So while I continue to have angst over the Z6 versus Sony A7iii decision (with this Friday being the deadline for potentially returning the Nikon), one purchase I made back in December that I am feeling pretty, pretty good about is the GoPro Hero 8.
I’ve never owed an action camera before, but after surviving frostbite from bare handling my iPhone on the frozen tundra of the ski slope, I thought it would make sense to explore the action cam market.
I won’t bore you with all the details of the pros and cons of purchasing the Hero 8 versus the Hero 7 (in short, the Hero 7 has a replaceable lens (that’s good), the Hero 8 does not (that’s bad, but I can live with it given the upgraded functionality and improved UI.) Instead, I’ll share some initial thoughts of my first month+ of using it.
First Use Case - Sierra at Tahoe
Back in December, I took it with me to the slopes of Sierra at Tahoe, strapping in to myself on the “chesty mount” to gain that POV skiing angle that I’ve seen in so many great GoPro videos.
On day one, I used the wrong “buckle mount” which left me getting nothing but a POV of snow on the ground…and not much else . A big fail!
After attaching the right “J mount” at the right angle, I was able to get the POV footage I wanted as you can see from this video below.
One of the great enhancements of the Hero 8 is the new UI and ease of changing your video recording settings/pre-sets, including changing the quality/definition (4K, 2K, 1080p), the lens angle (narrow, linear, wide, superview) , and the frame rates (24, 30, 60, 120). For this video shown above, I shot in 4K wide at 24 frames per second for a cinematic style.
New GoPro Hero 8 Menu
On the other hand, one of the spotty features of the GoPro is the voice activation – and specifically being able to tell the Go Pro to “start recording” and “stop recording.”
When you’ve got the camera strapped to your body on the ski slopes, you don’t want to take your gloves off and fuss with the touchscreen of the camera to turn it on. So in theory, you should be able to yell out “GoPro start recording” when you want to start recording and “GoPro stop recording” to turn it off.
Trouble is, the GoPro doesn’t always “hear you” or turn on and off when you use the voice command. You are supposed to hear a “beep” when it turns on and off recording, but with your ski helmet on and the camera attached to your body, it’s not so easy to hear, even when the camera is set to its highest volume. That led to either missing video footage I wanted to capture (didn’t turn on), or recording more than I wanted (didn’t turn off).
What’s more, you sound like somewhat of an idiot constantly blabbering “GoPro start recording” and “GoPro stop recording” – and it will likely annoy others around you, and most definitely annoy your wife and kids who have to endure my saying it over and over again for a week. But it was worth it!
I’ll share more ski footage and what the camera can do with other mounts, including the handhelds and selfie grips when I have time to get around to editing those videos - and photos too (it can take some cool photos!)
second Use Case - underwater in florida
Next stop, Florida. We traveled to visit my parents earlier this month and I wanted to see what the camera was capable of in its waterproof casing.
Of course, my kids were really excited about the underwater opportunities for selfie shots, jumps into the pool, and other tumbling under water footage.
I was really amazed at the clarity! Below is a video I compiled for my daughter who had a “big share” project that she had to present yesterday to her classmates. She wanted to show off her stunts in the pool and photos of her ceramic trip to Picasso’s Creative Workshop in Lake Worth, Florida.
One important lesson we learned: do not remove the camera from its waterproof case to watch the video footage while at the pool. This led to condensation getting inside the case and fogging up the lens and compromising some of the footage.
Like the video footage you saw? I normally edit my videos using iMovie, but his time I challenged myself to use Davinci Resolve, a free, more professional platform for video editing. It was a relatively steep learning curve, and it probably has more functionality than I need at most times, but in time I can see the value in learning how to use it and leverage its editing power to create even better videos.
On the whole, I really enjoyed using the GoPro and see great potential for using it on ziplines, snorkeling, and of course for future ski trips.
Learn More
Want to learn more about purchasing and/or using a GoPro and/or the accessories? I recommend checking out the these two YouTube vloggers for great insights:
MountMedia - search on GoPro Hero 8
The Everyday Dad - search on GoPro Hero 8