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Which GoPro and accessories?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
and with gimbals on the mind..... recently funded on Kickstarter...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/48127572/easygimbal-an-advanced-gopro-3-camera-stabilizer
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Wow.. very impressive!
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
isnt it, can see Graham Bell using one on Ski Sunday, but it may make his run look a little more pedestrian.. (even though the final footage you see is cut from more than one run). Not taking away anything from him doing a WC downhill conditioned course at pace.
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hmm, just doing some reading on the + focus issues, some of the demo videos/pics really are quite disappointing.....

I wonder if they will/can 'fix' the new models?

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Neither of those look like GoPro 3 quality, I assume they are blown up?
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there is a lot of noise but no answer from gopro, people are shouting about all sorts of things but no official word from gopro as of yet. I have all my hd3 blacks back and will run a side by side comparison tomorrow and report back as soon as possible.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
George 3G, yes they are crops

Video perhaps shows it better, actually not sure a standard user would notice any difference, it's only when folk are zooming in by 400% that it becomes noticeable...

You need to watch this in 1080p.....


http://youtube.com/v/ayYmVeZnknI#t=66
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
and equally there are people saying the 3+ is better, there are also (easy to find on google) people saying the official video was made using 3 and not 3+ and showing evidence (blown up photos and the like).

I have my hd3B cameras back now and will conduct my own side by side tests.
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i thought the gopro was aimed at the POV action camera category which to me means action that would be close to the camera not in the distance - so clarity on the nearer subject would be more important than background.

i dont know about the techie side of it but the 2 photos shown with the boats are clearly taken at different times (look at the clouds) and therefore have different light conditions and therefore must have some effect on the resulting picture.
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A thing to mention about the still image side of things, the compression factor on the hd3b is set to a quality level of 98, on the plus it's only 93. File sizes on the plus are a lot smaller the the standard black, I fully expect that to change in the next firmware release.
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ansta1, looking forward to your comparisons!! Are you taking both the 3 and the 3+ to Tignes? Perhaps we could do some comparisons there of skiing and I can decide which one to go for???
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
kitenski, Yep I will take at least one of the HD1,HD2, HD3B and HD3B+ plus a few other bits potentially. I am there from the 7th to the 10th session.

Probably not going to get the comparisons done today as it's pishing down and that won't make for the best comparison, it is due to brighten up a little later, if I do get the chance I'll get them on drop box tonight (though it may be a lot later as its a birthday for someone in our house, not Mrs A, Junior A or Junior2 A Very Happy )
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
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update - Sun is out, looks like I may get a short comparison clip recorded, you have been warned it will be boring and there will be no snow, no helmets, no mucky stuff but the car does have winter tyres on... Happy
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
latest word is that gopro are looking into an issue with some units, that is from gopro support, so whilst it may be from them it doesn't constitute an official response as such.

2 short clips made yesterday afternoon, I made a boo boo and one unit is 25fps, the other was 50fps. These are straight out of the cameras and haven't had any processing done on them.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b9a3oi81qtto861/A07lVmGx3l
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Hi Ansta1,

Which file is taken by which camera??

Cheers,

Greg
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Can you not tell?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I'd say 0229 is much better quality.....
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
The answer is posted somewhere else you asked. But for clarity to those who don't know where that is. Left side is the plus right side is the black.
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Yep 229 is the old black, 2 is the black plus.
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interesting then...did you also think older black has better quality then??
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I did, the only caveat is one is at 25fps (plus) and the old black was at 50fps, but that wouldn't in my view have caused the differences. As you've joined me and a couple of other snowHead in the other world you will see that what folks are now waiting for is the official answer. It also seems that some people with earlier production models (mine are badged as a September build, but some have August builds) are saying their footage is sharp across the range.

In reality would you notice the difference on the side of a mountain if you are just recoding skiing, I'd guess not, the copter guys will because generally they are shooting at a distance and also moving slowly across complex scenes.

I am guessing that Gopro will issue a formal recall, or at least a statement in the next couple of days.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
ansta1, I think I would notice a difference, based on your car footage....will wait and see now!! The first time I saw skiing footage from my mates Black I was amazed at the quality compared to my Contour.

