First post, so be easy on me! I have searched the forum but can’t really get any pin point answers to my questions.
Having taken up skiing last year and now looking forward to my first ski holiday in les deux alps in Feb, I am planning on getting a camera. The three I have chosen to be contenders are -
1. GP Hero 3 Silver Edition
2. Drift HD Ghost
3. Contour Roam 2
All three cameras look excellent on YouTube but has anyone got any experience of any of them? I get the feeling the Drift HD Ghost maybe is the best overall package but not so sure. Go pro has obviously marketed there camera really well as everyone seems to have them.
I have seen a lot of un-happy Go pro customers using the Hero 3 complaining about freezing issue’s and that the Hero 3 has been released with dodgy software which isn’t good.
Not sure if this helps, but I will be mounting the camera mainly on the side and top of my helmet and also going to try and mount the camera on my ski boots and ski’s if possible.
Thank you for your help!
Phil
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Hi Phil
Cant help you- but if its your first holiday think very carefully about where and how you mount it as you will spend alot of time on yiur backside!
May be an idea to concentrate on you lessons /ski school rather than videoing yourself!
Enjoy
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?
All 3 cameras are pretty good. The main problem with the gopro freezing is due to people using cards that are not up to the data speed that the camera needs, and is mostly attributed to the hero 3 black as that fires data at 45mbit speeds sndf only good cards can keep up with that, when I say good I mean genuine class 10 high speed cards and not knock off cheapo eBay copies.
As for which one to go for, comes down to form factor, price and features.
Side mounting in my view generally suits the drift and contour better but front and top of helmet I think the gopro comes out slightly better.
I am biased towards gopro but do think the others have some real benefits over gopro.
Whatever you go for think about the end goal in terms of video and don't just get 3 hours of going down a slope unless that is what ptou want to look at, because trust me nonbody else will.
Also think about how you are going store sndf edit. Very roughly every hour of h.264 encoded mpeg takes up 4GB so 1 hour per day on a 6 day skiing holiday will eat up 24GB off space!
upbeatelliott, I have an older version of the Drift (HD170 stealth) and am a big fan. Built in LCD, remote, and rotating lens were all very useful features in practice, and the menu system is easy to use in bright light with cold hands. The picture quality was very good in my eyes, although it suffers a bit in low light (an overcast ski day is plenty of light though).
I don't have much experience of the other cameras though, so can't speak for them, but I understand they all have their own strong points.
I've been skiing now since Sept, where i try and go once a week to Tamworth or Manchester indoor ski slopes. I know going away will be different but hopefully i wont be falling over all the time! Also that just adds to the fun of the video!
Unless Go Pro release the Silver edition with updated software that fixes the freezing i may go towards the Drift Ghost, purely because its going to be easier to mount around my helmet and does come with some cool features!
Thank you for the video, the footage does look good!!
upbeatelliott, as I mentioned only real freezing issues are with the black and when using lower quality cards. I am running several hd3 blacks on test with no issues but I am using genuine sandisc 32GB cards.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
ansta1, sorry for slight thread drift, but there's a little JVC action cam that's caught my eye, with mixed reviews. GC-XA1 BUTTOXXXX or something, it's called. There's a lot of Xs in it anyway.
Any good, do you know/think?
After all it is free
After all it is free
I'm not so sure, i did see a lot of Silver Edition customers with issue's also and using the correct SD Card.
Maybe there was just a bad batch.
It will be interesting to see user videos on YouTube of the Drift Ghost as this camera has only just been released.
Thank you
Phil
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
upbeatelliott, They've sold a large number of these models and whilst there are issues reported, some of which are genuine manufacturing or software issues. The actual volume of issues reported against sales is very low (and trust me I am very quick to moan to gopro about issues). There were issues with the previous HD2 and later versions of the firmware, but even these (and I was guilty of this initially) reports were a little over egg'd in terms of actual sales (as a %).
The V124,V198 issue with the HD2 caused problems, but this was mainly with the update process rather than the firmware running itself and gopro eventually came up with a resolution for most, if not all, of the issues.
I have 10 hd2's all running V.198 with no issues and currently 4 hd3 blacks and 2 hd3 silvers all on the latest firmware and these have been run in a number of environments and they all will run from startup to battery flat or memory full. There are some RC issues however which I have not got to the bottom of as of yet (ie not sure if it's user error or something else).
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Mr Piehole, this is the Adixxion and it looks okay and will be backed up by JVC support (so to speak), so out of the box will work, but overall specs aren't up there with the latest 'action cameras' and it seems they are a little behind the curve, though no doubt will pick up sales through standard commercial outlets (pcworld/currys) as a large majority of folks don't get the other action camera market pushed in their face.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
element - Loving the video in HD. Can i ask what attachment you used to attach the camera to your ski pole? Also have you ever attached the camera to your ski's, facing towards your face? If so, how did you do this?
Thank you!
Phil
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.
upbeatelliott, thanks, I used this to attach it to the ski pole - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OEM-Universal-Portable-ultra-mini-Tripod-camera-stand-/261115495460?pt=UK_Tripods_Monopods&hash=item3ccbb24424 - you need to fatten up the pole a little bit at the end for it to grip properly. I used a bit of old bike inner tube wrapped around it, but a few wraps of heavy tape would do the same job. You can also be a bit creative and mount the camera to other things with the tripod and the velcro for some interesting stationary shots or time lapses (trees, piste markers, lift bars etc).
