza]

So a bit of searching I have narrowed it to 3
Used Hero 6 black, mostly around $300
New Hero 7 silver $299
New Hero 7 black $529

So is the hyper smooth really worth the extra $230, that along with a removable battery over the silver ?
Or is a 6 going to be better for about the same price even tho used when comparing with the 7 silver?

Hero 7 Black so expensive, can't be after they released the 8. But yes, absolutely hyper smooth

 

[Mcharza]

Here's a one at eBay GoPro HERO7 Action Camera - Black for sale online | eBay
and wait Black Friday deals https://www.t3.com/news/best-gopro-deals

 

[SquireRides]

Hero 6 Black is much better than earlier GoPros at reducing shake. That's why I'd say it's the 'minimum' you need.

Here's a short video, Hero 6 Black, chesty mount. Rough stuff towards the end.


What you'll see is the camera occasionally sharply 'resets' its view. So it's smooth... then jumps to recenter. That goes away in the GoPro 7 and 8 with hypersmooth.

But, GoPro 6 is still pretty good if you can get it cheap.

 

[Mcharza]

In my opinion backpack belt mount is better than chest mount.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I don’t want to pay for features I won’t use.

What's wrong with just holding your phone as you ride ?? You can grip it with your butt cheeks for some interesting backwards shots if your hand gets tired .. or sky shots as your descend your 90 degree baby slopes.

 

[Husky430]

Just bought a Hero 7 Black, if your on ebay at all, every month or so they send a email saying that the Good Guys here in Aust have 20% off with a code. Ended up being $420 for the 7 Black. Had helmet cams for about 10 years now and a helmet mount is the best to go as you tend to keep your head still and the thing goes where you are looking all the time. Chest mounts tend to jump around a bit and not always where you want them pointed.
If you use a full face helmet the best mount I've come across is called a Pro Shot made by a bloke in the US, you can only get it online from his website but great bloke to deal with an awesome product. You can see when you are recording as you can see the back of the camera and it places the camera just in front of your mouth so any talking comes out really clearly on the footage. Plus gets all your huffing and puffing as well and if you #$!!~!! just remember that will be keep that for prosperity also. Hope this helps somewhat.

 

[outerlimits]

What's wrong with just holding your phone as you ride ?? You can grip it with your butt cheeks for some interesting backwards shots if your hand gets tired .. or sky shots as your descend your 90 degree baby slopes.

Look, I know you would do such a thing but those who are not a bobble head want to view hyper smooth footage.

 

[Zimmerframe]

hyper smooth footage

I'm sure it's been said many times on here, the ONLY way to see hyper smooth footage is to search for "@Gary date night" on youtube ..

Don't mistakenly search for "@Gary wax on wax off" .. it has nothing to do with the Karate Kid and whilst the results are also hyper smooth, there are images that will wake you screaming from your sleep for years.

 

[outerlimits]

I'm sure it's been said many times on here, the ONLY way to see hyper smooth footage is to search for "@Gary date night" on youtube ..

Don't mistakenly search for "@Gary wax on wax off" .. it has nothing to do with the Karate Kid and whilst the results are also hyper smooth, there are images that will wake you screaming from your sleep for years.

Your helpful, sensible self did not last, as I predicted. Glad to see you have picked the pipe back up and returned to your usual self.
Now when are you going to launch your YouTube channel ? Your fans are waiting and should not be disappointed. You should have so much content to discuss by now. I for one am looking forward to the discussion on angles and slopes with degrees of dissatisfaction of sorts. I’m even thinking of getting a GoPro ffs so I can send content to you. So pull your finger out and get onto it ASAP !!!
??

 

[thebarber]

I bought a hero 7 black and great initially but it does make everything look flat and footage gets a bit repetitive after a while.
I probably need to edit but being a Luddite can't be arsed so end up with boring footage compared to what was actually going on at the time.

 

[TheBikePilot]

Hero 7 Black if you can afford it. Rob did a video on best settings. Hero 8 is out but the extra features dont really justify the extra cost IMHO and the new HyperSmooth is dare I say it just a bit too smooth for MTB and there's simply no feeling of speed or movement.

Chest or chin good. Chest gets more of an immersive feel, head you can obviously see where you are looking but most mounts put the camera a bit close to your neck in the event of an 'off'. You can get a cheap chest mount here plus a load of other good bits (the GoPro one is good but hella expensive)

I'm no-where near as conscious of the camera on the chest, so it's like start and forget. When it's been on the helmet that's only when I wear a full face which isn't all the time.

Hypersmooth is amazing but it does chew your battery. You don't need a massive PC/Mac to edit it. Unless you really want it I wouldn't bother with 4k, it's just too heavy on any PC unless you use proxies. 1080p or 2.7k is still awesome.

