GoFastBroncos.com

Alright,
So gopro users.....what are the tricks of the trade. School us in settings, battery life, video editing, etc etc etc

I'm sure if you are asking this you already have the go-pro, thus the manual...but if anyone is buying one used or lost theirs, here is a link to all the manuals.

http://gopro.com/support/product-manuals-support

My best advise is to hang on to it!!!!! I am about to need my third one....

Which model are you getting?

Editing can be tricky on a low-performance computer. Finalizing a video will blow most computers up for hours.

Tips and stuff... can go on forever. I don't use mine enough these days to have a lot of advice to give.

http://goprouser.freeforums.org/ is a wealth of information (although the admin is a little off (worse than this place!)).

I used to visit there often but the the owner's kookiness and unwillingness to see other opinions as valid turned me off. There are a few other GoPro forums but I've never checked them out.

I pretty much only use my gen 1 HD on setting 3. Back before you could buy them pre-made, I bought an extra housing and hogged out some holes in it so I can run vehicle power to it.

I use the case for a Milwaukee 1/4" driver to keep all my GoPro gear. I usually keep the housings in an old sock to keep the lenses from getting scratched. A lot of people keep them in Crown Royal bags but I don't buy Crown Royal. Jameson and Sailor Jerry don't come in bags.

Case:

My most-used mount:

With camera:

Also doubles as a flashlight holder-which really comes in handy.

I have always been frustrated with my go pros. Always double check it, I have shot some amazing footage on a dirt bike in the Sierra Nevadas or snow boarding in Utah only to find out it wasn't recording or the batteries ran out earlier then expected. It seams they are unnecessarily difficult. JVC came out with a new one I might try.

Here is the one I had on my mirror during my short lived Laughlin run. It's usually a pretty good spot when it's not muddy.

I know dont know much about go pros but I'd love to have one eventually. I've been doing a bit of research though and there's 2 freeking awesome things I've been checking out. The gimbal. if you've never heard of one they are 2 and 3 axis motion stabilizers. They will change the way your movie quality comes out all together. I know we do a lot of vehicle mounted stuff but these things would prove priceless in a side by side stabilized ( gimbal) to non stabilized movie comparison. I posted a link to a 3 axis gimbal remote controlled helicopter type system a while back. But here's a link to yet another brand in a technology field I know nothing about. Click the link and watch the demo vid and ill see if I can dig up the brand of the helicopter gopro thing-a-ma-giggy.

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/09/easygim ... zer-gopro/

Here's one of the 2 axis rc helicopter gimbals.

http://xproheli.com/products/xproheli-x ... ess-gimbal

The battery life isn't bad if you fully charge it and dont run the WiFi. I get about 1.5hr or more with that setup.... with WiFi on, I get less than 20 minutes. In the ProTruck we do as mentioned above and drill a hole in side of case and run a mini USB adapter to the 12V system to keep it powered all the time. With that setup, we run til card is full.

On battery life... depends on what you're doing. I used mine today on a fire road trek. On the picture every 5 seconds, it lasted 2 hours and 46 minutes and took 1,992 photos.

Here's a handle I made for mine.

I use it a lot but my favorite accessory is my collapsible monopole. I can get the camera up high when filming or flip it over and hold it out In front of me when I'm hiking.

You can pick up 32gb cards from best buy for pretty cheap when they are on sale. I think I got one for about $20. The hero3 has to have the class 10 or higher card or it won't record for more than a few seconds.

If you are shooting to put together a video you have to do more than just stick it onto your truck and drive for hours. You have to actually set up shots. Like low angle drive by and high angle shots. Since I really can't afford 20 cameras like the pros I have to set up a shot and maybe run the same shot but mount the camera at different locations.

A tripod will help with higher drive by shots and if you have a second person they can turn the camera on the tripod as you drive by.

Also you can play around with the settings and if you want to have your video at 720 the hero 3 can record it at 120fps meaning you can slow it waaaay down for some cool effects.

I took a cool video of a bike ride down Newport Beach on 4th of July (extra packed on that day) by holding the monopole out In front of me.

If you flip the camera back and hold the camera upside down its pretty stable when you are walking around.

Like this but with a long pole.

With this short handle I can set it up like this on a rock for a drive by (don't run it over!) or walk by shot

Anyone have any experience with the higher capacity batteries for the hero3? Do they actually last longer? I like to shot in 1080 @ 60fps with protune on and it lasts maybe 30 min on a full charge with the regular battery. It's not a gopro brand battery so maybe that hurts it too.

Rmc wrote:I know dont know much about go pros but I'd love to have one eventually. I've been doing a bit of research though and there's 2 freeking awesome things I've been checking out. The gimbal. if you've never heard of one they are 2 and 3 axis motion stabilizers. They will change the way your movie quality comes out all together. I know we do a lot of vehicle mounted stuff but these things would prove priceless in a side by side stabilized ( gimbal) to non stabilized movie comparison. I posted a link to a 3 axis gimbal remote controlled helicopter type system a while back. But here's a link to yet another brand in a technology field I know nothing about. Click the link and watch the demo vid and ill see if I can dig up the brand of the helicopter gopro thing-a-ma-giggy.

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/09/easygim ... zer-gopro/

Link no good, here's a new one.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/481 ... stabilizer

They are a pain in the ass at first for sure. I just wish there was a slider to select between different modes instead of pusing the button to scroll through the settings. Id love to move the slider to VIDEO or PICTURE mode and a separate slider for the resolutions. The current set up is unnecesarily dificult.

I usually mount behind the rear wheel on the body or on the inside of the windshield where the rearview mirrow goes (i took mine off) when its incab i run the charge cable off my decks USB port to charge it and put my 32gb card in it. That setup will run for hours.

If you have the hero3 the iPhone app makes switching modes super easy. You can control everything from the iPhone and even see what the camera is seeing to make sure you have it pointed in the right direction.