Go Pro Camera

[Madchark]

With a few Go Pro models on the market to choose from, what one is the better model for boat, fish and marine activity use and why.

Give me all the good and bad points.

Thanks

 

[F/V First Team]

The black comes with a remote control that you can sync with multiple cameras, either additional copies of the black or the silver.

 

[greg]

What confuses me is that these things are pretty pricy when you add all the options, and once you look at the totals you could get a high def, 1080p DVR and a couple of IP66 camera's for not much more.

Sure, you have to run it off 110v, and you have to do some cabling (or go wireless), but you would also have a kickass security camera for your boat when finished. They would capture all the action on deck or in front of your boat and keep weeks worth of video.

Lose a rod? Find out which clutz dropped it over the side and then acted dumb. Lose gear off your deck when not there? Find out which neighbor has been borrowing your stuff.

The Go-Pro's have their place, but that place is single camera portable use. Once you fix it in place and want to record for hours (or weeks), they aren't the best fit.

Just thinkin.....

 

[captjohn]

The quality of the video from a Go Pro is really amazing. Yes they do cost a lot. Mine, after extra batteries, memory cards, a charger (they only give you a USB cable, no charger), a carry bag, and extra mounts, after tax, $800. Yes, I realize that is a lot of money, but the video shots you get are really something. The boats already loaded with toys, now it has another one.

 

[starrfish]

do they make a lens that takes the fisheye look out?

 

[Madchark]

Greg, Sounds like you looked into the DVR unit, what is the base cost for a forward and aft set up.

Captjohn, what model did you purchase.

 

[Basspond]

I think the best bang for your buck if you can still find them is the Hero 3 black edition, when the 3+ came out they dropped the original Hero 3s by $100-150. I picked up a second one as a result of this.

For fishing I'd say the Hero 3+ silver would be the best bet if you can't find any of the original Hero 3s around on sale. I don't use the remote too much unless I'm filming duck hunting. I run one camera on the headstrap mount and one mounted as a cockpit cam.

Amazon sells batteries for cheap and I'd highly recommend getting the battery backpac to effectively double the battery life.

This was a 2013 season highlight video I put together a couple weeks back and all of this footage was shot with GoPro Hero 3s and a Hero 2.

https://vimeo.com/81930587

 

[captjohn]

I have the Hero 3 Black, the Hero 3+ looks like it has a better remote but they have an application where you can use your smart phone to control the unit. I like this application, you can see on your phone exactly what the camera is filming, so you can aim the camera exactly where you want it. Do you need one of these, no. But there great for capturing something special.

 

[CCtuna]

Couple stills from a video from this summer...I'm sold. Hero 3

 

[Madchark]

As Starfish stated, is there a lens that goes to a standard view for filming and how long does a fully charged battery last.

 

[F/V First Team]

About two hours, roughly the same amount of time a card has space for.

You can always modify the skeleton case (the one that ISN'T water resistant to round about 200 feet) and just plug in the charging cable, then you have unlimited time to record, you just need to swap out the cards every few hours or spend the green to get the gigantic ones.

 

[petrel]

Overhead from a kite

A bird's eye view of the boat

 

[Badlatitude]

About two hours, roughly the same amount of time a card has space for.

You can always modify the skeleton case (the one that ISN'T water resistant to round about 200 feet) and just plug in the charging cable, then you have unlimited time to record, you just need to swap out the cards every few hours or spend the green to get the gigantic ones.

Is there any way to have them record directly to a computer? Through a micro USB or something? With as many guys that have nav computers these days. If it does that. It doesn't take much to throw a slave drive into the computer for bulk storage.

 

[F/V First Team]

Is there any way to have them record directly to a computer? Through a micro USB or something? With as many guys that have nav computers these days. If it does that. It doesn't take much to throw a slave drive into the computer for bulk storage.

I haven't figured out how to do it yet.

 

[WC1966]

I haven't figured out how to do it yet.

Not to worry, your deck hand will able to do all your electronic programing in the next year or two.

 

[steveinak]

A bird's eye view of the boat View attachment 18028

now that is cool !!

 

[Capt. Rick]

Very Cool..... Anybody dropping their camera down to the bottom? what do you use in order to drop the camera down to the bottom so It wont spin?

 

[TunaAck]

I have found that a 16 gig card is more then enough for anything I have used it for. Never have had an issue either with battery life, I always carry a 2nd fully charged battery to put it when its getting low.

 

[MackE.Rel]

I have been using an older Hero model ( for a few years now) and it works great. I just got the camera and several mounts that came with it and the cable to attach to the computer. I use it above and below the water and it takes great videos. I still have the housing that has the bubble lens but a lot of my friends have the new flat lens that they say is better. Like was mentioned on here I got extra batteries and a charger from Ebay (lots cheaper that the store). Sometimes I mount the camera on the center console of the little boat but mostly I use the head mount strap that came with it. I have taken mine to about 100 ft with no problems. My concern being around and under water was flooding an expensive camera and ruining it. For the price I don't worry about it much and this allows me to use it a lot more and get pictures I would not try to get with a more expensive camera. I don't think I would ever have a use for most of the crap accessories they sell so that saves me a lot of money.

 

[jwalka51]

Has any one here attached one to a trap to see how its fishing??? I am going to get one this summer to attach to my fish pots to study how they fish, See if I can modify things about the traps to make them fish better.. Also I would love to modify a brick in one of my traps to hide one inside of it so that I can find out who is fucking with my gear.