What will I be disappointed with a GoPro 3?

[poidog]

Well I caved and exchanged my silver for black today. Video is much less noisy in my dimly lite living room, but I can't get a still image to be in focus for the life of me. The silver took good very in-focus single images, black everyone is out of focus/blurry.

Oh, and the simultaneous photo while video doesn't work with protune on... d'oh. Not that it matters if I can't get in focus stills!

 

[Gombessa]

Can you post a picture of what you're seeing? GoPros don't have focusing mechanisms, it's just locked at infinity. The only way you can get blurry stills is motion blur or being closer than the minimal focus distance.

 

[poidog]

Black, 12mp, image size 3MB, firmware pre Dec 14 update

Silver, 11mp, image size 6MB, firmware post Dec 14 updated

tried it again to match the original photo more and got it infocus... I think it's due to the light of the laptop being close. But the top photo of the out of focus is pretty bad, and got multiples of those of different supjects sitting in the same spot.

Black, 12mp, image size 3.5MB, firmware pre Dec 14 update

Notice the image range is much larger on the Black than it is the Silver.

 

[RockyHeap]

you might want to send this link in to GoPro Tech Reps.


There "is" documented ever-so-slight focus issues with lens/distance in the gopros, and you might have got one that is slightly fuzzy / out of spec. Yes when you mass produce 10,000 cameras at a time sheetz happens.

return it and get a new one?

 

[Marty Cerven]

poidog are those photos with the camera in hand or setup in a stationary position somewhere? In low light the shutter speed will be quite low and so any movement of the camera could produce the sort of blurring in your first pic. Also if protune is on in the H3b then I think this also effects the images and may have in camera sharpening disabled so try a shot with protune off to see if it gives a sharper photo. You can also check the exif data on your images to see what the shutter speed was, the silver shot looks darker so would be a faster shutter speed most likely then the first black shot but if thats not what causing your issues then you should contact gopro but first try it out in good light with the camera sitting still somewhere and use the remote to press the shutter. This will show if its just motion blurring or the camera itself has an issue.

Outside in good light shutter speed will be much faster so handheld shots wont be as hard to keep sharp, but that room is very dark and you will struggle to get a shot without motion blur if holding in hand in those conditions.

 

[flareside]

...but I can't get a still image to be in focus for the life of me. The silver took good very in-focus single images, black everyone is out of focus/blurry.

Camera is fixed focus so focus doesn't change. Based on the double image, it's more than likely just shaky hands.

 

[Marty Cerven]

Gopro hero3 silver is similar to hero2 hd
Actually hero2 has glass lens hero3 silver plastic a step back

According to the Silver Edition specs page on the GoPro website:

Optics

• Ultra sharp ƒ/2.8 6-element aspherical glass lens
• Ultra wide angle / reduced distortion

HERO3 Silver Edition | Wi-Fi Enabled | Professional Quality HD footage

And it's the same for the white edition. Let's not allow rumors to get out of hand.

Thanks flareside, I found it hard to believe that and looks like interceptor makes quite a few rash statements on things he has never used or seen. I just gave him a benefit of doubt but still didn't believe that as he is the first person to have ever said such a thing and it would be a rather odd choice by gopro. I assumed he had one but now I know a bit better on where he is coming from and how he bases his judgements on many other topics.

Comparison (which is where I looked)

Optics

Ultra-sharp ƒ/2.8 - 6 element lens, Ultra wide angle with reduced distortion

Ultra-sharp ƒ/2.8 - 6 element aspherical lens, Ultra wide angle with reduced distortion

Ultra-sharp ƒ/2.8 - 6 element aspherical glass lens, Ultra wide angle with reduced distortion

How can a lens be twice sharper if it is the same? I think this is a bit of marketing messing about

No idea where you got that it had a plastic lens from that, I actually thought you had the camera and appear to know what you are talking about. May need to be a bit more cautious with some of your info in the future

It was a pretty big statement going by no facts or personal experience to back it up. Much like quite a few other things you are quite vocal about but getting all your info searching on the internet and making judgements without actually using things but just reading specs and seeing pictures is quite different to actually going out and using things.

Specs are just specs and need to be proven in reality, most of it is just marketing and if you base your opinion on pure marketing not much more I can say. No matter what camera's I use I dont settle for what is within the specs, I go out and try everything and see what actually works and what doesn't before making a judgement. I dont need to be told how to use something I will rather find what works best for me by trying many things that may be very different from the unwritten rules, how do you know what is possible if you never try it.

