Using a Go Pro

My brother has given me two Go Pros, HD Hero & HD Hero 2.

I know nothing about Go Pro's.

I am looking for suggestions as to best utilize one or both.

Please be very descriptive in your suggestions as I have not a clue and I would like to use them.

Also I debate how they fit in with my other cameras, the Samsung and the Pentax DSLR

Thanks,

Richard

Mount one of them on a drone and share the beautiful video footage with all of us here on TF.

They have a time-lapse feature that can take a frame every minute, or 5 minutes, or whatever. Mount it somewhere you can leave it running for the whole trip and at the end you have a movie of the whole thing.

time lapse with a GoPro is great. However, from experience, it is better to take the image more often than less. Also set the camera some place where you can plug it while still filming, otherwise the batteries may die on a very long run.

dhays said:

time lapse with a GoPro is great. However, from experience, it is better to take the image more often than less. Also set the camera some place where you can plug it while still filming, otherwise the batteries may die on a very long run.

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Is Go Pro capable of live feed? ER or rear view monitoring for example.

dhays said:

However, from experience, it is better to take the image more often than less. Also set the camera some place where you can plug it while still filming, otherwise the batteries may die on a very long run.

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I wasn't real happy with the time lapse either. You'll need a large SD card - 65G to get about 5+ hrs of video. The battery will die before then so you will need to plug it into a DC outlet or more properly a USB plug.

Hawgwash said:

Is Go Pro capable of live feed? ER or rear view monitoring for example.

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Check their web site, I seem to remember you can get live video on a tablet.

It is a neat system but the time it takes to upload and edit the video on a computer will soon wear off the wow factor.

Recently returned from skiing in Aspen and was surprised at how many folks had Go-Pro's mounted on top of their helmets to record their skiing - cool idea. I saw some of the footage in one of the ski shops - really wild for the kids that were doing flips and loops off of the ramps!

Those are old GoPro models (they currently sell the GoPro HERO4). They are not equipped with wifi, so you will not be able to remotely see what the camera sees when using the GoPro app.

However, they can be a lot fun for strapping onto things such as yourself for interesting POV videos (think zip lining, diving, etc.). We started with a HERO2 and primarily used it for the "FlyBridge Cam" on our video cruising guides. We also got some neat time lapse videos with it. Just use your imagination and you can have fun with them.

timjet said:

I wasn't real happy with the time lapse either. You'll need a large SD card - 65G to get about 5+ hrs of video. The battery will die before then so you will need to plug it into a DC outlet or more properly a USB plug.

It is a neat system but the time it takes to upload and edit the video on a computer will soon wear off the wow factor.

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The longest time lapse I did was I think was about 12 hours. I has to modify my old Go-Pro case to allow the charger to charge during the trip.
I have only done time lapse with automobiles, so the speeds are much great. 1 frame every 5 seconds is a bit too choppy at 100mph. 2 seconds works great. For Trawler speeds, I would try 30 seconds for an extended trip and 5 seconds for into and out of harbors etc...

As Darren mentioned above, he has done time lapse on the boat and it turned out well. He can tell you what rate he has used.

I have one and really don't use it much. They are okay for a few things (time lapse being the best by far), but not for much else unless you are the narcissistic type and mount it on a selfie stick while you jump off of things. And there is SOME appeal to that. Like standing on a beach for a 360 spin or snorkeling are a couple of others, but that gets old after a while. Still, as a camera, they generally suck. Fixed focal length and such an insanely wide angle, that strapping it to a helmet or a drone is about the ONLY use for it. In addition, anything other than direct sunlight and the image get grainy as the digital system compensates the ISO (since it is the only real adjustment it can do with a fixed lens.

Darren has about the only "practical" use for it and one I was going to try this year. Stick it on the radar arch facing forward and record the flying bridge activity and forward progress. But how often will that be interesting unless you go long distances. And even then. Do you want a time lapse of every leg?

YMMV

If you use time lapse on a goPro camera, make sure to rig power to the camera because it will often run out of power at the same amount of time as live video. A guy on the internet made a board that turned off the camera until it was time to take the image, so it stays off most of the time, and the battery would last for several days, not 2-3 hours.

If it were me, I would mount one in a shaded area (so you don't get sun in the lens) and have it take photos every 30-60 seconds. Then you have plenty of images to fish through to pick out the gems.