The GoPro Quik app is perfectly acceptable but if you want something passable you can use Davinci Resolve which is free. Adobe Premiere or Final Cut for more pro feature but they are both expensive.

Be mindful of the fact you'll end up with a hard disk full of video that you don't do much with..

This was all shot on a GoPro Hero 7 Black on my chin:

 

[outerlimits]

Hero 7 Black if you can afford it. Rob did a video on best settings. Hero 8 is out but the extra feature dont really justify the extra cost IMHO and the new HyperSmooth is dare I say it just a bit too smooth for MTB and there's simply no feeling of speed or movement.

Chest or chin good. Chest gets more of an immersive feel, head you can obviously see where you are looking but most mounts put the camera a bit close to your neck in the event of an 'off'. You can get a cheap chest mount here plus a load of other good bits (the GoPro one is good but hella expensive)

I'm no-where near as conscious of the camera on the chest, so it's like start and forget. When it's been on the helmet that's only when I wear a full face which isn't all the time.

Hypersmooth is amazing but it does chew your battery. You don't need a massive PC/Mac to edit it. Unless you really want it I wouldn't bother with 4k, it's just too heavy on any PC unless you use proxies. 1080p or 2.7k is still awesome.

The GoPro Quik app is perfectly acceptable but if you want something passable you can use Davinci Resolve which is free. Adobe Premiere or Final Cut for more pro feature but they are both expensive.

Be mindful of the fact you'll end up with a hard disk full of video that you don't do much with..

This was all shot on a GoPro Hero 7 Black on my chin:

Great info, thanks heaps.
I think I’ll try and get the 7 Black as it looks like it is worth the extra coin. I don’t intend on using 4K and probs just stick to the 1080 or 2.7k tops.
That Avalanche looks mad fun.

 

[TheBikePilot]

Great info, thanks heaps.
I think I’ll try and get the 7 Black as it looks like it is worth the extra coin. I don’t intend on using 4K and probs just stick to the 1080 or 2.7k tops.
That Avalanche looks mad fun.

Start with 1080p, I've seen 1080p up-rezzed and you would never know..

Enjoy man

 

[Husky430]

Start with 1080p, I've seen 1080p up-rezzed and you would never know..

Enjoy man

Excuse my ignorance but what is "Up-rezzed" and how do you do it please. I usual shoot in 1080 at 60fps, though Santa has taken away my new GoPro 7, I'm using a Drift Ghost 4 at the moment. It has image stabilization but not as good at the GoPro. Looking forward to experimenting with the new camera after Christmas.
I'm using a Mac and just using I-movie for editing purposes. As for unused footage I'm finding that out of a couple of hours of filming I only end up with about 15-20 mins. As the Barber says 'a lot of it looks the same and a bit boring'

 

[Mikerb]

Best camera is Gopro....best model is Hero 7 Black. Best mount is chest mount with the only draeback that you need to remember to adjust the angle when you move from a seated section of ride to action position. Best setting for POV footage is (Imho....and Gopros) 1440 @60fps. It is well worthwhile learning both how to shoot video and how to edit it. Get a small tripod mount as well for non pov footage. It enhances any video to have more than one angle and off bike footage is also a brilliant training aid.

 

[Mikerb]

I bought a hero 7 black and great initially but it does make everything look flat and footage gets a bit repetitive after a while.
I probably need to edit but being a Luddite can't be arsed so end up with boring footage compared to what was actually going on at the time.

What do you mean by flat? If you mean flat colour you are possible set wrong because the colour on the 7 is very vibrant...if a little sharp...but that can be graded in post.
If you mean flat in terms of perspective, any camera footage taken from a relatively high position will flatten drop and climbs etc. Again that can be fixed to a degree with grading usually by adjusting contrast but the real answer is the lower the camera mount the greater it sees gradient...and speed.

 

[TheBikePilot]

I think he means Flat colour. Use Flat Colour if you want to grade it later in Post. It also uses more of the GoPro processor power to use GoPro colour. To get the vibrant colour in the camera it essentially loses some of the colour information from the original image. If you're not planning on grading I would leave it on GoPro Colour.

Up-Rezzing is essentially outputting the video at a greater resolution than it was originally shot in. The higher-end Editing software can do this. YouTube prioritises 4K footage when suggesting videos.

The new GoPro Max on the chest is the best POV I've seen and actually gives some perspective of speed. But, of course, it's another 500 odd quid..Otherwise, the 7 Black on the chest is pretty good, but it never looks like your even jumping or moving quick at all!!

Here's Rob's latest vid in insta..looks sick!

 

[thebarber]

Flattenes the trails.