gopro?!

Easy question. Should I buy a gopro? I want to film family fun. Wakeboarding, lake stuff, kids sports, just general life stuff. Are they worth the $300? Any thoughts ore tips will help. Thanks.

depends... you can make good videos with the smartphones, and they are easy to use. Just if you want to make movies from difficult positions, then a gopro has the advantage of waterproof, remote control, .....

go pro is POV, meaning, it looks good from the end of a 3 foot go pole, extended at the end of a 2 and 1/2 foot human arm is your shooting distance for good go pro, not one inche more than 6 feet preferrrably 5 to 5 and 1/2, if your are looking at an image on a device that is too small go pro doesn't show up well unless it is POV distance. now when you take that same vid to your widescreen 1080 tv, it comes allive, but is pitiful on the device, because you are filming in the format for that tv and the tv is certainly 10 to 20 times bigger than your device, I suction cup it to the back of the boat and it is easy and great to use for surfing, but again it is only good on the TV.

if you are filming surfing, then the phone is much better, including filming anyone at the end of a long line, it is better to have a real digital SLR for lens zoom usage that a phone can't do when doing long line. check out Ride or Rent Dave's Wakeboat on facebook and look at older 2014 go pro suction cupped to boat vs Iphone video of my wife in recent videos this year and last

They're great because they're small and you can stick them in all kinds of interesting places... if you're just filming from the boat - it's probably not worth it.

fisheye 100% of the time. works best in tight spaces or up close to subjects.

pros are its size, remote function, plenty of accessories.

I was wondering the same thing. Go pro. Or save and get a high quality camera in the 2k range

Yes you should. Really good at incorporating everyone, you can let the kids hold it for a while etc. really worth the money to me, but that doesn't mean you can't get a 1k-2k dollar semi pro setup also!

I love my GoPro! People are correct when they talk about the range of the camera, but unless you only wakeboard, it can still create some great shots. It's worth getting the accessories (handles, poles, and suction cup).

Here is a video we created last year. The surfing is poor, but gives you an idea of what you can do with a GoPro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZYbNtH_WHY

There is also tons of other uses if you're creative.

I just had to make this same decicsion. I ended up getting an A6000. It was worth the extra money. Open box at best buy for 524. I will try and post my latest shots later today, while I am still getting use to the camera and using the standard lense they are not perfect but are alot better than the GoPro.

Cons is not waterproof and not as compact. But for family fun, wakeboarding, hiking, etc I think it is perfect size for me or an adult to use on the boat etc.

FWIW I bought a $99 FO-PRO from amazon that works very well for the price and competes very well with GoPro .. check it out the wifi is a little clunky but it works well for the price point

http://www.amazon.com/SJCAM-Original.../dp/B00MIT658W

Originally Posted by burban89

I just had to make this same decicsion. I ended up getting an A6000. It was worth the extra money. Open box at best buy for 524. I will try and post my latest shots later today, while I am still getting use to the camera and using the standard lense they are not perfect but are alot better than the GoPro.

Cons is not waterproof and not as compact. But for family fun, wakeboarding, hiking, etc I think it is perfect size for me or an adult to use on the boat etc.

Isn't this sort of the point of the whole thing? If you just wanted a camera from the boat - a DSLR is great..

Op said he wanted to film family fun. The a6000 will do that. If you want to film in the water then get a gopro, or the like. His suggestion was that he is enjoying his real camera that he finds more useful than the action cam.. Seems like fine input to me

"General life stuff" = not action can material. Get a go pro and a real camera and voila. If you want to save money get a gopro hero for 130 bucks

gopro will suck for shooting kids sports

That little Hero will work fine for about 90% of GoPro users.

Rick.....could they make that camera look anymore like a GoPro?!!?

Another option is to look at the small waterproof camera that are now out. I have a Nikon Coolpix AW100 that does a good job. Shots video in HD...just like everything else and take pretty good pictures.

Not a knock on the aw100, but Just need to say not all HD is equal. Bitrate and color codecs make big time difference

For the mass majority of people filming, those things don't make a difference, nor do they even know what they are. We don't need professional grade video to post on Youtube so 40 people can watch.

Agreed, only really changes for avg person based on sensor size. But for most HD is plenty

Mark the same reasons he is looking for a camera is the same exact reason I was. After much help from a few people here, Joel was a huge help, I decided on the A6000 which is SMALLER than a DSLR and just as good if not better than some in that price range. Joel and a few others helped me with comparisons and pics/videos from their cameras. So for what he is looking for the A6000 is a great fit.

I'm very glad you are enjoying your new gear!

Pros:
There are a surplus of parts/accessories you can use to change the POV which can make your viewers experience more fun because of the non typical angles the camera is capturing...

Cons:
Buying said accessories also means you're cost of good video recording is continuously rising....

With that being said, I can say I'm a huge fan of GOPRO and have had 5 of my own so far, (always upgrading) but if your sole purpose is going to be using it at the lake, don't go with GOPRO.

Another factor to consider when it comes to GOPRO (at least IMO) is whether or not you are creative when it comes to getting the right shots as well as when it comes to editing and putting clips together...

Originally Posted by idaho_hillbilly

Rick.....could they make that camera look anymore like a GoPro?!!?

Another option is to look at the small waterproof camera that are now out. I have a Nikon Coolpix AW100 that does a good job. Shots video in HD...just like everything else and take pretty good pictures.

thats why iu call it a FO-PRO lol even the acessories will interchange

I enjoy having a gopro. I've had the original gopro before HD, I've had a swan (competitor) and nor have a gopro 3+. The quality of the shots and video on the gopro excels.

I use it for pov shots as intended, have a modest HD video camera that you can get for $200 or less that does great for non pov shots. Have a mount for it on the boat tower that the rope goes through and tracks to where the skier/wakeboarder is.

DSLR or video camera for $1000 or more is overkill to what you seem to say you want it for.

Good luck