Hoping to purchase go pro in next few days. It will mainly be for recording the kids doing stuff like cycling for first time, swimming etc but also for a bit of skiing both with them and without.
My online meanderings have led me to indicate the GoPro 4 Silver is the best one for me as it has the functionality of a touchscreen and the super hi res (4K) of the GoPro 4 black is prob of no real use to me given I'm not a professional cinematographer, and have no HD devices that would do it justice.
Just a few q's:
Has anyone either of these devices (or indeed other brands) that they would strongly recommend for skiing environment? I am concerned most about operating them with gloves on, i.e., ease of use. I have a high end smart phone but operating go pro through that will be similarly finnecky with gloves on.
In this regard maybe a selfie stick with controls on it solves all these problems?
Do you use waterproof housing when filming in snow? Would obv hope to take it into deep powder off piste. Does this make the touch screen redundant for me?
Similarly, if the touch screen doesn't face you, which I think is the case with the Silver, is it pointless in terms of assessing whether you're catching the right action? My favourite ski vid angle is on a hand held pole. is is possible to set the camera up so you can see on the screen what its looking at or is the screen on opposite side of the camera from the lens?
Any comments on battery life? One and a half hours seems pretty tight...
Given I will presumably have a better quality telly and computer in the next 5 - 10 years am I missing a trick by not getting the 4k functionality?
Any views or comments welcome, thanks in advance!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I bought a 4 silver last week. I've had a bit of a play with it so can probably answer a few of your questions.
When you have the outer casing on, you can still press the buttons reasonably comfortably with a pair of gloves on. Once you have your settings all set up (do that before you're on the slopes), there probably isn't much button pressing that needs to be done, other than start/stop.
With regards to the waterproof housing, if you plan to have the camera fixed to a stick, chest mount, head mount or any other mount, you will HAVE to have the waterproof housing ON anyway. Not because it may get wet, but it HAS to be used in order to fix it to the mounts properly. I've done a few short videos, and the quality of the picture is no worse with the waterproof casing on.
Obviously if you want to use it in deep powder then you should have the waterproof casing on. Yes it will make the touch screen redundant, however you can use your smart phone to do EVERYTHING that the touch screen does anyway.
You can buy a remote control for it which essentially does exactly the same as a smart phone does, the only advantage that I can see in having an actual remote is that the buttons are easier to press with a pair of gloves on, although i'm not 100% sure. I didn't buy a remote.
Again, if you are videoing yourself the touchscreen won't be facing you, but you can use your phone to check exactly what the camera is capturing.
Battery life I think is about 2-3 hours. Having the wifi off and touch screen off will increase the battery life.
I have bought a couple of spare batteries and a separate charger. This will allow me to just carry the charged spare batteries with me, and swap them whenever I want. So I could potentially record an entire days skiing - although I suspect i'd need a spare memory card too for so many hours of footage.
Lastly, any accessories like the mounts or batteries that you want to get, buy them on amazon. They are a fraction of the cost that the official GoPro ones cost. For example GoPro want about £20 for a head strap/mount alone, but you can buy a 20 piece kit with every single mount you will ever need, and a case for everything, for the same £20 on amazon.
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?
I have the original Hero, a couple of Mk2s plus the 4 black, all used for snowboarding.
They all work with mitts on. I like "one button mode", so you just press it once to run, once to stop. That way you conserve your battery and don't shoot useless footage (which is a pain to edit).
If you want to remote control it, use your smartphone. If you have poor close-up vision that's the easiest way to go. In practice you should not have to dick with the settings whilst using it anyway: set it, then just turn it on and off, don't muck with it.
Sticks... not so popular with skiers as with snowboarders. If you want to fit all of you in the frame then you need a long one (1.5m). Most are too short for that, but you can easily test them in a shop. The longest ski pole is almost long enough but not quite. I have never seen anyone use any of the remote controls in the field, although no doubt some people will.
I never use the waterproof housing, as I'm not riding in the rain and tnbey weigh a ton. I use the "frame mount" which is lighter, especially important for holding the camera on a 1.5m pole (because weight matters there).
I doubt a touch screen would work with gloves on, but I suppose it saves you using a smart phone.
For pole use, back in the day you'd just have to do it by trial and error. Now, it takes a couple of minutes with your pole and your smartphone to set the angle, then you know what it is and you'll never need to do that again.
