Go-pro 3 black, please help!!

[Pullnglide]

I have had this camera for quite awhile and it's been a hassle since I bought it. I originally bought a silver and after returning 2 of them due to defects I bought a black one. When it works it takes great video and pictures but that is few and far between. The camera freezes all the time and I have to remove the battery to reset it. I have to start recording before I descend, for some reason it will not do anything when I am submerged. I love it when it works but it rarely does. I also can only get the file to play on VLC , it won't even play on the go pro studio or iMovie, do I need to reduce the file size first or what am I doing wrong? Just doesn't make sense. It's a couple years old and way out of warranty but I don't just want to scrap it. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Ting Tong]

Have you tried upgrading or re-installing the camera software? If that doesn't work, possibly a memory card problem?

 

[Scuba-dan]

I think the issue is with the memory card. It has to record and then dump all that into the cardand still record.

The speed of the card is crucial here. If i recall you need at least 45mb of speed and 32 gb for the size. Also the brand is important like scandisk is one of the best and tested by gopro.

What card and speed is it?

 

[hellhole]

Remeber 45mb is for write speed.. Usually the SD card will promote the read speed.

 

[Pullnglide]

I will check those when I get back in town tomorrow. Those are most likely the problems! It probably doesn't have a very good sd card in it and it's definitely not updated. I will check them and let you all know. Thanks!!

 

[tridacna]

Also the brand is important like scandisk is one of the best and tested by gopro.

Sandisk perhaps?

 

[deeper thoughts]

Go to the gopro website. They have a page just on sd cards

 

[Down2bizDiver]

I've been using GoPro cameras since I was a new diver beginning with the original Hero, the 2, the 3 black (not 3+), and 4 black. I've encountered the problems you describe, even with the 4. I agree with the other posts: the most likely cause of freezing is an inadequate SD card ... use Class 10, UHS-1. If you have a slower card try reducing the demand on it by, for instance, reducing resolution. Another possible independent or contributing cause is low battery charge. When working correctly (99% of the time) you should be able to turn the power on and off while at depth, saving battery power, change the settings, and do anything you can do on land.

To view/edit your video in iMovie, you must first import the files from the SD card.

 

[Pullnglide]

I didn't pay much attention to it but I know it's a sandisk and says 16gb on it, guess that's not good enough!

 

[Ting Tong]

I didn't pay much attention to it but I know it's a sandisk and says 16gb on it, guess that's not good enough!

I would think that it depends on what class it is. I use a sandisk extreme which is class 10. Works fine for me. Not sure that the size (eg 16 Gb) has much to do with the issues you are experiencing.