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Gopro

Aspear

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Joined
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Location
Stockdale
First Name
Samuel
Last Name
Hastings
Looking to buy a gopro to use as a helmet cam.

Anyone have any experience with them?

Ride now it seems you can get a refurbished hero 5 black for ~$180

Or a open box hero 6 black for ~$230

Both have telemetry with I would like or else I would go with the new hero 7 white for ~$180 But it lacks gps capability

I do not want to spend the full $400 for the current top of the line model.
 
I bought a GP knock-off from amazon for $30 before I went to Big Bend in January.
Worked just fine and was perfect for capturing the ride.


I compressed the crap out of it in order to post it to Youtube ... original footage quality is quite nice.
And the scratch on the lenses is from being roosted by Dave who is just ahead of me.

Go to Amazon and search for "helmet camera" and you'l get a laundry list of them.
 
I posted a video I took off of my Hero 5 Black a few months ago. I'll search for it when I get off work and post it.

Hero 5 Black was the sweet spot for me, just the right amount of features without being too expensive. I bought mine off of ebay in March for $150 shipped, came with the camera, battery, frame, 2 mounts, and a compatible 32 gig SD card.
 
I've been using a Hero 5 for a couple of years now. No problems at all. Good video quality. Not as good as my Canon dedicated, but more than good enough considering it's gonna be compressed for most uploads
 
I bought a GP knock-off from amazon for $30 before I went to Big Bend in January.
Worked just fine and was perfect for capturing the ride.


I compressed the crap out of it in order to post it to Youtube ... original footage quality is quite nice.
And the scratch on the lenses is from being roosted by Dave who is just ahead of me.

Go to Amazon and search for "helmet camera" and you'l get a laundry list of them.
I've considered the knock offs, I've just got my heart set on the real deal. Plus with the gopro desktop software you can insert your gps path into the video
 
I use a GoPro Hero 5 Black, mounted on the chin bar of my helmet (Bell Qualifer DLX Blackout).

This video is from my Colorado trip about two months ago. This is straight from the camera to my computer to Youtube, no editing, color correcting, etc. Watch in HD to get the full effect. I recorded 1080p @ 60 fps.

 
I got a Hero 7 black for my birthday last month. I have not used it on the helmet yet other than to get it mounted on top and tested on a quick ride around the neighborhood. After my 5 minute test, I plugged it into an XBox one hooked up to a 60" TV and just pressed play. The video was impressive and the stabilization was really nice, but the wind noise was bad. I picked up a tether cable and was hoping to use it on a ride this weekend for a couple of hours.

So far, it has lived up to and maybe exceeded my expectations. I think it was about $375 for the camera, two 128g memory cards, three extra batteries, and a case.
 
A Hero 7 Black new is $299, just trade in any old camera working or not as long as the original msrp was $99 or more and get $100 off your GoPro. I just bought a used Canon SD400 for $8 shipped on Ebay.

I found that yesterday after I posted this. We have an old digital camera that meets the requirements so looks like a hero 7 black it is
 
They need a mic that is mounted near the rear that is shielded from wind designed to pick up engine sound. Have a 50 50 audio mix of music choice and exhaust. Unfortunately, video production is not as easy as we all come to expect
 
Unfortunately, video production is not as easy as we all come to expect
This is what stops me from video. I'm not going to edit it and nobody wants to see the whole thing, especially me. I have one of the cheap knock off cameras and it has not made 1s of video in 2yrs. I much prefer still pics. In ride reports I almost never watch videos, just a personal thing. I am interested in the still mode of a Go-Pro so I could have it helmet mounted and take still shots where I look.
 
Imo...Videos are good when cut to the chase 10 seconds format type thing. Like pics too. Takes lots of editing to make interesting 😉
 
Looking to buy a gopro to use as a helmet cam.

Anyone have any experience with them?

Ride now it seems you can get a refurbished hero 5 black for ~$180

Or a open box hero 6 black for ~$230

Both have telemetry with I would like or else I would go with the new hero 7 white for ~$180 But it lacks gps capability

I do not want to spend the full $400 for the current top of the line model.

Here is a video I made Sunday. I don't really know what I am doing yet so it is straight out of the camera with no editing other than cutting it down and processing it for Youtube. The quality here is about half of what it is when you watch the native file.

 
Here is a video I made Sunday. I don't really know what I am doing yet so it is straight out of the camera with no editing other than cutting it down and processing it for Youtube. The quality here is about half of what it is when you watch the native file.

