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I just got a HERO3, and am looking for some helpful tips and tricks for getting the most out of it. Admittedly, I am a terrible photographer! I have a fairly expensive Nikon DSLR and my daughter and I can take the same picture and hers gets framed on the living room wall, and mine looks amateurish.
So, What are the best overall settings to just start it up and dive?
Id say if you dont want to be messing around with editing in post try out the 1080p modes in the various FOV's in both 30p and 60p. I tend to prefer the widest modes and get in close to everything but its worth playing around with these a little to find what works best for you. 30p vs 60p If you have a good stable setup to shoot from such as a tray then 30p should be best and this will also allow more light in due to slower shutter speeds, if your not very stable with the camera though this is one thing you should really practice and try to improve then try 60p. The higher framerate will reduce motion blur and rolling shutter issues but if its all shaky it still wont be that great to view back. 60p will struggle more in lower light to due to the faster minimum shutter speeds so be aware of that.
Personally I really like viewing back original 60p video as the motion is so much smoother but as most of my videos go online and they dont playback @ 60p I tend to stick to 30p modes for most of my dive videos. For this I found the 2.7k mode great giving me a bit more detail and room to move inside the frame in post. It will take a bit more computer power to edit and image quality will be better even when scaled back to 1080p, plus you can zoom into the video up to 100% original inside the 1080p frame.
You then have protune but if you just want basic video best to avoid this as the file sizes will be much larger and also requires you to do a bit of work in post to get the most out of it. I will mostly use this but mainly because I like the extra control I get over the end result, but this isnt for everybody and if you dont have a pretty powerful computer and good editing software its best to avoid protune. You can do quite a bit with the free cineform software though but file sizes will be much larger and it still takes a few more steps that many arent too interested in I think.
One tip with the HD3 is to get the anti fog strips as I have found I have had some more fogging issues with the h3b then previous gopro's so make sure you do all you can to avoid this.
Here is the setup I have been using with my GoPro cameras for a while, along with a new SRP filter adapter to use all my old 55mm filters on the hero3.
I have only run a few tests with the HD3 black but so far have found a big difference in runtimes between protune on and off with 2.7k30 pt on using about twice as much battery as 1080p30 running with simultaneous photos every 5 sec and pt off.
Here are my HD3 black tests so far with firmware HD3.03.01.09
No bacpac, wifi off 2.7k30 pt on cam raw video test1h14m.25s 23.4GB
Batt Bacpac, wifi off 2.7k30 pt on cam raw video test1h49m.43s 35.9GB
LCD bacpac wifi off 2.7k30 pt on cam raw video test0h56m.50s 17.9GB
I'll toss my hat into the Battery lifespan real world "testing"
Hero3 Black w/fully charged battery, time-lapse mode, picture every 1 second, 5 meg resolution, LCD/WIFI off.
Got 5213 images before battery died. Lasted 1hr 26 minutes.
14 gig of data.
OEM battery $20 (anyone got a lead on aftermarket/generic with hopefully a separate wall mount charger?)
I don't really like charging in-camera as makes the camera hot between dives which is bad-bad for fogging issues if you're doing 3-4-5 dives a day.
On a live-aboard dive trip, you sleep-eat-dive-dive-dive. GOTTA have extra charged batteries. Hard enough to dump a 32 gig card onto a laptop between one hour surface intervals.
As a shore diver I have to add the time it takes me to get to the water and kick out to the dive site to my tipical 45 minute to hour long dives. I'm using the 3D system so, unless they change things for the Hero3, can't use any extra battery packs etc. The times you're quoting are kind of marginal, unless they improve things in their 3D setup and I can wait till I'm diving to turn it on.
Not an issue till the Hero3 3D system actually comes out.
So it sounds like, without a battery pack, 1080p30/60 on the H3Black should easily between 1-2 hours? That should be more than enough for my purposes.
With battery packs being so cheap, I think stockpiling extras is the easiest way to deal with multi-dive/day situations. Definitely agreed that USB charging direct in-camera is less convenient than a dedicated wall-charger.
OEM battery $20 (anyone got a lead on aftermarket/generic with hopefully a separate wall mount charger?)
I don't really like charging in-camera as makes the camera hot between dives which is bad-bad for fogging issues of you're doing 3-4-5 dives a day. http://gopro.com/camera-accessories/rechargeable-battery
I'll toss my hat into the Battery lifespan real world "testing"
Hero3 Black w/fully charged battery, time-lapse mode, picture every 1 second, 5 meg resolution, LCD/WIFI off.
Got 5213 images before battery died. Lasted 1hr 26 minutes.
14 gig of data.
OEM battery $20 (anyone got a lead on aftermarket/generic with hopefully a separate wall mount charger?)
I don't really like charging in-camera as makes the camera hot between dives which is bad-bad for fogging issues of you're doing 3-4-5 dives a day. http://gopro.com/camera-accessories/rechargeable-battery
Not sure about OEM batteries yet but I heard Wasabi are going to be making some like they did for the HD1/2 I just want it for the external charger more then anything and will just get a few GoPro batteries for it.
I think having multiple batteries charged and ready to go during the day is a much better option then charging them between dives. Heat will be an issue and I never have access or enough time between dives to charge them anyway.
Lens caps and doors would have been nice if they were included in the package, but I guess most will end up buying them anyway. Its just a bit of a hassle rather then the cost when you dont have a local best buy to just pick stuff up in but I am putting in an accessory order now that local stock has just made it down under.
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