Battery life: actually 1.5h of footage is rather a lot to edit. If you turn it off when there's nothing interesting to shoot you will have lots of small segments (easier to edit) and better battery life. I carry a spare battery, as they last less long in the cold, but two is plenty for me. An hour per battery is probably about what you get in cold snow conditions.
4k: it's not really about producing 4k video output. Vimeo maximum today is 720p. But if you've got 4k pixels then you can crop and pan within the frame, stabilize it, and your stills are way better quality. The downsides is that you will need a decent PC to edit it with - I've a rocket ship and it's fine, but trying to edit my footage on my laptop isn't so great. The silver would be fine I'm sure, I'd not worry about this if you're asking the question, if you see what I mean (if you "needed" it, you'd know why already).
And here's a couple of minutes of unedited 4k footage from the same week. Note that this is shot "loose" deliberately (with a long pole...) so I have some space to stabilize, crop and pan it, and muck with the colour somewhat. That stuff needs more compute power. Skiers do use these angles, but they also seem to like helmet mounted footage a lot (doesn't work so well with a snowboard)
Snowboarding in Blue River 2015-16 from phil 45464
As much as I'm utterly furious at GoPro for the price reduction on the Hero 4 session (paid £330 in July, it's now £170) - it's a wonderful camera and IMHO the best in the range (who really needs 4k? It's not great 4K to be honest)
The only Go Pro which you could legitimately have on your helmet all day - used it for a week mountain biking in Whistler and had it on all day, every day.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
The remote is useful if your mount is a la telly tubby, you don't have to ask people if its on or recording. I just loop it into my ski pole strap and forget about it.
The angle of the lens negates the need of a screen to see if your catching the action. If you can see the lens it's recording you!
If you do want decent sound and the ability to use all the mounts they do a back door with holes in that goes on the waterproof housing.
Your not necessarily missing a trick by not having 4k, recording at 1080p at a decent frame rate can produce some great footage. I've only a 3 hero black and have only used 4k once. I'm more of a fan of decent frame rate.
I've got a Hero4 Black. Unless you've got a big spec computer you probably won't be able to watch/edit the 4k film you've made. We've got a reasonably new imac and it barely works on that.
The 3-way stick is really handy for skiing and it's got a wee tripod built in. It's quite expensive but it might be on sale just now. I noticed the jaw clamp is on sale at the moment, it would be quite good for attaching it to a chairlift.
You can work it with gloves on. If you have the beeps switched on you'll hear if it's recording. I wouldn't bother with the remote as it's just as easy using the phone app.
The dual charger is also handy as you get a spare battery with it and you can charge 2 at once.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
This is EXACTLY the info I wanted, thanks everyone, searched long and hard for hands on reviewers from skiers but as usual snow heads has the answer
mikeycharlton wrote:
Lastly, any accessories like the mounts or batteries that you want to get, buy them on amazon. They are a fraction of the cost that the official GoPro ones cost. For example GoPro want about £20 for a head strap/mount alone, but you can buy a 20 piece kit with every single mount you will ever need, and a case for everything, for the same £20 on amazon.
I assume this means I can mount it to an ordinary ski pole to avoid carrying three poles around (subject to what Philwig points out about the average ski pole not being long enough to catch all the action)?
Philwig wrote:
4k: it's not really about producing 4k video output. Vimeo maximum today is 720p. But if you've got 4k pixels then you can crop and pan within the frame, stabilize it, and your stills are way better quality. The downsides is that you will need a decent PC to edit it with - I've a rocket ship and it's fine, but trying to edit my footage on my laptop isn't so great. The silver would be fine I'm sure, I'd not worry about this if you're asking the question, if you see what I mean (if you "needed" it, you'd know why already).
And here's a couple of minutes of unedited 4k footage from the same week. Note that this is shot "loose" deliberately (with a long pole...) so I have some space to stabilize, crop and pan it, and muck with the colour somewhat. That stuff needs more compute power. Skiers do use these angles, but they also seem to like helmet mounted footage a lot (doesn't work so well with a snowboard)
Salivating watching that footage. So, I'm watching that on Vimeo which is max 720, so I'm not getting the full HD effect? But the fact you shot it that way allows you to crop within the shot and tweak it after the fact? For instance that footage is super stable, looks like you're holding on to a ski lift or something. Is that a setting on the camera or the editing process and is it contingent on 4k or do you just get better results / better editing power with 4k?
To be honest, my best computer stalls completely when I use Dragon dictation so I can't see myself being able to take advantage of 4k. My existing laptop couldn't even play the vimeo vid without stalling.
