 Poster: A snowHead
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Can anyone recommend any accessory bundles for a Go Pro 4 silver
Just looking on Amazon and there seems to be various makes (Afunta, Deyard etc) that offer bundles of mounts significantly cheaper than buying specific Go Pro ones separately- they all seem to have good reviews too- so anyone got any of them and any feedback?
Also am I better going for the bigger 64G memory card over a 32 one?- How much filming do you get on each .
Is it advisable to get back up batteries too?
All I know is the model of Go Pro I want - no idea about all the bits and pieces so any advice welcome! 
Is for OH's B day - we are not extreme skiers by any means or looking to make fab films (I don't think!)- just to record our holidays for ourselves and not to inflict others on Youtube! - will be mainly for skiing, mountain biking and a bit of under water stuff
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Argos have the battery pack on offer just now http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5636493.htm I bought the double battery charger which has comes with a spare battery. My 32GB memory can store about an hours worth of 4K film and about 90 mins of 1080. I also got the 3 way grip and the chesty harness.
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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?
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It's entirely personal choice. I think most of that stuff you don't need, in the real world.
I use 64G cards for the 4-black, and each gets a bit over 2 hours of protune 4k footage on it. So one of those will do about three weeks intensive use for me (because I only shoot stuff which may be vaguely interesting). Check the GoPro site and they'll probably tell you how much you can get on whatever card shooting at whatever rate.
Batteries... I have two, and I can just about burn through both on a cold day of a lot of use. You have to charge the batteries in-situ, but they charge fast and that cuts down on the amount of junk you have to carry.
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Smatree do good value aftermarket batteries as do others. I have an smatree 3 battery charger and a few of their batteries. Work well, but one word of caution is that they don't have the over heat circuit built in like the genuine gopro batteries. What this means is that if the camera or battery start to get a little warmer than it should the camera won't auto shut down. Has plus sides and downsides and you take the risk.
I personally prefer a few 32gb card and spare batteries over 64gb cards and battery backpacks.
Also not that gopro have updated their recommended card list for the new SanDisk card just released and available at hobbymounts with forum discount still i think.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Thanks for replies folks.
Got it all ordered up now- went for the smaller card and a few extra batteries - can always get another card at a later date if needed. Also just ordered three separate mounts as agree probably wouldn't use most of them. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| philwig wrote: |
It's entirely personal choice. I think most of that stuff you don't need, in the real world.
I use 64G cards for the 4-black, and each gets a bit over 2 hours of protune 4k footage on it. So one of those will do about three weeks intensive use for me (because I only shoot stuff which may be vaguely interesting). Check the GoPro site and they'll probably tell you how much you can get on whatever card shooting at whatever rate.
Batteries... I have two, and I can just about burn through both on a cold day of a lot of use. You have to charge the batteries in-situ, but they charge fast and that cuts down on the amount of junk you have to carry. |
Have you got a link to the memory card you use? Cheers
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| Deedee wrote: |
| Have you got a link to the memory card you use? Cheers |
The GoPro recommendations were out of date - the specifications of these change almost weekly. I believe mine are these. I actually had a mate in California pick a handful of them up when they were on special offer from Frys or Comp USA just before xmas - I got a very good deal that way. I'm in the UK, but inevitably the snow isn't, so I like to to buy stuff where it's cheapest.
I had no problems at all with these, using 4k Protune. I just rotate the cards so if I lose the camera and/or the card I don't lose too much important. They're the "fingernail" sized SD cards, so the main thing is you probably don't want to change them in the field.
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| philwig wrote: |
| Deedee wrote: |
| Have you got a link to the memory card you use? Cheers |
The GoPro recommendations were out of date - the specifications of these change almost weekly. I believe mine are these. I actually had a mate in California pick a handful of them up when they were on special offer from Frys or Comp USA just before xmas - I got a very good deal that way. I'm in the UK, but inevitably the snow isn't, so I like to to buy stuff where it's cheapest.
I had no problems at all with these, using 4k Protune. I just rotate the cards so if I lose the camera and/or the card I don't lose too much important. They're the "fingernail" sized SD cards, so the main thing is you probably don't want to change them in the field. |
I`ve got one of the 32gb extreme cards. Noticed some of the footage was a bit jumpy, even when i had it down at 1080p. Do you think it`s better to get the faster extreme plus version?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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do you mean jumpy when You play it back on a laptop/pc? If so are you playing it directly from the card or copying to a local drive? Also what media player are you using?
