[Closed] Speak to me about Go Pros.

Nobody?

I have an old, original one in a cupboard somewhere that you could have for the price if postage. You'd need to buy mounts and quality isn't up there with the newer models but it might be ok for getting an idea or two.

I'd say go for the cheapest one. Unless you are very very keen you wont use or need the additional functionality or quality of the the better ones. In fact I went for a Sony Actioncam in the end, alot cheaper than a GoPro, and for what I use it for (like you just messing about) absolutely perfectly adequate.

I've used it less and less over the time i've had it. It's just a bit of a faff, and then you have to invest alot of time to go through the footage, take out the small percentage of footage that is actually any good and edit it into something that is half interesting to anyone else.

It's also a bit depressing too - it shows you that although you may be fast and rad in your minds eye, to others you're just slow and clumsy. It has also highlighted to me how much I mutter and swear to myself when I ride.

They are great for exactly what you describe. I've got a GP4 Black which is complete overkill for most stuff to be honest.

Just be ready to see in glorious high def, slow-mo that you are not as fast or as stylish as you think you are 😳

I've got the basic Hero, which I bought 3-4 months ago for just over £100.
My kids used it more on holiday in the pool than I've used it on the bike!
It does shoot great quality film, and takes a pretty decent still.

You could always try an SJ4000 for peanuts, then if you like it upgrade to a GoPro. That's what I did (except I never got round to upgrading, the SJ is plenty good enough for me).

As long as you have access to power to recharge it, the basic one will do everything you need. I have an older Hero 2 and was away with a mate who has the new hero last month, his works exactly the same as mine and the quality was at least as good if not better, I was able to film more due to having an extra batteries with me.

Wouldn't have been an issue if we'd been staying somewhere with power rather than camping though.

I have a Hero 4 Black and think its brilliant. I bought it for similar reasons, filming the kids and me messing around.
I bought a load of mounts and enjoy messing around sticking it on anything and everything. I attached it to the top of my daughters climbing wall and filmed her climbing up to the top. I attached it to the baby walker and filmed my son walking around the lounge. Silly stuff really but why not.
We also took it on holiday and it was great for filming my daughter on the water slides and snorkelling etc.
I actually use it myself more than I expected. I never film myself riding something boring just to put on you tube but If I feel I'm going to hurt myself doing a big gap or drop then I may as well have it on film. I have also had a play with stitching clips together which is really enjoyable. I haven't done as much as I would like because its very time consuming and would potentially take a whole morning of filming just to capture a 1min dh run. But its something I want to do more of.

I've had mine two years have two 32 gb cards with stuff on and have yet to put anything together. I even bought a mac book in the hope it would make editing easier. I've caught some great stills in the sea, selfies with the kids (iknow), stuff at music festivals, stuck on the front of a fairground dodgem, swimming pools and a bit of biking.
The app is handy btw.

cycle of go pro ownership.
1. purchase
2. film one or two rides
3. make a 'sick edit' using the film of your 1 or 2 rides.
4. leave it in the box for a period not more than a year.
5. flogg it.

Scotroutes - that'll be great thanks.

I mostly use mine scuba diving - if I see something interesting it's nice to show folk what they missed.

I have mounts for the bike, but as others have said it's the most interesting footage.

Slight hijack - SJ4000
Is that foot a helmet mount? or do you always have to buy it as a accessory? Does it fit a gopro mount?

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Slight hijack - SJ4000

[url= http://www.gearbest.com/action-cameras/pp_113683.html ]I've got a SJCAM M10 from Gearbest[/url]

And it's superb.

The SJ4000 and M10 are basically identical, but I got the M10 because it's shape distinguishes it from looking like a total GoPro clone - even though it is. The mounts are still gopro (industry standard) compatible.

If you go down this route, make sure you get it from a good seller (like above) to avoid dodgy copies.

There are newer ones out now SJ5000, wifi, etc, but this is what I've got hands on experience with.

Review:

The SJ4000 comes with a bunch of mounts and works with GoPro mounts too, so you'll not struggle to mount it to anything. I mostly use it on a tripod and I've got a chest mount too.

Shameless video:

I've got the basic Hero - I have to admit that jekkyl's cycle isn't a million miles out (although I haven't sold mine yet).

It takes lovely videos, but even without a world filled with Claudio Rampage Previews and Dan Atherton EWS videos it's a bit of an Ego checker because the first thing you notice is that unless you're absolutely pinned on a bit of trail you know backwards it looks a bit pedestrian and unless it's near vertical, it looks flat.

Also, whilst creating a lot of clips of POV riding is easy, actually making a video is surprisingly hard!

I was planning to make a short film covering the last descent of the Twrch trail, I chose it because I know it well, it's the trail I ride best I think but mostly because of the diversion on at the moment it's very quiet. According to Strava it's about 900m long and takes me 90 seconds to cover.

I read a few guides online and made a mental 'storyboard' - the most cameras you have the quicker it would be, but I only have 1.

I planned to shoot it POV first, then cut in shorts taken from the side of the trail.

I reckon it would take me half a day to film if it was dead quiet and I shot the tracking bits, bit and bit, walking back up the trail to retrieve the camera and re position it, but I really don't like it when people session trails like that because there's not much room to walk along the trail, you're going to end up walking back up the trail and if I was riding down and someone was walking up I'd be pissed right off so if there if I felt other people were about I'd have a lot more riding around to the start to do so that could be a days work easy.

Once I've captured all the clips I'd have to edit it all, I've got a pretty powerful PC and multiscreens which makes it easier, but it's still surprisingly time consuming. Then you've got effects to consider, music etc (I know people like raw footage these days, tyres on gravel, roost flying etc, but the in built mic is crap you mostly just get grunting and if you've got a chesty cables hitting each other).

In total I think if I spent the day riding it, and the evening editing it, my first 'sick edit' would be somewhere between terrible and appalling, partly because we're used to pro riders and pro videos, but it would be very hard to keep up the illusion of it being 1 run, when it reality it's several.

Worst still as soon as I uploaded it to YouTube it would be found next to professional vids of Manon Carpenter riding Cwmcarn or something as look worse.

I gave up, now I just drag it out if I'm going somewhere special, shoot some clips and share them with whoever I was with at the time for a laugh, no one else is interested, why should they be - My brother showed me his footage of him running tough mudder the other day, I was begging for death within 30 seconds.

For the best result, attach it to your kid's bike, helmet etc. The results can be truly memorable, especially listening to their monologues!

Onto my second, had the Hero HD and now got a 4 silver. The quality difference is amazing, the image stabilisation has come on a very long way. The wide and narrow options are also good. I've been using it and putting together vids from trips since the start and just a bit behind at the moment. Been riding solo a lot this year so the pics are crap nice to have some stuff to look back on or share with friends.

I started out with an SJ4000 but wasn't overly impressed with however it did allow me to justify the expense of getting a Hero4 Silver, the quality is stunning I like to take it everywhere do just to make little films using various settings like 120fps or time lapse, it also works great as a small compact camera.