Well, I have a few clients that love tech and talking tech. A couple in particular where drooling when I got the new GoPro Hd. For those that don’t know the GoPro has been around for a while but only in the last year as an HD version and is an ultra compact, rugged, and water proof camera. It has a bunch of industrial applications for us including mounting in places where I would have never thought a camera could go. What is funny about this review I also relate back to my previous rants on customer service rather than fully concentrate on a product review.
The first thing I want to make note of is that I’m not expecting much from this camera other than being able to be installed and used in areas where I wouldn’t want to use our 5d Mk 2’s or EX1. This camera’s main points are that it’s water proof to 180 feet and it’s small…like really small and light… Dimensions (H x W x D): 1.6” x 2.4” x 1.2” (42mm x 60mm x 30mm), weight: 3.3oz (94g) incl. battery, 5.9oz (167g) incl. housing. I still expect half decent quality though as they have really hyped it in print and online and for pro use, well you need pro results.
The first test I did was with the head mount on a camping trip at the end of November. The light weight test passed with flying colours. I almost forget about it being there. It did wobble a bit on the rough ground and on jumping. On a helmet I’m sure you wouldn’t notice it at all and it would be much more stable.
When I got around to looking at the footage I found the light sensitivity a little lacking. At a certain point it gets a little grainy (auto exposure only on the cam) and when shooting the fire at the end of the day there was little detail in the blacks (see example of frame grab). I’m hoping for an manual exposure firm ware update in the future, really hoping.
On the matter of the capture quality was…well ok. Nothing really stood out when properly exposed but then again it really didn’t jump out at me like when I first used the EX1 or 5D. For its size, weight and water ability I can forgive the “wow” factor though. I didn’t get it do to portraits or landscapes!
The one thing that I thought I did notice was subpar the battery performance. In the morning of the hike the camera died and I popped the second battery and that one I “thought” died within a ½ hour…even though it was charged for 2 hours……more on that later….
The second test I did was doing time lapse for a documentary shoot I was involved in. The camera has a built in intervolometer (a devise used to automatically take a picture at set intervals).
I set the camera up in a couple of locations and it really worked out well. It’s tiny, water proof and does 5mg pictures….can you say inconspicuous?! There was never a worry about leaving it unmonitored for 6 hours or more at the top of a post.
For the next test I did was just for fun. The first commercial I worked on was in 1987 and I was the car mount assistant for the first Ford Probe ad. Since then I have always loved doing car mounts! This camera is PERFECT for that. I have to say that I had blast trying to find places where I “couldn’t” mount it and how close to “things” I could place it….
The speed at which I could mount this camera was amazing… side door mount? One minute tops. Hood mount? Same. Bumper mount? Five minutes tops, including safety and taping the mount….
Just last week we did a really cool shoot with it for the Ice Boat club on Porters Lake. Perfect day for both shooting and sailing! Here is where we found another little trouble.
The camera doesn’t like flares off black. If you take a close look at the highlight on the mast you will see some artifacting. Still though, a save able shot and also shot at 720p 60 fps…lots to work with.
Now overall I love this little camera. I really have only two issues other than the big lack of manual exposure control.
The first issue has to do with the design of the case. To understand this the camera is in two parts, the actual recording devise with primary lens, battery and card and then the housing which protects the sensitive parts from water, dirt and impact. The problem is with the hinge on the lock for the case. When not engaged the hinge can fall off and once lost you need to buy a whole new case for $40.00. Silly that they would design it that way, but they did…but they do a great deal of secondary sales!
The second issue one was a huge surprise but one we have been running into a lot recently. GoPro customer support is very weak. Maybe the thought is they are saving money off the initial cost of the unit, but I would be more than willing to pay $5 more per until for great customer support…(I can hear past Dell owners groaning). The weak battery I experienced wasn’t really that weak (though don’t expect more than two hours of video recording). The camera I had was defective and on the hiking trip it shut itself off. It did come back on once I got back into the car so I figured it was either too cold or the battery wasn’t fully charged…but that wasn’t the case. After the documentary I was going to start the car mount tests and the camera wouldn’t turn on. I stored the camera in our studio all day, all the batteries were charged. No reason for it not to turn on. After going to the GoPro site they had listed a solution (weird), which I tried a few times with no avail. Sooo I did what I usually do when faced with problems with no logical solutions, I went to Google. Google did not fail me! Apparently there were a few people with the same problem. The only solution was to do a camera exchange with GoPro and hope the new one did not have the same issue. That would be ok, so on the GoPro site I submitted a support ticket explaining I had followed their solutions and had went through their procedure three times to no avail, the camera would not turn on. Two days later no response. Since the camera was only a week and a half old I went back to my trusty local camera shop (Henry’s) and they did a quick exchange! Done. Fixed. (god I love Henry’s) No problem since. The next day I got an email back from GoPro telling me to go to the website and follow the instructions for when the camera will not turn on then contact them again if it doesn’t work…..hmmmm, thanks… Ok people! As a company if you have robotic responses going it should be immediate. Submit support ticket, get a response with possible solutions based on key words. The email I received should have gone right out away. Next, within 24 hours I should have received a response to the actual text I had sent them. All the token response did was to a piss me off as they obviously didn’t read what I sent them and are merely trying to appear as being responsive.
Overall, I love this little camera, even with it’s faults I have found it very useful now that I know it’s going to work (very important when you bill clients for equipment!). As for customer support I am really disappointed. Why oh why do companies scrimp when it comes to support? Worse is the outsourcing to India or the like where you know they don’t fully comprehend what you’re are communicating. Talk about a thank you for buying our product!