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The best thing I've bought is the remote control as you can start and stop it so easily you don't end up recording the really really boring stuff.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| ansta1 wrote: |
| do you mean jumpy when You play it back on a laptop/pc? If so are you playing it directly from the card or copying to a local drive? Also what media player are you using? |
Was only slightly jumpy on my laptop and via the app on my mobile when i was watching a clip back. I`ll try it on the iMac and see if it`s ok on there.
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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.
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@Deedee, you need a minimum 10+ speed Micro SD card in my experience.
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@Deedee, What ansta1 said. The card speed has to be enough for the camera to record to it. If there's a problem with that, you will find out at record time. I'm not sure what precisely would happen with a GoPro 4, but with a GoPro 2 if you used a card which was too slow the camera would crash.
"Choppy" sounds like you're playing the footage back, so if something's too slow it's probably the thing you're playing it on, or the link from the card to what you're playing it on. It should play back fine (say) on an Android phone connected by WiFi to the camera. If you're playing 4k footage on a computer and it's "choppy", that's likely either a problem with the computer's lack of power, or the connection you have to the source file.
Note that playing back 4k footage at 1080p doesn't necessarily help, as your computer still has to load all the 4k stuff before throwing away 3/4ths of it. If you record at 4k and have that problem, you can transcode the footage down to something smaller. Commercial editing software or (free) Mpeg Streamclip or probably the GoPro studio software will do that. Once you have the file saved as 1080p, it may play better.
Personally what I do is shoot at 4k, then edit down to 1080p for the net. That means I can crop and zoom within the frame (which is why 4k is useful today). For what it's worth I did cut a 4k video and it's huge, but it is rather impressive, at least to me. My company bought me a serious computer precisely for that - old hardware won't cut it.
VLC is probably the best universal media player and it's free.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
The best thing I've bought is the remote control as you can start and stop it so easily you don't end up recording the really really boring stuff.
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+1 I've and as a bonus it eliminates the need to ask someone if the camera is recording!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@PollSki, or use iphone app.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Markymark29, I do use the android (not got an iphone) app to help with initial framing, but it is far quicker to start and stop recording using the remote, and it is more robust than a phone. That said, I have only just received the remote so I'll see how much I use it when I go in Feb.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@PollSki, I had one and sold it because iphone app was easier (and less likely to get lost)....both do a job though and I agree asking for "red light on?" gets tedious!!
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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?
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Each to their own. Me, I find the Android app useful for initial framing, which I have to do once per new setup only. After that, I want the WiFi off, as that's my battery it's using. I also want the LEDs all off, as they show up in the video if you've anything close by to reflect them in (like a nice expensive carbon fibre GoPro pole for example). I leave the beep on, so it's easy to confirm when you switch it on and off.
You do need to only turn the things on when it's interesting though, or you'll need a humongous amount of cards and batteries, and all summer to edit out the garbage.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The remote came with my gopro and Ive never used it, just use the phone as I always have that on me and you can see what the cameras looking at.
As for mounts, I went abit mad and bought loads of them and have cobbled aload of them together to create a very versatile kind of multi mount, if you get the handlebar mount and a grab bag or 2 you can attach all the extention bits together onto the top of the handlebar mount and then attach this to a ski pole, because youve added several of the extentions on it gives you almost 360 degrees of rotation in all axis's.
the other one I use most is the head mount although Ive just got the chest mount so that may take its place as the head mount looks abit funny on your head if you dont wear a helmet.
I stuck the sticky mounts on hte front and back of a ski, the front one looks good but it gets covered in snow within 30 seconds so kind of useless, mounting it on the back gets some great results though.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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If you have a hero4, the wifi will turn itself off after a few minutes either way, thats why the new one requires bluetooth connection, basically the wifi goes into sleep mode and then the bluetooth ping will awaken the wifi as and when you need it.
and as @philwig, says VLC is one of the best free media players.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| medlington wrote: |
| I stuck the sticky mounts on hte front and back of a ski, the front one looks good but it gets covered in snow within 30 seconds so kind of useless, mounting it on the back gets some great results though. |
Do you face it forwards or backwards?
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@Deedee,makes no difference you can slide the mount in either way or turn the camera around on the mounting arm...
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| ansta1 wrote: |
| @Deedee,makes no difference you can slide the mount in either way or turn the camera around on the mounting arm... |
I meant which way do you face the camera? Does it look better forward or backwards?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Ahhh, either way works. Facing forward it will get clogged up with snow pretty quickly, facing backwards allows for some interesting angles. Use them both and cut the footage into the edit.
