GoPro Video Camera

[Dbl]

Actually the Govt and the FAA just allowed this under a new ruling that was signed into law Valentines Day. Same as before as long as you remain under 400' all is good. Check out the back page of the Business section in todays Strib

Nothing new, law enforcement and real estate have been using them for some time.

[PierBridge]

The Nightline show I watched recently had some milatry guys and I thought FAA people that wanted you to be licensed pilots in order to fly them. Maybe that was outside the 400' mark.

[PierBridge]

After making a few homemade Chesty's including the ALL duct-tape version. I ended up throwing down for the actual GoPro Chest mount. Glad I did it, after getting the real deal I realized it's more stable and functional then the home made versions by a long shot.

It worked out pretty sweet I went to Sports Authority with a 10 off coupon if you spend 50 thinking I could save a bit on the chesty, well the coupon wasn't good for another 2 days. So the cashier reaches into the garbage and pulls out a 20 off coupon if you spend a Hondo so I picked up the LCD add-on too...

[LMITOUT]

I see that they've pushed back the release of the wi-fi bacpac to "summer, 2012".

[Jim Almquist]

I see that they've pushed back the release of the wi-fi bacpac to "summer, 2012".

I looked last week and instead of March it said Spring 2012. More curious at what the price will be because it sounds like a neat little option.

[LMITOUT]

Before "Spring 2012" it said "April".

Looks like they've learned not to specify months and are just going with seasons now.

[Farley]

Just a heads up I've been looking for a charger and was in Walmart in Eden Prairie yesterday and they had a kiosk for batteries kind of at the end of the checkout lanes, and I picked up a USB charger that plugs into the wall and you just plug your USB into it. $6.99. Made by Rayovak I think? Pluged the Go Pro in and the red light came on. So if you're looking for that option and dont want to spend the $40 on the GO PRo brand charger there you go.

[MuleShack]

Just a heads up I've been looking for a charger and was in Walmart in Eden Prairie yesterday and they had a kiosk for batteries kind of at the end of the checkout lanes, and I picked up a USB charger that plugs into the wall and you just plug your USB into it. $6.99. Made by Rayovak I think? Pluged the Go Pro in and the red light came on. So if you're looking for that option and dont want to spend the $40 on the GO PRo brand charger there you go.

The phone chargers with the mini usb will work also.

[PierBridge]

Not to be confused with the Micro-USB charger which is a bit smaller and will not work with the Go-Pro. I think I paid 6.99 for my Minny-USB car cord.

[Farley]

The phone chargers with the mini usb will work also.

Yeah I was wondering if those worked as well.

[Dbl]

Finally picked up a GoPro 2 to add to my Kodak Playsport. The main reason for my purchase is to do time lapse work. I use my DSLR's for that but this example used 2000 shots. I don't like putting all those actuation's on my cameras unless I have to. This was a test run, I want to combine video, time lapse and panning all in one. Should be fun!

Dropped a movie at Redbox and then a little snack at Culver's About 51 secs and just under 2,000 shots. There is a formula to figure out what to set your camera at to achieve smooth video. If anyone is interested let me know and I will post it here. The GoPro is slightly limiting in that you go from 2 sec to 10 sec on the time lapse mode. I often need to shoot a shot every 3 or 4 secs so I will see how this goes.

[LMITOUT]

That's pretty cool. How long were you actually recording? About one hour?

Is there free software that will stitch the pictures together into a video like you posted? We have a project at work coming up and a couple of us have GoPros that we were thinking of using to make a time lapse video of the process.

I also wouldn't mind seeing the formula you mentioned. Thanks.

[LMITOUT]

Valv-

Saw your time lapse video in the Open Water forum and I'd like to do something similar as I mentioned in the post above.

Couple of questions:

What setting did you use for the time lapse (timer setting)?

How long were you actually recording to make that 3+ min video?

What software did you use to make it into a video?

Thanks.

[Dbl]

That's pretty cool. How long were you actually recording? About one hour?

Is there free software that will stitch the pictures together into a video like you posted? We have a project at work coming up and a couple of us have GoPros that we were thinking of using to make a time lapse video of the process.

I also wouldn't mind seeing the formula you mentioned. Thanks.

