Gopro recommendations please

NJ-XC-Justin

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
So with my son getting more serious with his riding I'm finally ready to get a decent gopro and a accessories. This is mainly for downhill but I'm sure we'll film some trail rides too.

My two main questions:
- cameras. The older models (hero6 black $180 and hero7 silver $200) are much cheaper than the newest models like the hero8 black $400. But they lack the hyper smooth feature. I've seen videos showing their video isn't quite as smooth, though ftankly it still looks pretty great. Anyone have one of these cheaper models and are happy or wish they had the banger one? The boy is set on doing some sweet edits and I'll pay a little more if it means something watchable vs unwatchable.

- accessories. I'll probably get him a chest mount and one of these gooseneck things. 1. Along with the helmet mount, those two make sense right? And 2. Gopro brand only or good experience with the cheaper ones?

Appreciate the feedback!
 
NJ-XC-Justin said:
So with my son getting more serious with his riding I'm finally ready to get a decent gopro and a accessories. This is mainly for downhill but I'm sure we'll film some trail rides too.

My two main questions:
- cameras. The older models (hero6 black $180 and hero7 silver $200) are much cheaper than the newest models like the hero8 black $400. But they lack the hyper smooth feature. I've seen videos showing their video isn't quite as smooth, though ftankly it still looks pretty great. Anyone have one of these cheaper models and are happy or wish they had the banger one? The boy is set on doing some sweet edits and I'll pay a little more if it means something watchable vs unwatchable.

- accessories. I'll probably get him a chest mount and one of these gooseneck things. 1. Along with the helmet mount, those two make sense right? And 2. Gopro brand only or good experience with the cheaper ones?

Appreciate the feedback!
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I don't know the difference in the video qualities, but the mounts and stuff Ive never had an issue being off brand. My girl got me some pack off of Amazon with, chest, head, wrist, post, clamp locks, etc.
 
The Chesty mount is probably my favorite and helps with some of the shake as your body floats on the bike. Stabilization helps even more of course.

I have a Hero 3 you can buy if you want cheap and old.:)
 
I had a hero 5 session that I loved, good quality video and not much shake but I lost it. My wife got me a 7 white and it honestly sucks. Half the battery life and low image quality. It's still pretty smooth though. I've done both helmet mount and chest mount and both were good but the helmet mount seemed smoother to me. I'd get an older higher end model over a new budget one if I had the choice.
 
I have a Hero 7 that I mount to my handle bars. I don't know how great the advertised stabilization is on the 8 because I've never purposely viewed any videos showcasing it, but I'm super impressed with how stable my 7 is. Sure I'm not bouncing down rock gardens or anything, but still, considering it's on my handlebars it's pretty impressive. I even mounted it to my 5 year old's helmet while she rode and ran around and it was really smooth. Vid quality is great too. I think I have it set to 60fps at 2k quality to save space and battery. 4k for me is overkill.

Edit: This was exported at a lower setting to make the file small plus whatever Youtube does to it which is why it looks like ass, but it isn't shaky other than the fact it moves with my bars.
 
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Every major YouTuber is mounting the GP camera under the full face chin-bar these days. It give the best POV while using the neck as a gimbal to help stabilize the footage. They’re earning a living from the footage so it would be silly to reinvent the wheel. You need “some” image stabilization so it’s gotta be a gp6 or newer. What are you going to edit on? That’s a much bigger question that needs to be answered. Rendering HD is resource intensive.
 
IMO, the H7 black is the best compromise between IQ, stabilization and battery life. The other H7 white/silver models cannot swap out batteries. And unlike the H8, the protective lens is replaceable.

As for accessories, off-brand mounts have worked for me. Sometimes the mount interface is a little off, but it's just plastic and will give a little.
 
+1 for chest mount.

Suction mount is fun too. I have some shots stuck to the snowboard, and some flying stuff.
 
NJ-XC-Justin said:
What do you recommend? I have iphoto and premier and a new macbook.
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macbook will work - gopro has editting s/w that allows the telemetry to be overlayed on the video using the GPX info.
 
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stb222 said:
What are you editing?
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Mostly audition pieces for my son. Color correction can be a challenge due to the lighting at the theater. They're transitioning to led’s but right now it’s a mish-mosh. Davinci Resolve dose a nice job of that an managing the audio tracks as they are separate. Mess that up and you have a kung fu movie situation. Yes , I also (on occasion) do some comedy pieces that involve my bike which is of course what you were asking about.?
 
Juggernaut said:
Mostly audition pieces for my son. Color correction can be a challenge due to the lighting at the theater. They're transitioning to led’s but right now it’s a mish-mosh. Davinci Resolve dose a nice job of that an managing the audio tracks as they are separate. Mess that up and you have a kung fu movie situation. Yes , I also (on occasion) do some comedy pieces that involve my bike which is of course what you were asking about.?
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Was going to say we haven’t seen your sick edits, share them!
 
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