GoPro HERO 3
you need a screen if you are filming anything but POV with it. you can argue you don’t but if you are going to put footage up for people to watch I’d argue that you do.
Agreed…but GoPro is a POV camera. As is the drift, the sony and the contour. POV is what they are sposed to be used for. IF people want to use it as something else, then that is using it for something it isn’t designed for so it makes sense that it would then become a bit more complicated & require some additional hardware and investment.
I would argue that you can put a clip up for people to watch that is filmed entirely on GoPro from a variety of POV angles that is interesting and worth watching.
A mix of clips of headcam, filming yourself on a pole from in front, filming yourself on a pole from behind and filming others with follow cam or stationary with poles, as well as set up stationary and moving lifestyle shots can easily be interesting enough to hold people’s attention - most definitely.Most people don’t use a variety of angles and filming methods though so in that sense I do agree with you. But that is not the fault of the GoPro product.
I don’t know why you quoted me for this post because most of what you wrote has nothing to do with what I wrote?
anyways Ill argue the point then…
of course you can put up a interesting clip with just Gopro footage but the truth is the majority of them are terrible.
I put up Gopro only clips all the time, basically because I am lazy and don’t often bother to use another camera. It would be much better without 100% fish eye footage in them that is for sure.
Another major gripe- too many snowboarding gopro/POV clips in bad light, they are boring and you cant see much anyway. If the snow isn’t amazing I rarely watch for very long if the light is bad and the footage is all fisheye/POV.
I agree with Mizu that the pole footage is the best angle for a POV cam
I reckon that even with a screen, you have to be able to ride and watch the screen at the same time as watching what’s goin on around you!!!!!
Some people have a certain gift when it comes to this, and I’m definitely not one of them!!!!!
Screen or no screen, if I’m filmin a movin object at the same time as I’m movin, it’s gonna suck!!!!!
yeh that is probably true actually. Just thinking about my friends filming with cameras that had screens all they filmed was the sky anyway!
I quoted it because saying ‘you need a screen if you are filming anything but POV with it’ doesn’t work because it IS a POV camera. If you are filming anything but POV with it then of course there will be better options out there.
Saying that Gopro fails because it doesn’t have a screen is also like saying it also fails because it doesn’t have any zoom capabilities.
If you are just shooting POV, which is what its meant for, it doesn’t or shouldn’t need a screen, nor zoom…and as you said above, even if you do have a screen, it doesn’t guarantee any kind of extra shooting quality really anyway!
From what I’ve seen, the Drift Ghost has a screen, but it is on the side and doesn’t flip out? Happy to be corrected there but that for me (possibly not for others) it negates its purpose in terms of being useful when actually filming. My brain finds it hard enough to point a camera straight at what I want to film (especially while riding), let alone look at a screen and point the camera at a right angle!
I personally don’t have any real use for using a screen to check whether I got the clip the way I wanted it or not straight after, either, which is another reason people might gripe about a lack of screen maybe. I’m not doing any professional shoots. If I missed it, I missed it, I’m unlikely to make the rider I’m filming unstrap and hike and do the jump again because I looked on my little screen and saw the light wasn’t quite right or their arm was out of frame.
No pro filmers are watching a screen during a follow - that sh/t cray. A lot of the static shoots I’ve seen have been gopros on long (2m ish) poles. With the wide angle lens (or function) on many of the sports cams nowadays it’s pretty hard not to get the rider in the shot.
GoPro does have a zoom - called 960 and 720. Those settings crop the 1080 footage like any digital zoom does.
On GPH3B it crops from 4k with the least zoom. Just read the user guide h0z and I posted, it explains it all.
Drift has a rotating lens instead of a flip out screen. The camera can be at any angle so you can view the screen or mount it creatively. It also has zoom buttons that can be used without entering the settings menu. Of course the screen isn’t used while riding, but it’s great for deleting unwanted clips to free up memory space or navigating the menus or reviewing footage to make small adjustments for your next run so all your footage isn’t of the sky.
PoleCam is my preferred mount for ActionCams. The third person POV is great and they are versatile in getting different angles but can be a pain to carry around.
On a pole is one of the few places the GoPro camera actually looks good.
