GoPro HD- Things you'd wish you'd known from the beginning.

[crackboy]

Took my gopro out for the first time while boating yesterday. Had it front mounted on my boat and it seemed like any substantial drop the camera would get knocked forward towards the deck and I would have to readjust it. any tips to prevent that? I had the screw pretty cranked down.
also anyone reuse the mount? i had a rock take the entire mount off the boat. thank god i had a tether attached to my grab loop.

also one touch recording? i had it on, but might go back to not

[bertrenolds]

Just don't use the 3m adhessive mounts on your boat unless you put a screw through it otherwise you might be pruchasing another go pro. The adhesives fall off and you are out of a camera, I heard someone found one laying on the ground at breck and I imagine that is what happened. My buddie has his tied to his helmet.
If your putting it on a helmet use the vent strap and also use the R4 video setting so you can actually see what you are filming. Only use the 1080p setting if you are holding the camera filming someone at a distance.

[Adamantium]

Just don't use the 3m adhessive mounts on your boat unless you put a screw through it otherwise you might be pruchasing another go pro. The adhesives fall off and you are out of a camera, I heard someone found one laying on the ground at breck and I imagine that is what happened. My buddie has his tied to his helmet.
If your putting it on a helmet use the vent strap and also use the R4 video setting so you can actually see what you are filming. Only use the 1080p setting if you are holding the camera filming someone at a distance.

Or, you could follow the instructions and stick the mount to a warm helmet, allowing at least 24 hours of time for it to set before you use it.

I've hit trees with mine and had no problems. I know plenty of people that have had no issue with the adhesive mounts falling off, and the few that had were the ones that didn't let it set a full day before hand.

[klauss]

My 3m mount has stayed put even though the camera has come loose from the female mount from falls. I now have a tether for both potential scenarios. It connects the GoPro to the vent in my helmet with thin camping webbing. I have also hit trees, etc with no problems with the supplied 3m holding.

Some decent editing software is probably worth the price, but I still have free MSFT software.

[mindthegap]

mount the helmet for the first time, and move it 4 clicks up from where you think it should be.

IMO 80% of helmet cam footy is aimed to low. higher is better for me (to a point), but watching your skiis is not very entertaining for anyone to watch unless your trying to correct your form.

i know when i got my contour it took a couple days to get the height dialed.

[slave2gravity]

I got the 1080 as a Christmas gift this year, so I've only been using for a couple months. So far here's what I've learned, and what I'd still like to know:

1. My first GoPro had a problem with the image sensor (per customer service), so in colder weather sometimes the whole picture would be washed out in pink. Returned the camera through Amazon.com and bought a replacement.

2. I still haven't obtained the picture quality that I've seen on GoPro's website with the new one. Some look good and true HD, but others look like they're SD or are grainy. I almost exclusively use r5 setting trying to get the best picture.

3. Bright snow conditions everything is washed out.

4. In rain or snow, the lenses is easily covered with water, so you need to be mindful and give the lens a good wipe before runs.

5. I've been using the helmet mount, but either get it so the camera is pointed too high or too low. I'm thinking the chest strap is the way to go, although it shows a bit more of knees which gives the impression you're riding in the backseat (maybe I am...).

6. I tried a flat mount on my Bro 183s and it kept popping off. I thought perhaps because of the texture of the topsheet, so I tried various adhesives (Gorilla Glue, JB Weld, etc) and the same thing happened.

7. The camera seems to struggle with going to through light / dark transitions. I've tried the suction cup mount on my motorcycle and riding in and out of trees the picture is slow in deciding how much exposure is needed.

8. Seems to me the battery is no longer holding a charge the way it used to. Anyone else experience similar?

As for editing - I'm using iMovie '11 on a brand new MacBook Pro with the 8GB ram and the top processor...and it runs super slow. I like editing with iMovie because it's easy, but I don't understand the total lack of performance! Try to play back segments becomes very jerky, often the picture will stop while audio continues, etc. I don't feel like I have this problem on my iMac desktop, which is about 3.5 years old. Could it be a difference in a mobile processor for a laptop?

Finally, do the class type of cards affect picture quality, or just upload / download and playback speeds? I'm using the Kingston class 4 16gb.

Overall, I like the GoPro and feel that it's got real potential to make cool videos, but I can't help but feeling pretty let down with the quality of the images I'm capturing vs. what I've seen from others and from GoPro. Perhaps my initial bad experience is clouding my judgment?

[Adamantium]

I've only had mine since December, but in response to slave2gravity:

Over/underexposure in bright/flat light is relatively easy to correct for if you have the right editing software. Take some time to poke around online for guides/tutorials. For an example, I actually have two versions of the same edit on youtube, though one isn't listed. Here is the unadjusted version, and here is the color-tweaked version. This was my first attempt at adjusting color/exposure.

I have noticed that it takes a few seconds for the camera to adjust exposure when moving quickly between light and dark, but skiing I haven't found this to be too much of a problem. For the most part, any given run or clip will have consistent lighting. If runs are long enough to have significant changes, just break them up into shorter clips. (People generally don't cut enough out of their edits in the first place anyway)

If your helmet angles are too low/high, why not keep adjusting until you find the sweet spot? I found the camera should be basically level with my eyes, and in r4 (4:3 ratio) I still get my knees/boots/bindings in the shot occasionally, while always seeing some horizon above the snow. Personally, I don't think 16:9 gives enough vertical viewing angle for skiing, especially at 1080p where the viewing angle is reduced. And I despise the chest mount because (1) in deep snow it just gets covered, and (2) the backseat perspective you mentioned.

[ecskier7]

There is an update if you have the Bac Pac feature and its a bitch.

[slave2gravity]

I've only had mine since December, but in response to slave2gravity:

Over/underexposure in bright/flat light is relatively easy to correct for if you have the right editing software. Take some time to poke around online for guides/tutorials. For an example, I actually have two versions of the same edit on youtube, though one isn't listed. Here is the unadjusted version, and here is the color-tweaked version. This was my first attempt at adjusting color/exposure. ... I found the camera should be basically level with my eyes, and in r4 (4:3 ratio) I still get my knees/boots/bindings in the shot occasionally, while always seeing some horizon above the snow. Personally, I don't think 16:9 gives enough vertical viewing angle for skiing, especially at 1080p where the viewing angle is reduced.

Awesome advice, thanks a lot! I can't believe how much of a difference there is between your unedited and edited version. I edit photos all the time for color and exposure in iPhoto, don't know why it never occurred to me to do the same with iMovie... Thanks for the reminder about different picture ratios, forgot that bit. Explains why I'm not getting as much vertical picture using the r5 setting.

[SB]

There is an update if you have the Bac Pac feature and its a bitch.

I just did the firmware update for the LCD and the extended battery pack and it was no problem what so ever.

[mtskier]

^^^seconded. the update also gives you the live feed and shoot upside down mode.

[ecskier7]

Ya for some reason as I was updating I could not drag the software onto the gopro, so I had to use my friends HP which has the memory card slot and dragged the software right onto it with no problem.

[bertrenolds]

I honestly think there is a higher priced version that is not on the market that shoots as wide as the R4 setting but is a 1080p video resolution. Either that or they are using the 720p 60fps setting, I have no idea. As far as the R5 setting all you see is skis, The chest strap is probably the best way to shoot in 1080p but even then it seems impossible to get the perfect angle.