A little camera with a BIG punch!

I’m big into a lot of physical activities. I ride mountain bikes and weight train frequently and use to play softball twice a week as well. Lately, I’ve gotten back into wakeboarding and decided that I needed something to capture all the fun I’ve been having. I already have my Rebel XTi that I shoot a lot of causal photography with and I’ve been through several video cameras; however, I’ve yet to find one that was small enough to carry and durable enough to withstand the things I like to do. Well, I can’t say that anymore. “Say hello to my little (BIG) friend!”.

 
I just received this from an eBay purchase a little over a week ago; however, it’s traveled 1600 miles with me on a wakeboarding trip to North Carolina/Virginia, gone into the Tampa Bay to go wakeboarding, and gone underwater on some casual swims. Thus far, it’s done everything I’ve asked it to do and then some.
With it’s 5 video settings, this tiny cam will shoot various frame rates (30 and 60 fps) and change aspect ratios relatively easy. Users also have the option to shoot still shots on a whim, or in 1sec, 2sec, 5sec, or 10sec intervals.

There is no internal hard drive but uses a SD card for it’s output. I recommend a class 10 card (8, 16, or 32GB). Shooting 1080p will certainly eat some space if you’re not careful.

The camera comes with both a waterproof and a non-waterproof housing. Since all of my uses thus far have been around water, I have yet to use the non-H20-proof housing. Noise and sound is hindered because of the waterproofing; however, that was expected. Some sound is clear; however, I recommend muting the sound and adding your own personal soundtrack instead.

In addition, it’s nice having a computer with a SD reader. Popping out the 32GB card and throwing it into the laptop makes viewing the videos so much easier than plugging wires to connect the two; however, that is an option the GoPro offers if you so choose.

Other accompanying goodies include 2 straight-adhesive mounts, 2 curved-adhesive mounts, and the USB charging chord. I do recommend purchasing a chest strap for just a few bucks as that makes all the difference when you’re doing something that requires both hands. Also, additional batteries can be purchased which you might want to consider. I noticed that I got about 2 hours off the first battery (1st use) and the 2nd use lasted about twice as long. However, I did change the video setting from option 3 to option 5, which decreased the fps by half (60fps to 30fps).

So, if you’re looking for a really high quality video camera that can be used in various settings, GoPro might just be it. I know I love mine!

Cheers!

PS – check back for videos. I’ve got a couple cooking in the oven now!