The only real distinguishing feature of the better POV cams is usability.
If someone really wants a good POV camera and have no use for a screen and don’t want to fool around with settings (until it’s coneccted to a screen or computer) - get the ReplayXD.
I quoted it because saying ‘you need a screen if you are filming anything but POV with it’ doesn’t work because it IS a POV camera. If you are filming anything but POV with it then of course there will be better options out there.
Saying that Gopro fails because it doesn’t have a screen is also like saying it also fails because it doesn’t have any zoom capabilities.
If you are just shooting POV, which is what its meant for, it doesn’t or shouldn’t need a screen, nor zoom…and as you said above, even if you do have a screen, it doesn’t guarantee any kind of extra shooting quality really anyway!
From what I’ve seen, the Drift Ghost has a screen, but it is on the side and doesn’t flip out? Happy to be corrected there but that for me (possibly not for others) it negates its purpose in terms of being useful when actually filming. My brain finds it hard enough to point a camera straight at what I want to film (especially while riding), let alone look at a screen and point the camera at a right angle!
I personally don’t have any real use for using a screen to check whether I got the clip the way I wanted it or not straight after, either, which is another reason people might gripe about a lack of screen maybe. I’m not doing any professional shoots. If I missed it, I missed it, I’m unlikely to make the rider I’m filming unstrap and hike and do the jump again because I looked on my little screen and saw the light wasn’t quite right or their arm was out of frame.
Yep, Yep, and Yep!!!!!
No pro filmers are watching a screen during a follow - that sh/t cray. A lot of the static shoots I’ve seen have been gopros on long (2m ish) poles. With the wide angle lens (or function) on many of the sports cams nowadays it’s pretty hard not to get the rider in the shot.
no pro filmers here and the point is obviously not aimed at them. yeh it would be crazy to film the whole follow cam looking at the screen but the amount of times I have handed over the camera and then said…um you are pointing it at the sky (at the start of every run). if they could look at the screen at the start and see where the rider is on the screen in relation to the angle then it would definitely help
Even with a lcd bacpac on I wouldn’t have gotten the angles due to not being able to see the screen for the position of the camera.
The worst part was not being able to check the footage until I was back at the car with my computer, by then the light was gone.
With GoPro you just don’t know!
if you had the screen you could have watched the footage after a few takes and seen where you were going wrong? thats why i bought the damn thing haha still been hearing good things about drift, might look into getting one when the funds allow it 
Nah, I doubt it. The initial framing needed to be precise. ie; watched while shooting. Which I could do with drift.
If I had the lcd screen ($120) I certainly would have had the chance to review. Albiet on a 1.5 inch viewing platform I may not have seen what was wrong.
If I did see it in review, I would have switched over to the Drift, giving up only 100fps(gopro) for 50fps(drift) but in doing so would have gotten the desired framing and not wasted my time driving 100km.
Spending time reviewing footage is costly when your relying on natural light at a critical time of day.
GoPro isn’t an ideal professional tool. I say this because that’s what Black is marketed as and the pro settings are the only thing that makes Black better than other brands. In this respect it’s a fail.
Is that a Camera on the left or an actual Lipstick?????
Is that image supposed to be a comparison in sizes?????
I often film with an actual lipstick these days Mizu. So much cheaper!
What colour?????
What do you think the image is for Mizu?
I must admit I have no-idea why GoPro is on it’s mounting hardware (so is the ReplayXD), it might be because you can’t stand it up without. And it’s obviously out of date because it’s not GPH3.
(lipstick hasn’t changed in last few years)
You have to admit, that it’s just a pretty poor effort to make out that the GoPro is Larger than their Camera!!!!! (Or whoever did the comparison)
Maybe they think that the Lipstick performs better than their own Camera????? Or that the GoPro is the best, and theirs sits somewhere between a Lipstick and a GoPro Hero?????
Either way, they need to borrow someone else’s still camera so they can at least take a decent photo!!!!! Even a Nokia 3310 would have taken a better quality pic than that!!!!!
It wasn’t a marketing pic from Replay XD. Probably a review website.
I defiantly admit it’s a woeful effort - I could have spent more time looking at google images but pfft.