My previous decision for the Silver over the Black was on the basis of the touch screen and being able to see what I was shooting and play it back. From the previous posts I definitely don't need to see what I'm shooting at the time. Am I better off just streaming it to my Smartphone? I've an S6 which has a whopper screen so will prob look better there than on the Go Pro screen. I presume it streams live and can play back over the smart phone?
On the other hand I would love to take some shots and footage that will look great in ten and twenty years time.
Meh I still think the Silver makes more sense....
After all it is free
After all it is free
Actually what SD card (if any) comes with them? Have had bad experience buying hispeed cards on line that turn out not to actually be hi speed and therefore cannot actually record footage
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.
No SD card comes with them (well didn't with my 4 black)
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Get a Class 10 micro SD card. I've never had a card problem with GoPro's and make sure you wipe the card every morning.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
8611 wrote:
.... So, I'm watching that on Vimeo which is max 720, so I'm not getting the full HD effect? But the fact you shot it that way allows you to crop within the shot and tweak it after the fact? For instance that footage is super stable, looks like you're holding on to a ski lift or something. Is that a setting on the camera or the editing process and is it contingent on 4k or do you just get better results / better editing power with 4k?...
You can pay for Vimeo Premium which lets you put more pixels on there I believe, but essentially you are correct. In that case, because I'm travelling, I have not edited the footage (it's segmented together, but not played around with), so that's fresh from the camera, just down-sized to 720p. When I get back to my decent computer I will probably actually stabilize it (the effect you see is from the pole, it's not stabilized), and also crop into it (so you can zoom in and pan about a bit, using an editor). That is the luxury of 4k, although you have to not fill the frame with your subject or you can't do it.
You'll be fine with the silver, The "session" is worth a look too - that's a neater form factor and chances are it does everything anyone needs. I'd buy fewer toys first, then once you know what you're doing, buy what you actually need. I suspect most people buy a lot of stuff they don't need/ use.
Oh, cards. I use a pair of 64G cards for protune 4k recording and I never wipe them on a trip. I can get two week's footage (how much are you actually going to shoot for that 2 minute video?) on them. I just rotate the cards each day and back them up to my laptop. I never delete from the cards on a trip: that's my golden source.
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.
8611 wrote:
Actually what SD card (if any) comes with them? Have had bad experience buying hispeed cards on line that turn out not to actually be hi speed and therefore cannot actually record footage
This is one of the few occasions where eI say don't buy online. Go to a reputable shop.
Faking memory size and speed of SD's is a well known auction site/reseller scam.
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
Got a GoPro 3 plus silver. No screen, and you dont need it as lense is really wide angle. So unless you've got it pointing the wrong way its great. Does everything we need for family videos. Very happy.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@8611, yea something like that. There are plenty of different variations for accessory kits, but they all cost around £20.
I don't actually have a mount to attach it to a ski pole, although the selfie stick is telescopic so folds up pretty small.........Actually i'm now wondering whether the handle bar mount will work on a ski pole(?) Perhaps someone else can advise?
As others have mentioned, you'll need to buy the SD card separately, make sure it's a Class 10 micro SD card. The spare battery and charger are probably worth investing in too. I bought 2 spare batteries and a docker (it can charge upto 3 batteries simultaneously) all for about £15.
The touch screen on the silver 4 isn't essential but it's quite a nice option to have, especially when you're just getting used to how all the settings and functions work. It's a bit easier than scrolling through your smart phone, and much easier than the 3rd option of scrolling - which is basically using the 3 buttons on the camera to navigate your way through the settings.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Thanks all for good advice and making the effort to make detailed posts, I know where I'm going now, all I need is some snow, on which point I retire to the thread covering that...
Thanks again, much appreciated
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Just to throw a spanner in the works....
Ive just bought the sony action cam 4k (they do a 4k and 1080 version)
What I love about it is the live view remote so I can check what my cam is shooting and control it when its on my head, bike, RC cars etc etc
have a look
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I modified one of the mounts it came with and fixed it to the end of my ski pole with wire and duct tape. Worked all of last season and still going strong.
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?
PaulC1984 wrote:
Just to throw a spanner in the works....
Ive just bought the sony action cam 4k (they do a 4k and 1080 version)
What I love about it is the live view remote so I can check what my cam is shooting and control it when its on my head, bike, RC cars etc etc
You can do that with the gopro app.
For such a tiny camera is also takes great photos. My Glenshee pic on the new snowheads calendar was taken with my hero4.
