Go Pro Hero3 - Initial Thoughts

I went to record a video for the Indie-a-go-go presale campaign Dim is doing for its latest book. I busted out my old DV camera (the kind with tapes) for the first time in a few years. I quickly decided to buy a Go Pro. Here are my initial thoughts.

Buying the Camera

I had done a fair amount of research on the camera. It seemed that most people were using it for hanging out with lions, doing insane mountain bike tracks in exotic places, or getting an eagle eye view of the world. I however, really just wanted a versatile small, easy to use HD camera. As such, I didn't want to just blindly order one online before getting a few questions resolved. I went to the Best Buy in Roseville to do some research. The guys working the camera area were really up on the camera and actually really helpful. It's been years since I had a positive experience at Best Buy, but I guess it has been years since I went to Best Buy too. I picked up the highest end model, the Black edition, which included the built in WIFI. I also picked up a tripod mount as that was not included. I spent $399 and $19 respectively before tax. I should note, that this was about how much I paid in 2005 for the crappy sony DV camera. Then I went home and started tinkering. It probably took me about 30 minutes to actually be recording video.

My Environment

The mobile app mentioned later is running on my Nexus 4 Android phone. I'm running on a Mac Mini and copying video in Finder and importing into Adobe Premier. All video tests were done indoors in poor lighting. I have not went outside with it yet as it is below zero here in MN the past few days and I didn't pick up the fog screen adapter. Also, all of my test were with the camera out of the water/wind proof case.

Sound

This was my biggest concern. For this to be worthwhile as a camcorder replacement, I wanted to make sure the audio was somewhat decent. For any high level projects, I'd throw some microphones out and record on a separate device. However, for basic screwing around, I wanted to make sure the sound was fine. I would say that the Sound is pretty ok. Up close the microphone has good fidelity. The further away you get the more muffled and spotty the audio is. Also, it seemed to be good at not picking up ambient noise or jostles. Again, I had it out of the water proof enclosure frame and not in the wind. This maters a lot I hear.

Camera Size

I was amazed at how tiny the camera is. Out of the water proof enclosure frame, the camera is smaller than the battery pack for my DV camera. It is slightly larger than the DV cassette tapes for the DV camera. The lightweight and small nature of the camera seems like you could easily duct tape it to something in a pinch, although I have yet to try it. It also feels like it could be lost easily. More on that in the Mobile App section.

Video Quality

By default the camera is in 1080p with Wide Angle view enabled. This resulted in an amazingly high res "fish eye" style video. The video was fluid, crystal clear, and obviously many many times better than anything I was able to get out of my DV camera (which I think was 480p). I was initially worried the camera only did Wide Angle since that seems to work best for action sports. However, I was happy to find that there is a setting for Mid and Narrow Angle too. Narrow angle feels more like a camcorder view. Also in the settings, you can change the recording format quality and see that the camera goes well above the 1080p quality level. I have not tinkered with Protune yet, but it suggests "Cinema Quality" video is possible, whatever that means.

The Mobile App is Amazing

The GoPro does not come with a view finder. At first this seems like a set back until you install the App. It gives you full control of the camera settings as well as serves as a view finder. This allows you to, for example, set the GoPro across the room, and make sure you have the shot framed, start, stop, replay recording without having to be glued to the camera. Also, in recent years, I have bought a couple Gagets including a Onkyo WiFi enabled receiver and a Samsung Smart TV. I was really disheartened by the apps that existed for both of these. They did very little, hardly worked, paired poorly, and felt like half hearted attempts to appear like a modern device. This is not the case with the GoPro App. It surpasses any expectations of what I'd expect of a remote control app. It works nearly perfectly and nearly all aspects of the camera can be controlled via app. It also has a locator function. Brilliant! This is probably one of the greatest features of this camera.

A Modern Device

As somewhat mentioned in the App description, that the controller App surpasses what you would expect out of controller app. The same really goes for most aspects of the camera as well. I love that battery and SD card are removable yet the camera can be hooked up via USB to download the videos as well as to charge the camera. This just feels right and is not always the case with a lot of devices. The camera and mounts just feel sturdy and you are not afraid they are going to break if you drop them.

Minor Gripes

I have minimal gripes so far. Firstly, the removable panels on the camera for the battery cover as well as the USB/HDMI/SD card are not hinged and thus are not attached to the camera in anyway. I feel like they are thus easy to loose which I'd assume would affect the wind/water/lava proofness of the camera. Also, I'd Imagine swapping the battery/sd card out would be a pain "in the field" since it seems like the camera needs to be removed from mount, the case opened, and these panels removed. If you are not at a clean flat workspace, this means putting these panels in your pocket or some such. Second gripe: I have yet to figure out how to actually mount the camera to the included mounts. The base seems to be a part of the display packaging and with minimal fiddling, I felt like I needed some instruction on how to get it off without breaking anything. These was somewhat bad user experience off the bat. There does not seem to be a way to stream video. This isn't a huge need, but something I could do with the DV camera. We used to LiveStream live painting sessions for Dim. We might have to think of an alternative. Lastly, there is no zoom and no other lenses. This is by design to be compact, but is annoying when thinking about trying to use it for other applications.

In Summary

This camera is probably the best gadget I have ever had. I don't think I have ever been so excited and pleased with a purchase. I feel like it is a quality gizmo that feels "modern" and does more than what I need it to do without being too complicated. I also am excited to have an HD camera with a price tag that didn't require me to go into massive debt. In short, I am very happy.

So now what?

Now that I have a sufficient understanding of how to use the camera to get video onto the computer, I'm tinkering with Adobe Premier. Previously, I used Apple Imovie for all my video, but since Katie and I got Creative Cloud registrations for Christmas, I figured I'd tinker. I have not gotten far yet, but I was able to import video. Outside of the nuts and bolts, I think the first step is to get the Indie-a-go-go video recorded and online. After that, I wouldn't mind using the bulb feature to do some stop motion animation references. This is also made more easy with the mobile App as a viewfinder. Finally, I think I really want to take a stab at making a short film of some sort. So yeah, we'll see. The ideas have been swirling in my head since I bought it. I'll be sure to post anything I come up with.