To buy a GoPro for indie work or not?

I

IndiePaul

So should I buy a GoPro camera for indie work or not?

GoPro HERO3+ Silver Edition Camera $300
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1003322-REG/gopro_chdhn_302_hero3_silver_edition_camera.html

Specifically has anyone any experience shooting with a GoPro indoors?

I have a feature and a short that both have a being-drowned-in-the-bath scene. With a GoPro, I could have victim-POV as they are being drowned - pretty cool.

I can fit max 2 softboxes (5x bulbs each) into the bathroom. Would that be enough light to get decent footage out of the GoPro 3?

My concern is that other forums have mentioned previous generation GoPros produced pretty terrible indoor footage.
.
 
Last edited:
Sort by date Sort by votes
The GoPro has three different settings for 'focal lengths' - wide (which has the fish-eye effect), medium and narrow. Medium and narrow really diminish the fish-eye/barrel distortion.

I've used GoPro with ProTune firmware to have something that will cut and look a tad better with other cameras.

It works okay. You certainly need the correct amount of light. It's got a tiny sensor, and so it works fine in the middle of the day, but once the sun starts to set your footage is going to start to look awful. As long as you light it right, it should be fine - but you'd need to make sure that the purchase price is worth the odd underwater shot here and there.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Oh okay. I only used the GoPro, through someone else who was operating it for their project, and I was not made aware of those settings. I thought it was a fixed lens that does not zoom from the looks of it.

I know you can move barrel distortion in post, but doesn't that cause loss of pixels? If not, then may bad.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
harmonica44 said:
Oh okay. I only used the GoPro, through someone else who was operating it for their project, and I was not made aware of those settings. I thought it was a fixed lens that does not zoom from the looks of it.

I know you can move barrel distortion in post, but doesn't that cause loss of pixels? If not, then may bad.
Click to expand...

Protune is built into all GoPros (actually it might be only in the higher models but either way it comes built into the software).

It is a fixed lens, it's technically a digital zoom BUT the quality of it is still that of 1080 or 720 or whatever you have it on.

You lose a few pixels but if you shoot at 2.7k losing pixels on the side is never an issue.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Bear in mind Paul that the wifi does not work underwater, my friend was taking photos centimetres from the surface and the wifi cut instantly. IE you will be shooting blind if it is underwater
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You shoulde never buy a piece of gear for one shot, you can rent the Black for $27 (plus shipping).

GoPros are handy though. I break mine out every now and then, they're nice to hide or put in dangerous places. They're a fun camera more than anything else, but is that worth $300 to yoU?

MileCreations said:
Bear in mind Paul that the wifi does not work underwater, my friend was taking photos centimetres from the surface and the wifi cut instantly. IE you will be shooting blind if it is underwater
Click to expand...

This is true!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
PaulGriffith said:
GoPros are handy though. I break mine out every now and then, they're nice to hide or put in dangerous places. They're a fun camera more than anything else, but is that worth $300 to yoU?
Click to expand...

I also agree with this, I bought mine mainly for my aerial work but it has now been used for many different things: taping it to a tree to get casual BTS footage, setting it up at the base of a stage to get a timelapse of the whole performance, wearing it on my head in the crowd at concerts, underwater photography, general risky situation filming (great for hiding for pranks...)

I recommend it (if you see yourself doing some of those things) However there are a few downsides. Battery SUCKS. It can crash. It has never crashed while filming for me, but it has often crashed before or afterwards which is a pain because you have to take the battery out and sometimes the card to 'reset' it. This happens more regularly when it is hot. (for reference I use GoPro Hero3 Black (NOT '+')
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
MileCreations said:
Protune is built into all GoPros (actually it might be only in the higher models but either way it comes built into the software).

It is a fixed lens, it's technically a digital zoom BUT the quality of it is still that of 1080 or 720 or whatever you have it on.

You lose a few pixels but if you shoot at 2.7k losing pixels on the side is never an issue.
Click to expand...

Oh okay. I don't understand how you can digitally zoom without loosing pixel quality though. Plus getting rid of barrel distortion stretches the picture so wouldn't the pixels stretch outside of the frame?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
When the camera can shoot at 4k (albeit at only 15fps) it actually makes a lot of sense...

Think of it like filming something at 1080 but exporting at 720. You can therefore zoom slightly without losing any quality for the final export whatsoever.

Yes it stretches slightly but slight zoom and depending on the subject can easily disguise it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thanks people. :)

Great advice. I have noted it all.

I'll rent for a few days and if that goes well I will likely buy. I'll post again once the GoPro indie filming (our primary camera is a Canon 6D) is over, give you an update on how it went.
.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top