Go Pro Input

I'd go for the Hero 4 Black. It has 4K resolution among other bells and whistles and that is the direction of resolution. 1080P is becoming long in the tooth. I've always enjoyed the latest and the greatest to ward off obsolescence  at least for another 10 minutes. I got mine but have not used all the features yet but I will. Just knowing I have the potential makes me feel better.

Of course, that decision might be predicated on when you expect to buy that big bucks monitor that can show you all of that glorious 4K resolution, too.

MUSBJIM and (I think) Troy use the 1080P GoPro with great effect.

I use a Kodak Playsport HD, also 1080P (waterproof to about 3 feet), but without many of the attachment bells and whistles of the GoPro series.  

How your videos turn out depends greatly on the editing tools you use (Jim and I use iMovie on our Macs) and your talents behind the viewfinder.  I usually throw away over 80% of what I shoot to end up with a decent, finished video.

The artist is the creator, there are many features that while nice you cannot distinguish, we bought a go pro hero, plain, did the California coast and worked great.

Kept cost low to try out the new technology. 

If you know that your going to use it regularly then get a Nikon(the best go pro), if not an iPhone 6. can do a great job. btw, I had my own darkroom at one time, but found out quickly that the best device does not always guarantee the best photo or video sometimes it;s the camera you have in your pocket and a half decent selfie stick...that takes you there Ray 

what software do you guys use for making the GoPro movies?  i hardly use my earo2 because the software from Gopro blows

If I were going to buy one now then I'd buy the most recent one available.  It might have more technology on it than what it can be played back on but that stuff will catch up soon enough.

@ Joe

I was going to post a question about GoPro settings so if it's okay with you I'd like to do that now? It would even help you out with your settings when you do get your GoPro.

For those using your GoPros to record trips and make short videos what recording settings are you using in terms of digital quality i.e. 1080, 960, or 720?

What frame rate 60 frames per second, 48 fps, 30 fps?

What aspect ratio Wide, Medium, or Narrow?

And what editing program(s) do you use?

If so inclined would you mind posting why you use the settings i.e. easier to edit, better picture quality etc.

Robert - I have an original GoPro Hero which I guess is about 5 years old. I've used it primarily to record road trips to show on SOC. It has basic features and does not have the wi-fi connection for iPhone (control & monitor).

I have it set to shoot in 1080 (but actually just post on YouTube at 720HD). My videos are primarily viewed on one's iPhone or laptop or PC and I'm guessing rarely viewed in full screen.

I use frame rate of 48 fps (which suites 100% of my videos) because I never use slow motion (60 fps). Additionally, the 60 fps uses a lot more data space both on the camera and whatever computer you download to.

I use Medium aspect ratio because of the fish-eye perspective of the GoPro. Anything beyond  4 or 5 feet from the camera will be too small (perspective) to be anything but background.

I use the iMovie feature on my MacBook Pro or Apple PC. Its a very useful & powerful tool in editing your movies.

I try to keep my movies less than 8 minutes because anything more than that is superfluous and just becomes a movie of watching the back of someone's head driving a car. As Gordon mentioned, I use only about 15-20% of the clips I shoot. Maybe a twenty or thirty second clip of a 10 or 15 minute recording. 

I try to vary the camera angle to add interest and variety to the video.

Here is a short video highlighting our Speedster on one of the first trips we took with it.

When the video starts, click the 'Gear' icon in the lower right and adjust video quality to 720HD.

@ Jim

You were the one I was thinking of when I posted those questions and a very informative response is what I was hoping to get, and I did.

Just a few more questions:

Are the still shots off of the video clips from the GP or photos from a camera or still shots from the GP?

The static video footage from the right side edge of the windshield; are those from a suction cup mount or the selfie-stick secured straight up and down? 

I'm considering switching from Windows to a Mac just because of the movie editing programs so I'm gathering data as they say.

Thanks Jim. 

My son has a GoPro, I think a 3 or a 2. He loves making videos of himself plating sports. He uses Windows Moviemaker and is very adept at editing. He's 13.

I am a total neophyte when it comes to this stuff. I have a 720P DJI camera on my quadcopter that works VERY well, I've been pleased so far.

1080P and up resolution uses HUGE amounts of data and can clog up your computer and/or your internet connection when compiling and uploading.

I used to work for EMC Corporation, the largest supplier of computer storage products in the World.  We had a 1080P video monitor with some pretty cool video running on it in one of our Engineering labs - Stuff like you see on "Aerial America".  This was back in the mid 1990's, way before HD hit America.  All of the video stuff was stored on one of our products as a technology demo.

When we gave a tour, the spiel was: "OK, so you have a movie at home on your VHS tape (at 480P).  It runs 1-1/2 hours long and takes up about 700 megabytes of space.  That same movie on a DVD (still 480P) takes up about 1.5 gigabytes of space.  Go to Blue Ray (about 720P back then) and it takes up about 3.5GB of space."  

If we had 4K resolution back then (and my math is close) then the same movie would take up about 6-8 GB of space.

" Video is a storage hog and that's why we love it!!"

OK, to the questions:

Are the still shots off of the video clips from the GP or photos from a camera or still shots from the GP?

It's very easy to grab a still from your photo albums (like iPhoto on a Mac) or snap a frame from a video to use as a still.  Once they are included, there are a bunch of cool effects like the "Ken Burns Effect", which takes a still and moves it slowly in some fashion (you define this) to make it interesting in a moving format. 

The static video footage from the right side edge of the windshield; are those from a suction cup mount or the selfie-stick secured straight up and down? 

Probably whatever way that you think looks good and keeps your (expensive) camera safe.  There are a TON of accessory mounts for GoPro that makes sticking your camera somewhere easy.  NO so for my Kodak, which is about the size and shape of my iPhone but has a single mount receptacle in the bottom.

I'm considering switching from Windows to a Mac just because of the movie editing programs so I'm gathering data as they say.

As noted above, Moviemaker on a PC seems to be as robust as iMovie on a Mac.  I learned iMovie in about 3 days of playing with it (a lot) and finally really learned from their excellent, on-line tutorial (it's always nice to read the instructions first).

Either of these tools have a LOT of features that may or may not be intuitive.  Most people (myself and Jim included here) only use less than 20% of what the tools can do (I'm still learning how to use the "Green Screen" feature).  How those features work seem to change somewhat with major revisions of the software (a personal peeve of mine) but they can produce some spectacular results once you get the hang of it.

For the novice, I wouldn't charge out and buy a MacBook Pro just to do videos.  OK, so both Jim and I are running MacBook Pros, and both of my professional, Graphic Artist daughters will only use a Mac and I've been on a Mac ever since I gave up my Silicon Graphics UNIX workstation, back in the mid-1990's - (in fact, my entire extended family are all on Macs) but there are some really decent, PC based, movie production apps out there, so snoop around before you change ships. 

Just for the heck of it, Here's a video I did for my local club that combines a lot of stills with a bit of Video.  Notice that I never show an entire ride of long (boring) minutes at a time but just show short video "clips" to punctuate a thought.  Jim and I always use a musical backdrop (as easy to add as a still photo or video clip) and then do some precision editing to align the photo or clip with the music downbeat.  THAT stuff takes a lot of time - usually an hour or so for every minute of finished stock.