I figured about 30 minutes for this shoot.

The easiest FREE software is on the GoPro HSOforum. Under support you will see GoPro CineForm Studio PC. It is a free download and it works great! It imported 2,000 photos converted it to an .avi. Then allows you to make editing changes like white balance, exposure, color, etc. and when you are done exports it to mp4. All in all I spent 5 minutes on it!!! Another free one I have used, MPEG Streamclip and if you want to pay a bit, Quick Time Pro.

Here is my tutorial on time lapse;

Most movies show around 24-30 frames per second; the more frames per second, generally the smoother the movie will play back (though of course, this depends on other things too). We want to be shown at around 24 fps and be smooth and seamless.

We also need to ask how long we want the final movie to be. Lets say around 30 seconds… so, some quick math to find out how many frames we need to capture:

24 fps times 30 seconds = 720 frames

Now to find out how often (at what interval) we need to shoot the frames. First we estimate how long the actual event lasts – lets say 1 hours (or 3,600 seconds). Some more quick math:

3,600 seconds (length of actual event) divided by 720 frames (frames needed for final movie) = 5-second intervals between shots/frames! When you start a time-lapse project, it really helps to be thinking ahead for good results.

Hope that helps.

[LMITOUT]

I have the Cineform program installed but it didn't seem like it had much value the last time I played around with it when making my hunting videos. I did not know it would stitch photos together to make a video. I'll take a second look at it.

Thanks for the explanation on how to figure out the settings. I had most of it squared away but the one question I wasn't sure about was the frame rate and what would be best. I was thinking 30 or 60.

Thanks again! Time to go play!

[Dbl]

The only real advantage to 60 fps is the ability to do slow motion. Usually it is the only time I go there. Cinema, film is normally at 24 fps but doesn't work worth a darn for action, like hunting or sports. If you are using slow pans or want the best detail 24 fps is perfect! 30 fps will give you good overall results as will 60 fps. Since most of my stuff entails action I am usually at 30 or 60 fps. For time lapse if you did 60 fps you will have some high speed action! The 24 to 30 is great for time lapse, gives you good smooth movement.

I use Pinnacle Avid for my video editing but the CineForm is great for time lapse work. I usually do the time lapse in CineForm and export the movie and drag it into Pinnacle for the video portion and titling. I have Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier but it takes me an hour to do anything in either program so I keep it simple with Pinnacle.

Its all about experimentation and doing something different with these cameras! That is where the fun is fun!

[LMITOUT]

In normal video recording, wouldn't 60 fps have the most detail? I guess I am confused as to why you say 24 fps is perfect.

I put the GoPro outside and aimed it at the sky to capture the moving clouds as an experiment. I set it at 10 sec/shot and planning on letting it run for two hours. About one more hour to go... I want to see how it turns out because we're supposed to get some storms starting around 4pm and would like to run it again as the storm clouds build up.

[LMITOUT]

How does the Cineform software work? I can import the files and it shows up on the left side but that is all it does. Nothing I do will allow me to convert to a video and nothing shows up in the center window where you can edit the file. I knew there was a reason I didn't like this software...

Edit: Took a flier and reinstalled Cineform and it worked as it should. Just waiting for it to finish the export now.

[LMITOUT]

[Valv]

Valv-

Saw your time lapse video in the Open Water forum and I'd like to do something similar as I mentioned in the post above.

Couple of questions:

What setting did you use for the time lapse (timer setting)?

How long were you actually recording to make that 3+ min video?

What software did you use to make it into a video?

Thanks.

Actually I didn't use any time lapse, I took the video at full 720hd 30fps, the edited it with Windows Live Movie Maker and increased the speed. Original video is 52 minutes long, 3.66gb size.

[LMITOUT]

Ahhh! I see.

[LMITOUT]

I see that they've pushed back the release of the wi-fi bacpac to "summer, 2012".

Available now for $100.

[mamohr686]

This is my first shot at a video using my GoPro!

[MuleShack]

Just saw this...pretty cool.

This gives me an idea'r

[MuleShack]

I saw on their HSOforum a few months ago, they have a firmware update for the camera.

I was going to do it back in March, but never got around to it.

Anybody else do this update?