Action Cameras Go Pro etc.

Lakewood90712

Lakewood90712

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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Jul 21, 2005
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Looking to get a simple inexpensive action camera like about $ 100 .

Go Pro and Sony are more. There must be lesser known brands at lower cost.


Recommendations ?
 
Do you have an iPhone or equivalent?
You can get remarkably good video that way.
 
Work phone is a Galaxy S6 never explored all it's capabilities. Will give it a try and the price $0 is good
 
Agreed with the suggestion to use your Galaxy S6. Unless you need water or shockproof, a good smartphone is perfectly usable, better than a GoPro in some ways. If you want good quality video, check the resolution settings on your phone, usually selectable. I assume you’re going to use video as is, not planning to edit.
 
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I bought a knock-off of GoPro on Amazon for $70, back in early 2016. I mounted it in its waterproof case on my bow for my three-month cruise, set for time-lapse. For someone with no editing skills the videos came out OK.

I've used it several times since. It's pretty handy.

I also discovered an app called "Alfred" that will let you use an Android cell phone as a security or monitoring camera. I have a couple of Android phones around that no longer have cell service, but WiFi works fine. I've tested it and it's great - set it up (plugged in of course) somewhere and you can see the image when you're away. I guess you can even talk and listen through it, although I haven't tried.
 
Cell phone cameras are great, but not always ideal. For one thing, the action cameras have a wider field of view. The one linked above (great price, btw) boasts 160 degrees. They come with a waterproof case and can be mounted somewhere (dash, handlebars, helmet, whatever) to keep your hands free. They also have features like time-lapse. There are many times you don't want to risk damaging your phone while videoing.

Finally, for those using cell phone cameras, PLEASE consider orientation. Profile is fine for recording videos of skyscrapers or towers. For just about anything else, learn to hold the phone horizontally while you take videos!
 
CaptTom said:
Cell phone cameras are great, but not always ideal. For one thing, the action cameras have a wider field of view. The one linked above (great price, btw) boasts 160 degrees. They come with a waterproof case and can be mounted somewhere (dash, handlebars, helmet, whatever) to keep your hands free. They also have features like time-lapse. There are many times you don't want to risk damaging your phone while videoing.

Finally, for those using cell phone cameras, PLEASE consider orientation. Profile is fine for recording videos of skyscrapers or towers. For just about anything else, learn to hold the phone horizontally while you take videos!
Click to expand...
I have a GoPro and a smartphone, I've shot and posted a couple dozen videos with both.

There are inexpensive devices to enable handsfree video with smartphones too.

And while the wide field of view GoPros offer are great for POV action sequences, they're horribly distorted for many normal scenes.

As noted earlier, unless you need waterproof and/or shockproof, a smartphone is a very good choice for many typical shoots. And I've shot, edited (iMovie) and uploaded videos to YouTube all from my iPhone while on the go. AFAIK no GoPro will do that so easily. It all depends on what the user plans to shoot.

griptight-gorillapod.jpg
 
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Based on a recommendation from someone on this FIRE forum, I recently purchased an Akaso on Amazon and was very pleased with it. Underwater pics came out nice and even the above water pics came out excellent (in my, non-photographer's opinion). It was a fraction of the cost of a GoPro. I have only used it on 1 trip, but so far so good.
 
Midpack said:
And while the wide field of view GoPros offer are great for POV action sequences, they're horribly distorted for many normal scenes.
Click to expand...



I’ve used the free GoPro studio software setting that takes out the Birdseye distortion in post processing. It really helps on some landscape type shots where you can see the horizon, but not much help in other situations.
 
Ronstar said:
I’ve used the free GoPro studio software setting that takes out the Birdseye distortion in post processing. It really helps on some landscape type shots where you can see the horizon, but not much help in other situations.
Click to expand...
I've used it as well, but they've stop supporting GP Studio and you can no longer download it, so unless you already have it - it's gone. So we're all going to have to move on to some other editing package. What GoPro now offers from free is almost useless, completely inferior to what iOS and Android offer. Another reason I probably won't buy another GoPro. YMMV
 
Midpack said:
I've used it as well, but they've stop supporting GP Studio and you can no longer download it, so unless you already have it - it's gone. So we're all going to have to move on to some other editing package. What GoPro now offers from free is almost useless, completely inferior to what iOS and Android offer. Another reason I probably won't buy another GoPro. YMMV
Click to expand...



Ahhh. I did not know that. I don’t think I’ll be buying another GoPro either.
 
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