I've made up my mind to get the 7 black. Gotta buy three dirt scooters and then the slush fund is open
 
...a quick update on my Hero 7 Black...some tips and such.
  • On my 128g memory card, I can get a solid 5 hours or more of HD video.
  • The battery only lasts about 70 minutes, so assume you need to swap the battery once an hour of constant filming.
  • If you watched my video above, the wind noise is terrible. I found a setting on the camera under the pro section for wind, but have not tried it out yet.
  • The videos take up a ton of hard drive space in their native format, and that is before you get to editing and adding music or labels, etc... Luckily, memory is not expensive anymore, and I picked up a 8 tb external hard drive on Amazon for a reasonable price.
  • Video editing software: I have tried 4 different free software package ranging from way too simple to way too complicated, and I was getting frustrated. I now believe I have settled on Wondershare Filmora 9. It is very intuitive for someone with no experience but also appears to be quite powerful. I am playing with the free copy, and it does everything I am asking for with a simple interface. The program costs some greenbacks for the full version, but from what I am seeing so far, it is probably worth it.
  • The image stabilization is really good on the camera.
  • The camera has a bluetooth interface with a smart phone and an app. You can see what the camera sees real time, change settings, etc... all on the fly.
So far, I am very happy with the camera, and there is so much to learn.
 
...a quick update on my Hero 7 Black...some tips and such.
  • On my 128g memory card, I can get a solid 5 hours or more of HD video.
  • The battery only lasts about 70 minutes, so assume you need to swap the battery once an hour of constant filming.
  • If you watched my video above, the wind noise is terrible. I found a setting on the camera under the pro section for wind, but have not tried it out yet.
  • The videos take up a ton of hard drive space in their native format, and that is before you get to editing and adding music or labels, etc... Luckily, memory is not expensive anymore, and I picked up a 8 tb external hard drive on Amazon for a reasonable price.
  • Video editing software: I have tried 4 different free software package ranging from way too simple to way too complicated, and I was getting frustrated. I now believe I have settled on Wondershare Filmora 9. It is very intuitive for someone with no experience but also appears to be quite powerful. I am playing with the free copy, and it does everything I am asking for with a simple interface. The program costs some greenbacks for the full version, but from what I am seeing so far, it is probably worth it.
  • The image stabilization is really good on the camera.
  • The camera has a bluetooth interface with a smart phone and an app. You can see what the camera sees real time, change settings, etc... all on the fly.
So far, I am very happy with the camera, and there is so much to learn.
Trying to decide whether to get a 7 black now, when the price drops when the 8 comes out or just get an 8
 
Well, I bought a Hero 8 this morning through go pros trade in program. Will be sending off one of our old point and shoot digital cameras.
 
If you're mounting to a helmet, the Hero 7 Black is the only way to go. It has the next-gen image stabilization GoPro calls 'HyperSmooth' and does a great job of reducing shaky, blurry, motion-induced nausea on the viewer's part. I shot helmet-mounted video in my Youtube vids for the first couple of years and hated it. I had much better luck getting footage through the use of a chest mount with the 3+ series before going to a stabilized GoPro:

Stabilized GoPro 7 Black mounted to bike:

Unstabilized GoPro 3+ chest mount:

Unstabilized GoPro 3+ helmet-mount:
 
If you're mounting to a helmet, the Hero 7 Black is the only way to go. It has the next-gen image stabilization GoPro calls 'HyperSmooth' and does a great job of reducing shaky, blurry, motion-induced nausea on the viewer's part. I shot helmet-mounted video in my Youtube vids for the first couple of years and hated it. I had much better luck getting footage through the use of a chest mount with the 3+ series before going to a stabilized GoPro:

Stabilized GoPro 7 Black mounted to bike:

Unstabilized GoPro 3+ chest mount:

Unstabilized GoPro 3+ helmet-mount:
Went with the brand new Hero 8. They just started shipping today I believe. Stabilization is supposed to be better.

 
Chest mount? That will be harder to lose going through the woods. Plus it usually gives a nice view of the bars and fender.
 
Chest mount? That will be harder to lose going through the woods. Plus it usually gives a nice view of the bars and fender.
I've watched alot of go pro footage of mx and offroad guys. I prefer watching helmet mount over chest mount.

A few guys run it under the visor
 
That was my second favorite. I think Jarvis does that. Good idea.
 
Chest mount? That will be harder to lose going through the woods. Plus it usually gives a nice view of the bars and fender.

They make a tether for the camera if that is a concern. I also use my Hero 7 on the mountain bike helmet. I smacked a tree limb with the camera last week, and it stayed on. The camera must be pretty tough because it was not harmed at all.

I am working on an updated video of my ride from Katy along the Brazos to Bellivelle now that I settled on a video editing software. I added music to drown out the wind noise but looking into copy-write information before uploading it to Youtube.
 
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