As long as I have something I can use for a trip to Australia mid Dec I'll be happy, so I have some time for a recall/statement to take affect Smile
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
kitenski, As mentioned before, there will be a black and black plus (as well as HD1 and HD2's) to play with on the IOS trip to tignes in Nov. I suspect it won't be fully resolved by then, so we will see how the two actually compare in a 'skiing' environment.
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yeh cheers, that'll be my evenings sorted then, best bring my laptop Smile

Do you hire these things out (seem to remember someone did on the forums!)
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Yep 229 is the old black, 2 is the black plus.
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well it seems I was wrong, having been correctly challenged, file number 002 is the HD3B and filenumber 229 is the HD3B - Plus...

going to rerun the test and reload.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
I hope you'd have rerun the test if it had verified your initial assumption. NehNeh
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Test has been rerun and data uploading to the same folder as used previously.

Left hand view is plus, right hand view is old black.

Haven't reviewed the footage other than to confirm which file is from which model.

001 is old black
230 is new black plus
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
files uploaded...

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b9a3oi81qtto861/A07lVmGx3l

001 is old black
230 is Black plus
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I wrapped duct tape round my pole to pad it out to the seat post size. Seems to work ok and only takes a minute to do.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
ansta1 wrote:
files uploaded...

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b9a3oi81qtto861/A07lVmGx3l

001 is old black
230 is Black plus


Link has been disabled Andy, too much traffic lol
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Latest I can read is that some folk have improved the long distance sharpness of their Black+ massively by readjusting the focal length of their camera. I'm pretty sure they are invalidating their warranty by manually breaking the glue and twisting the lens!!

GoPro support seem to be slowly acknowledging the issue....extract from a support email below:

Quote:
you are experiencing loss of clarity or focus at a distance, this is not an expected outcome. It's possible that there may have been a potential issue with the production of your particular camera if you're seeing a loss of focus. While we have heard reports of this from some customers it is definitely not something that affects a majority of our cameras
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
kitenski, as you know, but for the benefit of others there are really 2 reported issues.

1. loss of sharpness at distance
2. Out of focus across a single plane.

for which

1. May be intentional (but the slow message out of gopro hq seems to go against that position) but also may be a manufacturing issue, still no official word from gopro, and may even not be forthcoming at all
2. Definitely a manufacturing issue

As you say people are cracking their cameras open and adjusting the lens with some pretty good results, despite what the folks are saying around documented support cases etc etc, I reckon they will possibly struggle if gopro do come back and say it's a fault to get their camera replaced under warranty.

I still have to do a side by side still image test to look at that aspect but there are plenty of people who are reporting 'no issue' or just plain 'I am happy'. These maybe people who geuinely have no issue, people who have had other cameras where the quality isn't as good so the gopro looks fine or they just like the way it captures the closer areas better. Who really knows.

My cameras are un fettered and will remain so for at least until after the IOS trip to tignes in 15 (yes just 15 ) days. Unless I review the still images and they are really bad beforehand but I certainly wont be taking a screwdriver and a pair of pipe grips to the camera at this stage, and I do mod them I will be doing so at my own risk and won't then be shouting foul if gopro do issue a recall and they tell me "no as you have modified the camera."
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Do you know what mounts your bringing to Tignes?? ansta1,
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what mounts do you want me to bring?
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ansta1, wrist, helmet, chest??

If/when I Get one I'd use it for skiing, biking, scuba/snorkelling on the Great Barrier reef and with family trips to theme parks etc so I reckon those 3 mounts would cover all use scenarios wouldn't they??
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
wrist - yep (but I don't have any hero 3 or 3+) wrist housings, so it's 2 or 1 only for that one.
Helmet (both vented and elasticated) - yep
chest - yep
adhesive - yep
pole - yep

and maybe a couple of others if I have space (weight).
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
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What does everyone use for editing footage? I have a relatively old version of iMovie and am wondering whether it's worth updating it or getting some better editing softeware.
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cineform or mpeg clip for converting to a less compressed format if required.
Video studio for the NLE and final render phase, though cineform now has more editing functionality built in.

But I don't do very many huge or complicated edits.

for reference I am a Windoze user rather than apple products.
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ansta1, I've got a 3Black. If I wanted to get one of the new housings that come with the 3+Black are they available for sale? The new housings look small than the previous version, so would be good to reduce the size of the package a little bit further.
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