F@#k*&g GoPro

Have I told you how much I hate my GoPro?
No, well I really hate it. I've had it for about a year and a half and recorded several videos. All of which suck, the camera works ok but the editing and conversion process has me flummoxed, counterintuitive maybe? I have seen some excellent videos here and on the web. Additionally when I am riding I always think about camera angle, is it capturing everything, or will this video be the suck as well? I am so done with that POS. Rant over....

I have recently sold my Gopro for this very reason.

I have had really good results with the key chain spy camera's, very small and you can mount them anywhere with velcro.

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Has anyone else used these, I will try and find a video that I have taken using one of these and post up later.

Now that camera looks pretty cool and convenient. I would love to see a video you made with one of those..
 

This is a video with the spy camera mounted to the back of my RSVR, the video is alot clearer on my computer, it seems more pixelated since I've transferred it to Photobucket.

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Enzo the baker wrote:

Have I told you how much I hate my GoPro?
No, well I really hate it. I've had it for about a year and a half and recorded several videos. All of which suck, the camera works ok but the editing and conversion process has me flummoxed, counterintuitive maybe? I have seen some excellent videos here and on the web. Additionally  when I am riding I always think about camera angle, is it capturing everything, or will this video be the suck as well? I am so done with that POS. Rant over....

If it is the editing and composition that you are finding a challenge then changing the camera will not help at all. You should be able to adjust the field of view for the Gopro, this should help with composition. Also if you have the Wifi one, use the smartphone app to set it up.
On the editing front, it should be fairly intuitive. Need to remember that most (if not all) editors are actually just an interface that creates a database of instructions that will be carried out at render time. You build these instructions on a "timeline", these are sequential The "timeline" is normally made up of multiple video and multiple audio channels, multiple channels allow you to apply different effects. I have not used Gopro's editor, try Windoze movie maker or Pinnacle Studio, any of the Avid offerings and of course Final cut pro on the Mac (I use that)and Adobe Premiere, some of these can be very expensive.
To start, dont try to make an epic, aim for 20 or 30 seconds. Even then you will probably need about 40 to 60 minutes of video to edit. I sometimes edit time lapse at work and can easily reduce a 10 minute video (1 week real time) to 10 or 20 seconds.

Stick with it
Pete

I also realize that the biggest hurdle is my impatience with the output process. I am not looking for another hobby; i.e. editing or composing. I just wanted to make a few videos for my own enjoyment. When the editing, composition process requires too much time I begin loose my fervor regarding the actual output. Back in the 70'-80's I  spent lots of time in a darkroom with my Bessler creating interesting shots from large format negatives where I actually had control over the creative process. The digital programs to me seems like a smoke and mirrors alchemy, call me a dinosaur.
My GoPro w/Wi-Fi back pack goes on eBay today.  Your input is appreciated however.
regards,
Mark

Ok.  You're a dinosaur.   

Oh, and before you put that on eBay, how much do you want for it?

The GoPro is a fantastic piece of kit, my biggest gripe apart from the editing is once you buy the camera, you have to buy all of the accessories separately and it is dingo ugly.

My next camera is going to be a replay XD 1080 mini

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I'm with you Enzo. I did black and white photo class in high school with a Pentax SLR and no light meter. Loved it low tech.

I too am a complete Luddite.

Hey Enzo, good to see another large format camera user here. I still have and use an 8x10 Tachihara for landscape work. I do have 20 sheets of Fuji Provia that I must use before they stop making the chemicals for processing. I'm like you, digital is a toy.

I'm so happy to leave the chemicals behind (I do miss the image coming to life before your eyes in the developer; that was always uber cool). But digital is so much faster, things can be un-done, I can shoot, transfer to the computer, tweak and post faster than I could load film onto a reel.

But I've tried imaging the planets, getting the shot is maybe a quarter of the work flow as you have to stack images, manipulate - gah! Not for me. Very cool what astronomy imagers can do but I have no patience for the black art.

Never tried video, but GoPro's seem pretty darn cool. Some amazing stuff is being done out there but I can see a certain skill set in editing.

You should give it a go. I haven't done it for many years, but here's a couple from my LX90 days. I did these with a Quickcam.


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Oh man, you have skills sir.  Crap, no bow gremlin! I take you were active on Ice in Space forum? Until recently I was pretty active on cloudynights.com. I attempted with my Nexstar 11, but I think a very slow USB bus cramped my initial efforts using a TooUCam (sp?). I get the urge from time to time. I lay down until the urge goes away.

Did this last night, but just my Pentax and a 300mm telephoto.
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Nice Moon!    


Been in full Guzzi mode of late, but I was very active on Ice and a sometime poster on Cloudy. Been a while though...

I use a Canon 40D now, all deep sky stuff with my 10" Schmidt-newt.

47 Tucanae


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Oh man, that is sweet!  

I rarely hung with the imaging crowd. Mostly photography and ATM. Got tapped to be admin and that took up most of my time. Burned out so now I putz with the bike and look at getting back into woodworking (I have this 16" dob that needs a new chassis really bad).

I used the same user name over there (lack of an imagination), and putter with public outreach from time to time with the gang in Wickenburg. Very cool to show folks Saturn for the first time. That is such a kick!

We had a fair amount of Aussies posting on CN, but after the gloss wore off the good ones stuck with Ice in Space. Our loss. There was one fellow from Singapore with a Nexstar 11 that did simply amazing work on Jupiter. Stunning stuff. Makes you wonder what folks will be producing in twenty years.

Oh yeah, what was his name?  It was inspiring stuff.

hehe, the first time I showed Saturn to my wife, she said "that's fake" and had a look at the front of the scope to see how I'd stuck the little picture of Saturn on...

She is not the first to do that, but I have not had it happen to me. Yet.

On the other hand, I stunned my in-laws, from our backyard, in Phoenix, they got to see Saturn and Jupiter. They pretty much thought you needed Hubble to do that.

I don't recall his name (thirty feet, thirty seconds, your name is purged from memory, although I usually recall a face pretty good. Names, not so much). Ya, he had mad skills.

Hi Enzo, If I may continue on your rant. My GoPro was renamed GoPostal as it infuriated me so much. In the two months that I used it I managed to capture no videos when I really, really, really wanted them because that stupid on-off button design with no flipping on-off indicator, unless you consider climbing off the bike, sticking your large helmeted head into the space the camera is nestled in and squinting at that menu screen the size of half a postage stamp populated with what looks like little bits of bug shit just to see if it was operating, constituted an indicator. Yes back onto that bug shit menu, okay my eyesight isn’t what it used to be but come on making the symbols 5 pixels by 5 pixels is ridiculous enough but using hieroglyphics from an Egyptian tomb. Come on.

In two months of trying I managed to shoot several useless videos like the 2 hour masterpiece filming of the inside of my tankbag thanks to that on-off button. The dramatic part where light appears and a gloved hand flits across the screen at the 1 hour and 12 minute mark is quite engaging.

So I went out and bought a Drift HD. It comes with all the mounting bits you need and get this, it has a bright green LED light that illuminates when it is on and a bright red one when it is recording. What a concept! It also has a small LCD screen on the side that you can use for setting up and playback and the lens rotates so you can get your horizon adjusted correctly. My first attempt at an action video worked perfectly. All the video has come out really well, especially shooting on roads where the lighting changes from dark shadows to bright sun.

As for the GoPro it got chucked along with the movie masterpiece, Tankbag, the Inner Universe. Ahhhhh I finally feel better now, been holding it in far too long.

I had a gorpo suction cup mounted onto the sidecase of my fjr....its somewhere in Virginia USA likely in a ditch which is good place for it.