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Tried the sticky mount on the back of my ski and it fell off straight away.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| philwig wrote: |
@Deedee, What ansta1 said. The card speed has to be enough for the camera to record to it. If there's a problem with that, you will find out at record time. I'm not sure what precisely would happen with a GoPro 4, but with a GoPro 2 if you used a card which was too slow the camera would crash.
"Choppy" sounds like you're playing the footage back, so if something's too slow it's probably the thing you're playing it on, or the link from the card to what you're playing it on. It should play back fine (say) on an Android phone connected by WiFi to the camera. If you're playing 4k footage on a computer and it's "choppy", that's likely either a problem with the computer's lack of power, or the connection you have to the source file.
Note that playing back 4k footage at 1080p doesn't necessarily help, as your computer still has to load all the 4k stuff before throwing away 3/4ths of it. If you record at 4k and have that problem, you can transcode the footage down to something smaller. Commercial editing software or (free) Mpeg Streamclip or probably the GoPro studio software will do that. Once you have the file saved as 1080p, it may play better.
Personally what I do is shoot at 4k, then edit down to 1080p for the net. That means I can crop and zoom within the frame (which is why 4k is useful today). For what it's worth I did cut a 4k video and it's huge, but it is rather impressive, at least to me. My company bought me a serious computer precisely for that - old hardware won't cut it.
VLC is probably the best universal media player and it's free. |
philwig. Got another question you might be able to help with 
When i take photos with the gopro they come out square. What`s the quick way to convert them into wide angle stills? Can`t seem to get it right. I`ve got photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 5.
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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.
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Thinking of buying spare battery for GP4 Black.Anyone used cheap one from ebay?Are theyeven worth considering or should I go for original one?
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| pytek23 wrote: |
| Thinking of buying spare battery for GP4 Black.Anyone used cheap one from ebay?Are theyeven worth considering or should I go for original one? |
If you get the dual charger it comes with an extra battery. Bit more expensive but the charger is really handy.
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You know it makes sense.
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Smatree triple charger. However i must add none of the 3rd party batteries (smatree, wasabi) have overheat protection circuit.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Deedee wrote: |
| ...When i take photos with the gopro they come out square. What`s the quick way to convert them into wide angle stills? Can`t seem to get it right. I`ve got photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 5. |
Lazy answer, without looking up the specifications...
I'm not sure what the native sensor aspect ratio is in the GoPro, but 4:3 is what I'd guess. So like old TV, which is nearly square. That's probably what you're seeing. So if you want it a wider aspect ratio... you just need to crop the top and bottom off. That's not a churlish answer, I think it's right. So, the quick way is simply to crop 'em in Lightroom to your preferred format (press "D", then pick the crop tool, set your preferred ratio...).
Here's my reasoning... If you shoot 4k format (which is 16:9), the camera has to ignore the top and bottom pixels from the sensor, so you get less vertical field of view. This is why "superview" mode exists: it takes the 4:3 native ratio (my assumption above) and "stretches" the left and right ends of the frame to fit 16:9. The result is that you can shoot 16:9 without losing vertical field of view (or pixels), so you can use a shorter pole without cutting your head/ board off than you could without superview.
Snowboarding in Blue River 2014-2015 from phil 45464 Here is my example of that - shot in 4k, on Vimeo at 720p. I'm using CS6 also, which has the Warp stabilizer built in. The adjustment layers and the general UI improvements are nice too. That's a work in progress.
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For what it's worth, other stuff I just learnt which otherwise I've no where to write down:
- The GPU acceleration for CS6 includes AMD now, but not the big gaming cards yet.
- You need to shoot very loose to leave headroom for stabilization and other effects if you're intending to output at (say) 1080p from 4k source.
- If you don't stabilize a pole-shot, then the rider end of the pole will wobble a bit. If that is sufficient to be annoying, you can stabilize it with the Warp Stabilizer, and then "the camera end" of the pole will appear to wobble, as the rider becomes more stable relative to it. The first two riding sequences in that video have Warp Stabilizing so you can see "the camera end" wobble. Later sequences don't (they're smoother to start with), so you can see the pole bend and move near the rider's hand.
- You need even more space around the subject if you want to pan or zoom much. Use the longest pole you can get.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I sorted it out in CS6 after a lot of messing about. Image > Image size then click on the lock icon on the right and it worked. I knew how to crop it in Lightroom but thought there might have been a better way.
That`s a still from Glenshee a few days ago [img] [/img]
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FAQ
