12:45 p.m. on April 6, 2010 (EDT)
A few years ago at the OR Show, I won a GoPro (first primitive edition - low res stills only, wrist mount). A couple years later, I won an upgraded version helmet cam, with "standard resolution" video. Having seen the exciting videos at the GoPro booth, I mounted it to my bike helmet and went out for an hour-long ride (my version is limited to an hour for the video), and included a steep, winding downhill section. When I got home, I eagerly played it back for Barb on the Big Screen TV (well, as big as we had at the time, a monster 27 inch CRT that weighed 105 pounds). Talk about booorrrrrriinnngg!. Even though I hit 52 mph (on the more or less residential streets of the local hills), it had none of the excitement and thrills of the mountain bikers in the OR Show displays (which were also shown on something like a 60-inch plasma).
Last summer, GoPro brought out their HD version. I was tempted enough to put my business card in the hat (3 of the cards to boost my odds). Well, no prize this time, so no HD version.
I have shot a few videos while skiing (I looked like even more of a nerd than I normally do, and people looked at me like they were wondering what this uncoordinated novice wannabe telemarker was doing with a helmet cam was doing). Same thing - since I don't jump cliffs or cornices (at least not intentionally) or do the spins, flips, etc, even hitting 40 or 50 mph (according to the GPS receiver) is really dull. Going through the trees is a bit more interesting.
Video shot while climbing is more interesting, though it showed me that I do a lot of apparent searching for holds. And, even more than the typical home videos and movies, you really have to work hard to avoid the rapid lots of panning and tilting (at least there is no zoom on the GoPro, so there is none of the typical rapid zoom in zoom out zoom in zoom out pan while zooming in and out that makes your audience dizzy and nauseous.
I did some video while skiing down a run behind Barb - that's a lot more interesting than solo skiing on a groomed run - at least there is some action in the scene.
The fact that the GoPro is in its waterproof box is good. I have intended to take it when snorkeling, but have done no snorkeling since I got the movie version. It looks to be potentially useful to make point of view videos for the Climbing Instructor course, where I can show from the belayer's POV how to run through the releasable rappel rescue routine. And it might be useful to use for reviewing skills. It is small and light, but the battery life is severely limited.
Well, the price was right (free) for the two I have. I don't think (for me, at least) that the HD version is worth it (unless I can win another one). The original has pretty much gathered dust in the box that has lots of other unused gear. Editing of videos to get rid of the boring long segments where nothing interesting is happening requires more training, skill, and patience than I have (I can deal with the long, tedious darkroom work to get a good still image - PhotoShop, these days, but not the editing plus insertion of dissolves, wipes, etc that a video requires).
Oh, yes, the sound! The sound on the video version that I have is, to say the least, awful (the mike is, of course, on the camera, inside the waterproof box, hence sealed off from the outside world). The HD version does have an external mike with WiFi or Bluetooth (I forget which), so the quality should be higher (and was in the videos at the OR Show).
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