They are cracking bits of kit. Still photos with the sony are amazing too
Does go pro only do an app?
Joy of the sony live view remote is it can be taken swimming, surfing etc too (can't do that with an app on your phone )
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
PaulC1984 wrote:
Just to throw a spanner in the works....
Ive just bought the sony action cam 4k
Not adverse to going off piste in terms of manufacturer but hard to resist GoPro as they've been at it ages, make a very good and refined product, you know what you're getting and they've a lot of support and cheap non official accessories. It's just easier.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@8611, i always used to travel with a small laptop and down loaded the gopro clips each night to the laptop. however i invested in a western digital my passport wireless which has an SD card input and has its own built in wifi. now i just travel with an ipad and wireless hard drive and can view the clips on my ipad straight from the wd my passport. it was about £120 and worth every penny.
unless you are into serious film editing i cant see the point of 4K - the quality of my 1080 is fantastic, just takes so much time to delete the rubbish from the days clips..
After all it is free
After all it is free
philwig wrote:
But if you've got 4k pixels then you can crop and pan within the frame, stabilize it, and your stills are way better quality. The downsides is that you will need a decent PC to edit it with - I've a rocket ship and it's fine, but trying to edit my footage on my laptop isn't so great. The silver would be fine I'm sure, I'd not worry about this if you're asking the question, if you see what I mean (if you "needed" it, you'd know why already).
How decent a spec PC? I've got a half decent gaming PC with
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-6600K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960
I'm only really half interested, and probably wouldn't opt for 4k anyway, but interested to know whether my computer could cope with it.
Also what's the sound like? Most people seem to play music on their videos, so I assume not good, but I'd primarily be using it for motorsport where sound makes a big difference, with the odd bit of mountain biking too. It would likely be stuck out in the wind though, this video is my current camera (£75 Kodak thing off Amazon) and gives an idea of how exposed it is.
Also does the GoPro app need data connectivity or does it do it through wireless network? Most the places I'd want to use it are hilly parts of Devon and have limited signal of any kind.
Got to admit that the Hero4 Session looks like a really good choice for me, limited on the resolution but being smaller and half the price is a big advantage
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.
I bought my son a Garmin Virb for his Christmas. I picked it up for £74 from SportPursuit. It is heavier than a GoPro (I have a 3+ Black) but the shape means it is lower profile on his helmet. The big advantage is the screen on top where you can see what is being filmed plus a big sliding switch on the side that means it is easily operated by an 8 year old. He tried it out during his race camp last week and managed to switch it on and off easily.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I have used GOPro's since the original Hero came out. One of my most useful mounts is the Pole mount. If you buy the official GOPro one then it comes with an insert so it will fit on a ski pole. This is brilliant for filming other members of your group or just taking shots of your self whilst skiing. Remember though that if you put it at the sharp end try not to stab anyone accidentally.
4 Silver is definately the one to go for at the moment due to the screen as makes it much easier to frame shots.
I don't shoot at 4K as like the fact I can slowmo the video if needed at the higher frame rates you get with 720 and 1080.
As much as I'm utterly furious at GoPro for the price reduction on the Hero 4 session (paid £330 in July, it's now £170) - it's a wonderful camera and IMHO the best in the range (who really needs 4k? It's not great 4K to be honest)
The only Go Pro which you could legitimately have on your helmet all day - used it for a week mountain biking in Whistler and had it on all day, every day.
+1 for the above, I have just received one as a Christams present and cannot fault it. Probably does everything you will need but half the size of a silver or Black and now almost half the price and they are offering a free 32gb micro Sd card too at the moment.
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.
Also what's the sound like? Most people seem to play music on their videos, so I assume not good,
I got my HERO 4 Black for 20th Anniversary from mrs sev112 in May this year.
as it hasn't snowed in Berks since then it's been used for a bit of golf, cycling and recording my playing guitar and singing
Extremely pleasantly surprised about the sound quality - am not uploading any clips of me singing on here, but the quality is great so I just use it a lot for this at the moment
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
SnoodyMcFlude wrote:
How decent a spec PC? I've got a half decent gaming PC with
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-6600K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960
I'd guess that'll work, although there's one way to find out. Although back in the day "gaming" graphics wasn't that much help, with the newer Premiere Pro you can make use of even AMD graphics acceleration for some of the processing. Actually the GoPro Cineform codecs are pretty efficient (they thought about this issue in advance) for editing 4k. If you fiddle with the settings you can make CC use these as the intermediate codec, which allegedly will give better performance. But hey, life's too short for poor performing computers.
