Which GoPro should I buy - will only use 2-3 times a year

[tursiops]

If you like wide-angle videos then a GoPro (my wife calls them a Faux-Pro) clone/knockoff is fine.
If you want a decent shot of a juv spotted drum wiggling around, you'll be disappointed.
You spend a LOT to get the GoPro name and shelves of endless accessories.

 

[outofofficebrb]

If you want a GoPro, I'd go with the 4 at least. The display allows you to quickly see your image quality, and the 3 doesn't have a screen so you don't know if, e.g., your exposure was way off, until you get to a computer.

(I inadvertently altered my exposure by 2 F-stops once, and all video was overexposed for a bit. Having the screen allowed me to quickly troubleshoot and figure out what was wrong.)

I'm thinking of going for a 7 to replace my 4, though.

The GoPro 3 has a LCD bacpac option that you can add to it easily but relied on natural or artificial light. No exposure controls, I don't think.

 

[button]

Thanks everyone! I suppose part of my question on the GoPro3 vs. 7 (or other models) is that from what I read, the 3 is the last year that you didn't need a housing. I like the idea of doing a kit with lights and such, but I'm looking more for the typical grip thing, especially just starting out. If I go with a later model, is the supersuit housing the way to go? How much of a pain is it to get on and off?

Main concerns are ability to easily edit using an iphone, housing, battery life, and being idiot-proof.

 

[ReefHound]

Thanks everyone! I suppose part of my question on the GoPro3 vs. 7 (or other models) is that from what I read, the 3 is the last year that you didn't need a housing. I like the idea of doing a kit with lights and such, but I'm looking more for the typical grip thing, especially just starting out. If I go with a later model, is the supersuit housing the way to go? How much of a pain is it to get on and off?

Main concerns are ability to easily edit using an iphone, housing, battery life, and being idiot-proof.

Nope, the 4 Silver comes with waterproof housing though you could buy an enhanced dive housing.

With the Hero 6/7, the official super suit requires you to remove the front lens from the camera but there are 3rd party housings that don't require that. Also be sure to record in resolution and frame rate that can record in H.264 codec for ease in editing.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Main concerns are ability to easily edit using an iphone, housing, battery life, and being idiot-proof.

For what it's worth, my GoPro 4 battery lasts for about 2 hours' diving time. I can almost get through 2-3 typical guided boat dives.

I bought spare batteries so I can swap them between dives.

 

[Nathan Doty]

Buy a cheap Chinese knockoff one.

Don't do that. I have a couple very fancy looking knockoffs that take pictures slightly worse than the 1st digital camera ever made took.

A buddy had a gp 2 or 3 on a fishing trip, i had an ion. The ion video was a lot better than the gp. But it's only good to 10 or 20 feet, and they don't make a deep case for it. I picked up a go session 5, while it worked it took good vids and pics. I bought a housing and took it to 70 feet. The cameras belly up now for some reason, ordered another 5 to replace it. 180ish on walmart.com.

 

[darook]

If you’re going to do video I suggest getting a 7 black. The stabilization is excellent. I have used mine to shoot mountain bike rides and am very impressed. For photo work I don’t think it would matter as much.

 

[button]

Alright, I ended up taking advantage of a Black Friday deal and ended up with a GoPro Hero3 Black.

Suggested mounts?? Floating hand grip? Adjustable monopod?

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

Alright, I ended up taking advantage of a Black Friday deal and ended up with a GoPro Hero3 Black.

Suggested mounts?? Floating hand grip? Adjustable monopod?

I recently dove with two instructors that had a simple GoPro attachment setup:

-A stainless steel shackle that will fit through the attachment mount.

-A stainless swivel bolt.

-A few inches of 550 cord (or make a fancy 550/parachute cord lanyard).

Loop the 550 cord through the shackle and swivel bolt. Tie it off.

I attach that to my BC and power it on before I hit the water. If I see something interesting, I just reach down, grab the camera, capture whatever it was that I was looking at, at let it go. It hangs down about the width of a 2"x4", so it's not going to run into something.

One thing I found that I'll try whenever I do a night dive is the GoPro handlebar mount. You can attach any dive flashlight to the go pro and have a budget lighting system.

 

[Nathan Doty]

Hit ebay and you can get a combo pack with a bunch of mounts, handles and a padded case for 10 bucks. For those i totally go Chinese knockoff.

For a usable mount, i made one out of pvc, made a post about it. It works well, cost nothing.