Crazy - 1080p cam + 180' housing for $270?

[EAN]

Just got this email from the vendor. It's gonna be a while longer...

When it comes to new tech toys, I get as excited and impatient as my kids are before Christmas. Is it time yet, is it time yet? Unfortunately, the toys that really get my attention are usually beyond the amount left over in my bank account after all bills are paid. :headscratch: I've wondered, would the family miss cable tv so I can fund my hobbies? Hmmmm.

On with the waiting game. I'm hoping for decent reviews as this is one of the few cams that will fit my current budget.

 

[supersand]

I just got my shipping notification from GoPro. So if you've preordered, it should be on it's way shortly.

I'll try to get it in the water this weekend and post up a video afterwards.

Erik

 

[Matt S.]

Cool!

Checking email...

Nothing yet!

Which version did you order? The vendor I used said the helmet version was shipping first. And I didn't order from the manufacturer so I bet I am still waiting til the end of the month...

 

[supersand]

Cool!

Checking email...

Nothing yet!

Which version did you order? The vendor I used said the helmet version was shipping first. And I didn't order from the manufacturer so I bet I am still waiting til the end of the month...

I got the helmet version. I bought it directly from Gopro though.

At least it should be coming to the vendor you purchased from soon. Sometimes with new electronics, manufacturers push back the launch dates so many times its ridiculous. Nice to see its actually shipping now.

-Erik

 

[EAN]

And now Amazon has it for Pre-order. I'm posting it since they have nice photos and a little more information.

Helmet Hero HD:
Amazon.com: GoPro HD Helmet HERO High-Definition Waterproof Digital Camera for Sports: Electronics

Motorsports Hero HD:
Amazon.com: GoPro HD Motorsports HERO On-Board High-Definition Digital Camera for Motorsports: Automotive

They also list the release date as November 25th.

 

[supersand]

GoPro HD hero Scuba test on Vimeo

Here's a video from the camera, please forgive the shakiness. I recorded at the 960P 1280x960 resolution and edited in iMovie. This is my first upload to vimeo and some of the resolution was lost on the upload. This is from a dive in Carmel CA at butterfly house. Weather and visibility were pretty good.

Above water with decent light, the video quality is quite good. The camera has 5 different resolutions with differing fields of view ranging from 127deg to 170deg. The problem I encountered at least with the 1280x960 video was that it was a little blurry below water but pretty sharp in air. It could just be an issue with this field of view and may be less pronounced with the other resolutions, or it could be that this lens on the case is specifically designed for air and the water/ lens interface interferes with the focal length of the camera? But I'm not sure. I'll experiment with the different resolutions next time. As far as handling its pretty easy to generally frame a shot as its such a wide angle. The battery easily lasted our two 45 min dives for the day. It was nice to just keep it running the whole time and not fuss around with it too much. I rigged the helmet strap mount to function as a soft goodman handle and held it on top of my right hand the whole dive.

Did pretty well on the low light conditions as long as there wasn't anything bright in the frame to screw with the metering.

In air the 1080P (1920x1080) resolution looks pretty good and is pretty rectilinear, but has a narrower field of view. The other resolutions are moderately fish eye looking but have a wider field's of view.

Fun camera though. I'll experiment more on the next dive.

 

[bennyscuba]

this looks pretty good and it may win out over the Flip/JVC options - how did you find using it without the view finder? Also does it come with a strap or convenient way to hold it while diving or did you have to rig something up yourself? What's it buyouancy? Any other thoughts about its functionality would be great!

bg

 

[Matt S.]

Thanks for the update. The quality is good, with regards to light sensitivity and noise anyway. The lack of sharpness is actually kind of concerning though. I would be curious to know what GoPro's tech support would say about that.

 

[Gombessa]

Erik,

Very nice, thanks for getting some video up! Interesting, some of the clips do look a bit blurry, almost like there's condensation on the lens, but the above-the-water shops are quite crisp.

Looks to me like it could be any of:

1. Condensation?
2. Maybe something with the curved angle of the housing dome?
3. Reduced quality from the low light feature?

It looks like conditions this weekend were phenomenal! Wish I was out there.

 

[supersand]

this looks pretty good and it may win out over the Flip/JVC options - how did you find using it without the view finder? Also does it come with a strap or convenient way to hold it while diving or did you have to rig something up yourself? What's it buyouancy? Any other thoughts about its functionality would be great!

bg

I jury rigged up the helmet strap to work as a soft goodman handle and held it on top of my right hand, it worked pretty well. With the camera in the case and a bolt snap on the helmet strap it was probably pretty close to neutral or negative although I didn't let it go out on the dive so I'm not entirely sure. Its not too big though so if it is positive theres not a whole lot of lift. Its fairly easy to frame a shot.

Thanks for the update. The quality is good, with regards to light sensitivity and noise anyway. The lack of sharpness is actually kind of concerning though. I would be curious to know what GoPro's tech support would say about that.

If it is the case's lens that's causing the blurriness I don't imagine it would be too tough (for GoPro) to design a slightly different shaped lens (lens is user replaceable in case of damage) to compensate for the effect of the water. But I' not sure of the actual cause.

Above water its pretty awesome though. In addition to video, the 2sec interval camera takes pretty decent still pictures as well.