Sound? Short answer or long answer? Short answer: well there is some sound. Longer answer: the sound's better with the frame mount, but for riding, you get mostly wind noise. I have a little Olympus recorder which has a wind shield and which produces astoundingly good audio which is what I'd be mixing in should I need anything more than engine noises or snow crust sound. Most people use music I guess because snow doesn't sound that interesting, mostly.
Motorsport - is that a Caterham? If so Petrol Heads is the place to ask about that. I think people rig the sound the way they want it, but you'd not (I'd guess) have a wind-exposed GoPro to record your engine noise. You could use an external mic on the GoPro, or a separate device as above.
You don't need any connectivity other than to get the video off the memory at some point. So if (like me) you get a few 64G chips then you just record away and then worry about it when you get home. The mobile-phone remote-control uses bluetooth,.
I saw someone using a session, seemed like a neat unit. When they bring out a 4k version I may look at that...
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Dunny#1 wrote:
As much as I'm utterly furious at GoPro for the price reduction on the Hero 4 session (paid £330 in July, it's now £170) - it's a wonderful camera and IMHO the best in the range (who really needs 4k? It's not great 4K to be honest)
The only Go Pro which you could legitimately have on your helmet all day - used it for a week mountain biking in Whistler and had it on all day, every day.
I got the Hero 4 Session from Halfords for £149 with a £10 off coupon. Looking forward to going somewhere snowy to try it out.
At that new low price, it looked the best in the range for me as a first-time amateur user and it's so tiny you can mount it unobtrusively anywhere.
Sorry I can't offer any comparisons with other models as it's the first action cam I've owned.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Cheers, thanks for your response.
Car is my old man's Westfield. As it's about the third of the price of a Caterham we aren't quite so worried about how much it'll cost of we get it wrong I wouldn't be looking for crystal clear sound but it would nice to get something a bit clearer than the camera I use now...although to be honest the videos are only really going to be interesting if I get something wrong.
Will do a bit of investigation on external microphones (hadn't even crossed my mind), as long as I could get it out of the wind then it would probably suit my purpose.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
My business partner has a Caterham and rigs an external mic on his GoPros. I think there is a socket for that on the GopPros he has, although he's an electronics guy too, so he may have done some clever stuff also. When he got it wrong there was mysteriously no video, although his tales of hanging upside down whilst talking to the ambulance guys are quite interesting - he discovered that for him the most dangerous part of crashing was releasing the racing harness thing, which dropped him onto his head. Unlike most UK drivers he was wearing a helmet (see helmet thread for more on that..)
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
philwig wrote:
My business partner has a Caterham and rigs an external mic on his GoPros. I think there is a socket for that on the GopPros he has, although he's an electronics guy too, so he may have done some clever stuff also. When he got it wrong there was mysteriously no video, although his tales of hanging upside down whilst talking to the ambulance guys are quite interesting - he discovered that for him the most dangerous part of crashing was releasing the racing harness thing, which dropped him onto his head. Unlike most UK drivers he was wearing a helmet (see helmet thread for more on that..)
Fingers crossed I never have to experience being upside down Can't believe this is turning into a helmet thread but, as we pretty much only use it for motorsport, I nearly always have a helmet on when I'm driving it. So far my biggest accident has only resulted in dented pride and a small bit of fibre glass to repair (along with a certain part of my anatomy twitching like someone being tasered).
Back on topic - Seems like the Session doesn't have an external mic option but have found some videos by bikers that don't seem too bad for wind noise (as long as his speedo is reading in mph not kph). Certainly seems like an option but I just have to work out if I actually need it. The main benefit over my existing camera is pretty much just because it's compact and has the benefit of the various mounting options that GoPro offer. I've also wanted a GoPro since I first saw them, always seem like they package the whole deal so much better than other manufacturers...although guess that's largely a marketing thing.
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?
Just got my hero 4 silver. Going powder hunting on Wed. Not planning on bringing laptop, don't think I'll get any great footage but just want to get used to using it and will delete each day then (assume I can edit a bit between it and phone).
Anyone any experience using smart phone charger? GoPro suggest one with a 5v 1amp output. I have one with 5v 850 mAmps, or one thats 5v and 2amps. I assume it'll be fine bit would rather not fry it?
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
I wouldn't be looking for crystal clear sound but it would nice to get something a bit clearer than the camera I use now...although to be honest the videos are only really going to be interesting if I get something wrong.