Thanks for all the pointers. I already bought a 2nd waterproof case which I'll cut to take a USB power cable, and mount it on the flybridge.

For the kind of speeds I'll be going, I'm thinking once a minute might be enough. I figure the car goes 10 times faster, so I tried it on the dash at once every 5 seconds and it seems about right.

The idea is to capture the whole Down East Loop. I'll unload the SD card to the laptop daily, and I'm sure I'll have plenty of down time, waiting for weather or whatever, to do most of the video conversion during the trip.

I primarily use mine fixed (suction cup mount) to either the dash or electric motor plate (front quarter gunnel - camera facing to rear of boat) on my 4.5m side console. I set it to shoot a still every 30 seconds. I've gotten some awesome candid shots of fishing type situations but the big bonus is the candid shots of me and the family. After awhile you don't even remember the camera is there and whilst you get a million shots of nothing in a day, you always get one or two shots that no amount of pre-planning or setting up could have gotten and the moment would have been and gone before you got your 'normal' camera out to capture it. Often moments you didn't realise happened yourself until you see the shot.

As other posters have mentioned the older models do not have WiFi so you cannot use them for (say) rear view monitors.

I did end up using one for scanning under the boat - without having to get wet. Worked well. I would not buy one for this alone but if you have one it is a great option to consider.

The voyages of the Redoubt : 22. Fly Basin. Hiding from the weather, diving the boat, and bread making

I have used my go pro Hero 3+ for just over a year now and love it for doing sports/Wet style video.

Here is a time lapse video of crossing from Anacortes to Mud Bay in the San Juans. Camera was suction cupped to the upper deck and set to take pictures every 5 seconds:


Here is another video from different angles using the Time Lapse and video functions while we cruised from Anacortes to La Conner

This video was taken underwater from our Dingy while cruising with a Super Pod of Dolphins. Amazing to see what was happening under the boat while we were zipping around.

the battery leaves much to be desired and I have 2 different batters and I could easily use a 3rd. It's great to get specific sport style shots but not a great camera for day to day use (ie birthdays and such).

Very cool Rfunk. How did you attach the camera to the hull of your dink.?

Thanks for sharing those. The time lapse was 5 seconds... Worth playing around with.

What software did you use on the time lapse?

I used a selfie stick and just held it under the water. I was pretty scared it would break and sink but I was lucky enough it worked really well. Some sort of a solid mound would be really neat if I could set something up that I could trust.

The software I have had the best success with is the free GoPro software called GoPro Studio.

You need a pretty high end computer to run the video's as it takes up a ton of space. I have had to get several external hard drives to keep up with all the video's.

C'mon Rfunk! You have been hanging around here for over 5 years and only 10 posts?

Unlike me, you actually have a "trawler" and cool stuff to share!

timjet said:

I wasn't real happy with the time lapse either. You'll need a large SD card - 65G to get about 5+ hrs of video. The battery will die before then so you will need to plug it into a DC outlet or more properly a USB plug.


Check their web site, I seem to remember you can get live video on a tablet.

It is a neat system but the time it takes to upload and edit the video on a computer will soon wear off the wow factor.

Click to expand...

Ha Ha, I'm sure this is why my brother gave them to me!

So yes, am thinking top, center window of pilot house, so I can hard wire the power.
I suppose I'll just have to experiment with time lapse and set it based on conditions.

Richard

Thanks for all the help and tips.

It'll be a project over the next year.

Also, I have like 12,000 pictures of the last three years and 4 with me in them! So I'll get ones with me on the bow.

Yes experiment with it Richard. It really is a neat tool. You will need a powerful computer or the downloads take forever.

I suction cup mounted mine to the helm and that location works well. I also use a lanyard, I don't trust suction completely.

I time lapsed going through Hell's Gate in GA with visibility almost 0/0 but not quite because you could see the markers about 50' off the bow. It was really cool and then speed it up to watch the fog lift, very cool. Be patient, there is a learning curve in the editing that I haven't completely surmounted. I use Go Pro Studio.

Most people have a need and look for a product to meet that need. Here, we have someone who has a product and is liking for a need.


You can do any of the things suggested. I have a different brand of small camera and mount it to the windscreen with a suction cup. If I see something interesting approaching, I turn the camera on.