I bought a suction mount to try and film from my ski back to my face, but when the ski flexed it tended to pop off. I haven't tried it, but if you laid the mini tripod flat on the ski, you could probably just duct tape it on and angle it back towards you. You would need to tether it to your boot though in case it fell off.
I'm sure others have better solutions!
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
I just bought a Go Pro Hero3 Silver - should be delivered today I will let you know if i get any freezing issues on update.... From what i have heard the freezing issues people were having on the silver were either due to poor quality cards or updates not completing properly. The best way to avoid this was to buy a decent card and perform a manual update rather than the auto one. We will see....
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I've got the HD Drift Ghost and am really impressed with it. I've only had it out at The Lecht a couple of times but found the remote control really good, watching a friend mess about with his gopro while I just had to glance at my wrist convinced me I'd made the right choice. The loop/tagging feature also meant I didn't end up with loads of footage, just the bits I wanted and the videos came out really well.
When I was choosing (from the same 3 cameras as you) I concluded that the gopro probably has the ability to produce the best footage in the hands of an expert but that the drift ghost was more user friendly and had some features that make it better for the casual user (loop/tagging and remote control display lights) and that any footage is more than good enough for 99.9% of people.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
element, thank you for the reply and link. Looks interesting and cheap to. Is the velcro strong enough to keep the camera in place on the ski pole then when on the move? It looks like it shouldn't be, unless you double wrapped it around the ski pole?
Laying the tripod flat and duck taping it sound a good idea and could possibly work. I was trying to find a mount for the ghost that would stick onto the ski's and also be able to point the camera upwards...
Regarding the Go Pro, i was under the impression the update was just for the WiFi to work and not to sort the freezing issue's out.
Jamied9, i think your conclusion sums up both models very well. Go Pro probably is the better recording camera just, but for user ability and features and the Drift Ghost wins.
Thank you again for the replies!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
upbeatelliott, yep, it's completely secure - we used it all week and shot hours of footage and it didn't move around at all. Just put a few wraps of grippy tape around the end of the pole to fatten it out, fix the tripod on top of that with a couple of wraps of the velcro, and it's solid as anything. The pole is narrow enough for two or three wraps around. You can also use the handlebar mount to mount it to a ski pole, but again you might need a wrap or two of tape to make the pole fat enough. The advantage of the tripod mount is that you can take it off the pole much quicker, you can adjust the angle more easily, and you can use it for mounting on other things, or as a normal tripod.
I'm not sure if there is an official ski mount, but you could try asking Drift on their Facebook.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
ansta1, Glad you're on this thread, I have been meaning to thank you for your help back in November when I bought the GoPro Hero 3 for the OH for Christmas. We have had such fun with it, we have my son's uni friends over to stay at the moment and it has been a constant source of entertainment at the end of the day. You were spot on with what I should buy....THANKS
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?
Quote:
Regarding the Go Pro, i was under the impression the update was just for the WiFi to work and not to sort the freezing issue's out.
the freezing issues were generally reported after the update to v.198 (well those that could get it to work without issue). V198 for the HD2 was for the wifi to app link (the wifi and remote worked fine on the previous versions).
There are issues with gopro but the majority are when reviewed down to using cards that aren't up to the job. Buying a class 10 card of ebay isn't enough, it has to be a proper and legitimate card. I'm not being dramatic, get a few of your cards and run a proper read/write speed test on them, all class X (insert class of card) are equal, but some are more equal than others.
upbeatelliott, Last year we brought a drift orange, sd camera, gave great results just from duct taping the goggle strap connector onto the top of my sons ski helmet...
I find the google strap too loose to hold a camera taught enough, so it wiggles around, plus it taps the helmet making the sound track annoying.
We got some great shots, loads of fun as a record of a holiday with family and friends, and without too much maintainence or paying too much attention to filming.
I found a 34GB card held more than enough for a weeks skiing, with room to spare, possibly 6 days worth.
The drift has a remote which works great.
As I reached 50 last year, I spashed out on a Drift 750 hd + micro 34GB card, again attaching it to my helmet. Again results are great but my helmet must be a little looser fit than my sons as his sd camera gives a lot less shake than my Hd.
Whilst on holiday I saw a few French guys with the camera on normal ski poles just under the hand, so you can still hold the pole as normal, rather than skiing along holding the pole up in the air. They had Go Pros and said it worked really well.
That evening, with duct tape, I taped a spare holder to my ski pole and clipped in the camera and got some good shots over the next few days - all without too much expense or maintainence.
I am a reasonable skier but dont feel confident enough to ski around waving a pole in the air, so I find the results from it attached to helmet and top of ski pole reasonably good without having to focus on filming whilst skiing.
I found the Drift 70 hd to be better than the original SD orange, in so much as the remote beeps are more audiable and the camera is slighly smaller and lighter, they are easy to carry in pockets and do still and stop motion capture well. Both have lenses that rotate so orientation of the camera doesn;t really matter - so long as you get the lense rotation right - I got loads of footage up-side down... but there is free software to correct that, as do some vidoe editors.
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