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GoPro vs Wingman
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cgoudie1



Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Posts: 2597
Location: Killer Sturgeon Cove

PostPosted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 5:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Go Pros are nice, but my Contour has infinitely clearer HD. This after having mixed both side by side.

-Craig

rigitrite wrote:
Go Pro. Anything else is like buying beta when everyone else has VCR.
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Wind-NC.com



Joined: 30 May 2007
Posts: 980
Location: Formerly Cape Hatteras, now Burlington, VT!

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 9:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Never heard of a wingman... But the new go pro is INSANE! Wifi to your phone, waterproof remote control, and loads of settings... Too long to list... But if you're judging go pros on older models, it's worth checking the new black edition out before making up your mind on a purchase...
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johnl



Joined: 05 Jun 1994
Posts: 1330
Location: Hood River OR

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cgoudie1 wrote:
Go Pros are nice, but my Contour has infinitely clearer HD. This after having mixed both side by side.

-Craig

rigitrite wrote:
Go Pro. Anything else is like buying beta when everyone else has VCR.


Are you comparing this to the original GoPro, the GoPro Hero, GoPro Hero2 or the newest GoPro Hero 3 Black edition? Cause they are all different. Each newer model is better than the one before in features and quality of film...
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 9:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do any of them depict the terrain and the action better?
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Wind-NC.com



Joined: 30 May 2007
Posts: 980
Location: Formerly Cape Hatteras, now Burlington, VT!

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 11:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

isobars wrote:
Do any of them depict the terrain and the action better?


Depends on what you want to see... I know that your chief complaint is "terrain flattening."

The GoPro does now allow you to switch between "Ultrawide, medium, and narrow" field of views. The narrow is somewhere around 100 degrees, the wide around 170. Presumably, the less distorted narrow FOV will show the terrain more naturally. I haven't messed around with that yet.

Beyond the FOV distortion, the clarity is umpteen times better in the new cams. You can shoot 1080p at 60 frames per second, or even higher resolutions but at slower frame rates (maximum is 4k cinematic at 12 fps. I have no idea what that means but the file sizes are huge and the image quality is Crazy Good). If you switch to photo mode, the camera takes 12mp photos at 10 fps continuously, or at a burst rate of 30fps.

Depicting better action? Well, that's up to you Very Happy Laughing All kidding aside, the Clew-View mount has been extremely popular for taking people along for the ride. You can see the terrain ahead, the entire sailor, board trim, etc. It's like having a little helicopter chasing you around. Helmet cams are much better for following friends, but every now and then you can get a cool glimpse of your own action.

The attached photo is from the older HD2, NOT THE NEW CAM. It is a frame grab from video, in the ultra wide setting. Had I been shooting with a narrower FOV and in photo mode, this would have been much clearer. C'est la vie. Next time. Wink

Looks like wind on Monday. I'll take the new cam along for the ride and see what I can come up with Very Happy



Down The Line.jpg
 Description:
My view: Chasing Keith down the line, into the sunset. Hatteras Ramp 55, December, 2012. NNE at 25-30 knots.
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 Viewed:  10713 Time(s)

Down The Line.jpg



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cgoudie1



Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Posts: 2597
Location: Killer Sturgeon Cove

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Compared to H2. Interesting though, since by "quality of film" you
mean quality of video. 1080P at 60 frames per second is really good
stuff on the H3, and would be really useful for my videos (which tend
to contain a fair amount of slow motion). I'll probably go to
GoPro for my next purchase.

But, you still have quality of lens. I'll wait to make judgment on
an H3 after I've mixed some video from one. Be forewarned that
as you go to a narrower field of view, your shake goes up, sometimes
to the point of being unwatchable. To me it appears that GoPro is
running an anti-shake algorithm, which sort of makes fast movements
seem alien in nature, but I like that better than the Contour's method,
and much better than nothing. But again, so far I'm more impressed
with the clarity of the Contour. I like the Contour mounting system
better also (see below). We'll see what we get out of an H3.

It would sure be nice if GoPro would switch to a real screw in camera
mount rather than their cheesy plastic mount, you know, like big boy
photographers use, but, again, just my preference.

