I'm considering purchasing a GoPro camera outfit for surfing, of course, and was wondering if anybody has any feedback both + and - of the product. Not looking for online reviews as I have been there extensively. Just real "local" people reviews here.
Mahalo ; D
they're kind of cheesy. but if you just want an inexpensive rig to get some water shots / footage of friends they're a good option for the money. audio quality blows. battery life was pretty poor on the rig i tried a few years back. and of course you need really good natural lighting, don't expect anything but shit (or possibly "arty") back if its not bright sun low on the horizon, facing into the surf.
if you're just wanting to snap stills you will get equivalent results in good light with a disposable. possibly even better if developed somewhere other than walgreens. and you can buy a cheap water-resistant disposable, dis-assemble it, take the shitty film out, and drop better film (exa: fuji velvia/provia, or kodak portra) into it.... its hooptie, but beats spending $3k to snag a few decent shots of your friends dropping in
I've been having some fun with mine. The HD version does pretty well with poor lighting, I shot this after sunset. Battery life, needs a charge before every session.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=700223339718&ref=mf
Dakota is talking about the old version which was pretty crappy image-wise. The newer HD version is great. Really fun and it's actually instructive too to go back and see what you did or could have done. How many times have you asked yourself "what exactly happened on that wave?" (either good or bad). It's cool to be able to go back and see. $220 at some places. I got mine from 'Swim Outlet' online or something (in the eastbay I think). If you do get one I can offer you a few tips based on my experience. Let me know.
Surfingstoke/daniel.. how do you attach it to your wrist? Their website says the HD strap is coming soon. I definitely want some video to improve and see what I need work on.
Et all; thanks for the input, and yes my question too is how do you attach it to your wrist since the HD wrist strap is not currently available? I see that REI carries them but past experience has not been good and informative with the employees at REI up here in Santa Rosa, or their corporate customer service either.
Any stores carry them in the City/Bay Area?
indeed, the one i tried was not hd, the specs for that say its f/2.8 fixed and glass, which is a major improvement over the old one... that footage looks good for low light.
I use the deck mount instead of the wrist strap. I don't know why they don't have one for the HD yet but I think the wrist strap would be too jittery for 'self' filming. It would be great if you filming someone's ride from the water though. The deck cam gives you a really stable view and you see everything since the lens is fish-eyed like in the video below from GoPro's site:
If you need a wrist strap, buy local http://www.goldenhourcompany.com/product.htm
Colin is Ace.
This is intended to be used for those new set of cams that are waterproof, and have a standard tripod fitting.
Works great!