 

[Interceptor121]

I have a gopro hero2 for your info I also pay for the equipment I have no samples or freebies
Those specs are from the gopro site and they are confusing as many things are when I looked first time I looked at the comparison chart and from there it reads that one model is 2x sharper lens than the other but then somewhere else it had the same Len which is rather interesting
One year from release of any underwater equipment at that price tag is too short for any need of upgrades so I was trying to understand if it was worth as usually I pay for the equipment I buy it is not my problem is those gopro pages are at least misleading
Moving on from some of your statements if you have no idea of the concepts behind the things you do it will take a very long time to complete all trial and error and will also be expensive as I can't buy all possible equipment as unlike you I don't get freebies
So I read specs and when am convinces about something I buy it as usually the shops don't let you try things
I am vocal at times as I am shocked at the amount of misinformation that goes around when there are simple explanations for why certain things happen in a way or another it is called physics
The same physics and engineering that creates the devices that you use those people don't just go an try when they do things
Actually In reality some do in the gopro market especially and in fact come up with crap products

 

[Marty Cerven]

Interceptor the way I do the multi cam tests is that I have a friend that rents action cams, I also moderate the GoProuser forums and so I asked him how much would it cost to rent extra cameras for that test.

I will be back there again start of Feb just with my 2 hero3 blacks this time but If I can I may borrow one more to try some other things whilst there like leaving a camera behind amongst the sharks and coming back for it after.

He said I could get a few for a week at no charge as a thanks for the work we do on the forums. I had 2 borrowed one from a friend as I always lend out any of my stuff to friends if they need it, they will generally lend things back at some point if I need it. I have bought 2 of each as I am into 3D and you kind of need 2 for that, at the moment I have gopro's all around the world that I lent no charge to friends. All I ask is maybe some footage if they shoot something cool and that's it.

I was really disappointed with my results more due to the bad luck at the site, they generally have 20-30m+ vis there and so this would have been a great place to test it amongst lots of sharks. I was there for 2 days and the weather just turned to crap so vis was rubbish and all filters struggled so I pretty much wasted my money on the trip though not entirely as its still my favorite dive site. The headache of dealing with 6 GoPro's when you get to the hotel at 2am and boat leaves at 7am and you have to get everything ready in time is not a lot of fun, If I killed any guess who would be paying for them. I think I had about an hours sleep before the first dive and the results in the end didn't show enough due to poor conditions and poor AWB performance of the cameras.

The other cameras are all my own and have been bought. The advantage of the GoPro is that the camera itself is quite cheap though its pushed a little higher with the 3 black. I have just received some 3rd party stuff from a couple of companies but some stuff I have tested completely privately and they just want an opinion nothing public. Most of my extra's were all paid for but SRP sent me a package with a couple trays and filters and some of the new Blurfix3's for the hero3's. More pre release to test out the idea in real divers hands and overall all testers found the designs quite good, commenting negatively on something you haven't used is what kind of gets to me.

Regular camera setups with housings costing $1,000s of dollars is the main reason I haven't gone that way as yet. Yuor not only needing to upgrade the camera but you expensive housing is also needing to be replace. There is always a better camera on the horizon and if I get one I want it to last at least 3 years.

Housing are rarely re usable for new models if ever and at least with the GoPro's all my other accessories have been used with them all. So its only about $300 per year for a significant upgrade re using most of my other stuff such as my collection of 55mm filters. I am currently quite happy with the latest GoPro and if the 4 comes out at a similar price point and brings as big a jump then I will gladly get one of those 2. Still cheaper then paying $3000+ just for the camera and housing every 3 years and much more practical when traveling.

 

[RockyHeap]

Wow, to quote Marty, and we all know his well-earn REP: " The headache of dealing with 6 GoPro's when you get to the hotel at 2am and boat leaves at 7am and you have to get everything ready in time is not a lot of fun,


I've yet to meet a more respected and neutral biased person like Marty on the web regarding GoPro Products.

It's also disturbing the bashing the go pro gets................"it's not for cave diving"......................it's not for wrecks......................what lights do I use in situation XYZ,.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,some people are out wanting the magic pill to put zero effort into their filming.


practice makes perfect, whether in your living room, or 40 foot unda.