-Craig


johnl wrote:
cgoudie1 wrote:
Go Pros are nice, but my Contour has infinitely clearer HD. This after having mixed both side by side.

-Craig

rigitrite wrote:
Go Pro. Anything else is like buying beta when everyone else has VCR.


Are you comparing this to the original GoPro, the GoPro Hero, GoPro Hero2 or the newest GoPro Hero 3 Black edition? Cause they are all different. Each newer model is better than the one before in features and quality of film...
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hodad.andy wrote:
isobars wrote:
Do any of them depict the terrain and the action better?


Depends on what you want to see... I know that your chief complaint is "terrain flattening."

Depicting better action? Well, that's up to you Very Happy Laughing All kidding aside, the Clew-View mount has been extremely popular for taking people along for the ride. You can see the terrain ahead, the entire sailor, board trim, etc. It's like having a little helicopter chasing you around.

Except that a clew mount, also my preferred POV, is inherently a rider-centric POV, in that what we see is the rider and his board almost stationary except for his hand and body movements. There's scenery in the background, of course, but it just looks like hand-held motion camera screen saver background secondary to a twitching rider. BAFfing, slashing, jibing, cutbacks, off-the-lips, overhead swell, knee high swell ... it all just looks like a guy standing on a board going in a straight line while the screensaver moves around him in the periphery. Maybe my mind just doesn't integrate the two almost unrelated scenes -- the guy and the background -- the same way others see them. It's like I need action subtitles: "OK, I'm jibing now", "I just nailed a lip so hard and sharp my knees buckled", "You can tell because the horizon went vertical that I either did a laydown jibe or fell in the water", or "This is a tabletop". In your photo above, for example, I get a better sense of what that sailor in the distance is doing in just that one frame than I do from watching a whole video of rider-POV antics, whether clew, mast, helmet, or board mounts are used.

I've watched bericw sail for countless hundreds of hours in the wet and I've watched his posted videos, and I'm here to tell ya that his videos don't do 1% justice to what his sailing (or the terrain at Port Kelley when it's literally smoking) looks like. Izzit just me, or does everyone need a real-time narrative to get ANY real time sense of what's going on in action (i.e., non-BAFing) WSing videos?

I'm not criticizing the cameras; they're marvels. What I'm trying to do is keep track of advancements in the hope of something coming along that will convey to a video observer -- this one, at least -- even the remotest clue of what's going on out there without having a photographer follow the rider around.
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johnl



Joined: 05 Jun 1994
Posts: 1330
Location: Hood River OR

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cgoudie1 wrote:
Compared to H2. Interesting though, since by "quality of film" you
mean quality of video. 1080P at 60 frames per second is really good
stuff on the H3, and would be really useful for my videos (which tend
to contain a fair amount of slow motion). I'll probably go to
GoPro for my next purchase.


I guess I'm just old. I still think of it as film Smile Heck I also still think of dialing phone numbers Smile I have the GP Hero and now the GP Hero black. I'm looking forward to taking out the video's to see how they compare. If you shoot 1080p at 60fps then you can't do the photo at the same time (which is pretty cool). So I'm not sure if I'll be dabbing into that or not. I have heard complaints about the new battery not lasting anywhere near as long as the older ones though. And if you get the battery backpack, then the "floaty door" won't float the newer H3. So I went with the regular battery. BUT with the new waterproof remote, you don't have to have it on as much, you can turn it on as needed a lot easier...
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Wind-NC.com



Joined: 30 May 2007
Posts: 980
Location: Formerly Cape Hatteras, now Burlington, VT!

PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

johnl wrote:
I have heard complaints about the new battery not lasting anywhere near as long as the older ones though. And if you get the battery backpack, then the "floaty door" won't float the newer H3. So I went with the regular battery. BUT with the new waterproof remote, you don't have to have it on as much, you can turn it on as needed a lot easier...


+/-s... That new little battery is running a heck of a lot of stuff... When the WiFi was a separate backpack, it had it's own internal battery. Now it's all running off of the same, smaller and lighter, camera battery. Spare batteries only cost $19.99, so that seems like the easiest solution to me- just requires a quick trip to the beach and you're up and running again.

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