Gopro hero 3

As you know i have been a little harsh on the Go Pro hero 2, its big its boxey and equals a extra 2 litres per 100 fuel consumption when stuck on the side of your helmet. A friend called me up and says can i come around and help him set up his gopro hero 3.

As a professional videographer i like simplicity so the the contour roam 2 is my camera of choice. So when i get my hands on the hero 3 black and I'm looking impressed lets look at the specs.
Video
4k @ 15 fps, useless for mounting on the bike
2.7k @ 24 fps thats awesome for mounting on the bike
1080p @ 60fps and wide, med, and narrow video angles and my choice
720p @ 120fps for that slow mo stuff
420p @ 240fps for that super slow mo, sadly only 4:3 aspect ratio
And a loop feature thats pretty cool

Photo's
12 mp single and with burst of up to 30 fps
Time lapse

Wifi remote for up to 50 camera's and its waterproof to 3 meters for the remote and 60 meters for the camera

As a pro this camera has some serious pro features that contour and drift dont offer. Also there is a fair difference in video quality ( i'll get to that later ) gro pro' black is the only way to go if are buying a new go pro

But there always has to be a but when you buy the gopro a manual firmware upgrade is essental, the battery back pack is a must, the battery in the remote goes flat really quick so i suggest the ios or android app as a alternative, turning the wifi on the remote will reduce battery life hence the reason to purchase a battery bacpak , menu's are fiddley and definatley not user friendly and some times the bloody camera can be just damn cranky .

So after playing with Rainers for a week i've sold my drift HD and bought a gopro black, sadly ive run out of time to test it on the bike, i flew out to Thailand and Hong Kong for two week holiday with the family, so i leave my normal camera and my big arse video camera at home as i didnt want to look like a dickhead American tourist and armed with my iphone 5, ipad 3 and my gopro black we are in slide night mode .

I have to say the photos are awesome the video is excellent and its easy to use i bought with it a battery bac and a tripod mount which i then bought a little foam handle and it just sits in my pocket. the battery lasted most days if i didn't use the wifi remote and to be truthful its a bloody pain in the arse.

When got to Hong Kong i used it disney land on some of the roller coaster and took heaps of photos, to day we went to ocean park , i flicked it over to burst mode when watching then dolphin show 10 shots in two seconds try doing that with your smart phone camera, pick the best shot discard the rest . So after i got back to the hotel i decided that my contour roam is a awesome little camera but to buy a second one would be silly as it wont intergrate into my new gopro ecosystem. So off Wan chi to the camera shop for a gopro white , mmm don't have a white only silver, how much $2500 HK do it for $2200hk and you got a deal plus a bought a frame (better shots ) , cover pack and tripod mount and a lcd back. $3700.00hk devide by 8 gives you $462.00 AU saved my self about $150

Now the silver will intergrate into my gopro ecosystem when i mount it on the bike, so it goes like this contour on the helmet ( for ease of use ) and the two go pros work off the remote or ios app , cool

The lcd back is nice if you want to use for a normal camera.

In summing up yes the gopro whilst is smaller its still a brick, you may see it on top of my helmet but definatley not on the side and mostly mounted to the bike invarious locations for that awesome action

So yes the go pro gets the thumbs up but buy a black its money well spent over the silver, and i only bought a silver cause i mainly shoot 1080p or 720p and i already have a black

So when i get home i will be camering up ewoks new baby by the sounds of it and also breaking out the big camera for some brown mountain fun, coming to a vimeo channel soon

Jim

Ps got a great pair of new nikes for $60 aussie about $200.00 saving

Nice review there. I've been looking for a camera like that for a while. Many of the people around me are gopro fans. I've been impressed with the results they've shown me.

I do a few things which would benefit from a hands free camera, or a remote camera, mounted or on a stick. The Gopro is robust. I've seen some awesome stacks. It survives, protected by the light weight and small size. My friends only ever use theirs in the waterproof housing. Sounds like the black is the way to go.

Thanks for that.

I have been thinking of purchasing some sort of Go-Pro and was really not sure what sort of one to get. So I found your review really useful.
Can I ask what size memory card you use in these (or how you actually store the footage shot)? I had a loan of a friend's Go Pro somthing (old one) and had a 16 Gig card in it. All we got was a few hours of pretty boring shots of us going down the road. The bits we wanted were lost as the thing ran out of memory (and we didn't get the instruction booklets - but I mean - real men don't read instructions - do we )

I have read your post here and another from isj001. Found both really helpful! https://nswbandits.forumotion.net/t3599-gopro-hero-3-black-edition?highlight=gopro


Any other advice on these sorts of cameras would also be appreciated!

^^^ Mate 16gb should be plenty for a couple of hrs and honestly how much time do you have to edit?
Dont forget making someone else sit through more than 10 minutes is about to test the friendship
A remote is a must and record only the bits you look forward to editing. That's my tip.

Compared to the current crop my Drift HD170 is old but its still HD. New cameras are smaller not necessarily better. Decide what you want to do and the best camera will be easy. None of them record good audio unless you spend heaps on a mic. All of them will stress anything but the latest pc/mac.

My Drift had "gone down the road" and survived.

Found a problem don't bother buying the handle bar mount its shit , gunna get a ram mount more adjustable and better value

Jimcoleman wrote:Found a problem don't bother buying the handle bar mount its shit , gunna get a ram mount more adjustable and better value

I've tried a few bar mounts. Non of them sit high enough on the B1250S. Ok on a naked though.
Was yours a quality issue JC?

Quality now thats a bit of a loose word with the handle bar mount. Its very cheap looking and feel which is quite surprising seeing everything else is 1 st class gunna grab a ram mount there awesome

Here is my Set up with the Contour +2 I can also mount my misses Contour roam 2 to the helmet. The case is for underwater and not really necessary for the bike as the contour is waterproof.

Contour +2 in Waterproof housing

iPhone 4 in Lifeproof case and bike mount. Adapted to fit RAM mount

Bluetooth connection between Phone and Camera


I am sure the Go Pro 3 are a good camera but i just cannot get over the squareness of them especially how they sit on the helmet. not so bad on the bike itself if mounted in a secure position.

Mpottsy you dead right about the GoPro there are really not suited to being helmet mounted, i had mine GP3 Silver mounted to the top of my Helmet shit anything above about 110 it was really uncomfortable, I love my Roam for the Helmet and on any big ride i do, it just slips on my helmet, its water proof, glove friendly takes good video, but bike mounted, the gopro wins hands down the quality is awesome and the settings give much more range of filming styles.

My mate has the +2 and its impressive but still not as good as the go pro black which i was hoping it would be, plus the go pro you take pictures as well not just 4:3 time lapse like the contour

but in saying that if i only road bikes and surfed and not do professional video id only own contour there awesome

plus that ram mount looks awesome

Thats quite a novel Jim
I dont reckon the Drift is affected by vib facing backwards from the pillion peg bracket.  I've shot a few backwards and at only 30 fps. It's wb and color is a different story though.

Him if you are still having vibration issues I would get onto the Jonny Appleseed website and have a good look at all the RAM kits they sell.  Am sure there would be something there to attach the go pro  too and reduce if not completely remove your vibration issues. 

I looked at mounting accessories for both the Contour and the Go Pro and I'm not that impressed with either of them. Both great Cameras but the forgot the extras.