What's your number 2?

[shootist]

Scott:

The GoPro is an AVC-based camera, right? What's your workflow to get it into the AVID and make it play well with the other clips?

what Flaca said......

H.264 in MP4 recorded onto an SD card.

Direct import in Avid. (File>Import>...yadda yadda)

It does take a while to import but I'm rarely in a time crunch and can usually let it crank away on one machine while I work on another.

I did try to do a real time playout/capture but the video quality dropped bigtime and I haven't yet figured out how NOT to have the menu characters/options display on playout.

right now, i have no viewfinder...so if it's critical i'll roll a little and then play it out to my camera where I can check the framing. the camera does have the expansion port to hook up the VF when available.

I forgot about one app until Stephen mentioned it...the scrum. I mounted it to the top of my french flag out in front of everything and got some great stuff. I've also used it for a few underwater shots as in looking up at a sink faucet...and in a basement right up next to a spraying water pipe. A little Rain-X on the front of the housing and everything drips away quickly.

another thing...the camera shoots in 5 different modes 1080 30p, 960 30p, 720 60p, 720 30p, WVGA 60P.

In 1080, the camera has a 120 degree wide angle. If I need more, I switch to 720 and it's a 170 degree wide angle.

Quite happy with it so far. Also very happy with the fact my wife works for REI. It's not just for clothing anymore! Gotta love the discount!

 

[MtnShooter]

I wish someone would say something bad about this thing. My credit card is twitching.

 

[cameragod]

I was just about to buy one this month when my muffler fell expensively of my car... so maybe next month?

 

[Flaca Productions]

what Flaca said......

I did try to do a real time playout/capture but the video quality dropped bigtime and I haven't yet figured out how NOT to have the menu characters/options display on playout.

i might have mis-spoken here.
i did do one playout to xdcam, but i think i also included the card when i shipped the stuff off to the editor. i seem to remember that the playout had the characters on it as well, but i'm not sure. i'll have to double check.....thanks for the reminder.

either way - awesome little toy/tool.

 

[couryhouse]

small sonys

That's a nice little Sony... It has just about every feature I'm looking for in a 2nd cam/personal cam, and a decent amount of on-board storage too...

I am amazed by it. There is also a new sold state memory one but it appears not to have an eye level finder... I like an eye level finder no matter what size the camera is!

 

[JTFCM]

Wow, thanks Shootist, I'll add that to my shopping list.

 

[justFRED.ca]

i've had a couple of conversations with the gopro tech guys <snip> they have also said that they have figured out how to stream live out of them - not sure if that means output from the usb port or one of the video ports...and that will be updatable thru software. pretty cool stuff.

I could so use that feature. We've been using motorized security cams - we call them our robo-cams - to get crowd shots. The image quality is always questionable.

Too bad there's no zoom on the gopro's. (Even the original Flip had a two-step zoom setting - I'd trade zoom for no audio anytime - audio's coming other sources anyway, not a tiny camera).

Please post anything new you hear about this - and thanks for the heads-up about the streaming.

Cheers,
George

 

[SimonW]

http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/view/ShowSiteSection.action?sectiontype=BC Tools XDCAM

Fraid there isn't much bad to say about it. I've mounted it in rally cars for in car footage and where most cameras that size fall apart due to the contrast levels the GoPro held up perfectly.

We've also used it for surfer cam views of the Severn Bore tidal wave and the news stations love the results that are coming from it.

 

[Stoney]

I wish someone would say something bad about this thing. My credit card is twitching.

The camera might produce good results (I admit, I haven't used it) but it sure looks lame. I've seen them in use, and the form factor is boxy and toy-like.

A better looking camera, with very good results, is the Vholdr Contour HD: http://vholdr.com/.

They are nice cameras, I have one. It has nice features like laser mounting guides, nice selection of mounts, replaceable battery, rotating lens. And, it looks like a decent camera, not a toy. Networks accept them for lipstick cam footage.

 

[ChrisFigProductions]

I believe in identical back-ups. If a camera goes down, the image should remain the same.

I have (2) Panasonic DVX-100B's.

 

[supedog]

I'm curious...many have a second, smaller camera to back up a larger one.

What works best for you and are you using it mostly to hand off to a producer to keep them out of your hair or...does it double as a reverse camera that looks "ok" when mixed in with your primary footage?

My main camera is the Panasonic HDX900. My 2nd camera, "the smaller one," is the Panasonic HVX200. I have a wide-angle lens on the HVX200 for when I shoot B-Roll and it also shoots the same formats as the HDX900 when using the P2 cards. It does well for me as a reverse camera as well. Some color correction is needed in post. Other than that, no complaints from clients.