GoPro 6

[Justin Selig]

Recently purchased the GoPro 6 and was wondering if anyone had any information regarding its visual performance while chasing and if it does well in low light conditions?


Sent from my iPad.
Justin M Selig

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

May want to do a google search on GoPro's current business plans. Rumors are they're not long for this world. They've been so deeply undercut by cheap chinese knockoffs that perform just as well that they're hemorrhaging cash.

I was thinking about buying one as my cheap chinese knockoff has some bad habits or overwriting my footage (resolved by using a smaller capacity card), but to pay $500 for a gopro or buy 10 knockoffs for that same price is an easy decision.

So while I can't give you any information about a GP's lowlight performance, I can say think about other options while you're shopping.

 

[James Wilson]

I can say think about other options while you're shopping.

Do you have a few examples? I am thinking about another GP myself and would like to hear the other options too. Thanks

 

[Alex Elmore]

Recently purchased the GoPro 6 and was wondering if anyone had any information regarding its visual performance while chasing and if it does well in low light conditions?

I've been using a GoPro 4 silver for 2 years now and have been pretty satisfied with my purchase. I can't say I've personally used in much in low-light situations or at night, but I was partially persuaded to buy it because I had a friend who showed me a couple stills and time lapses he had taken at night with his GoPro 4, and I was impressed by its performance for what it was. I use mine for easy and quick time lapses of storms and sunsets. You're not going to get DSLR or higher-end camcorder-quality footage in every situation, but it gets the job done. This is all being said assuming the GoPro 6 outperforms the GoPro 4, which I would imagine and hope it would.

I can't comment much on other manufacturer's action cameras, but I did shop around a little when I was looking to purchase one 2 years ago. I ultimately felt that most of the time you pay for what you get, so I didn't mind paying a little more for a GoPro vs. a knockoff. So far, so good.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Overseas clones of electronics can be risky. I have no experience with knockoff action cameras, but in the dashcam market, the price ratio between knockoffs and brands was similar to the GoPros ($30-$50 for a Chinese dashcam as opposed to $100-$200 for a reputable name brand). The knockoffs were prone to corrupted memory cards, DIAs and especially total failure after a few months (too late to return). You can get a good idea of how bad any camera is by the quantity and content of negative Amazon reviews.

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

I've only had one failure of my knockoff, and it was because (as I learned by later reading the instructions - derp) I had put in too large of a memory card, which caused the camera to start loop recording by default. Oh...and I guess battery life is pretty terrible, but wasabi batteries to the rescue. I dont know how long a gopro battery lasts when run continuously.

My main point to my above statement was that gopro is having business issues, so does one want to purchase a high end product from a faltering company?

I've heard good things about Sony's action cams, but no personal experience with those either. They're also in GoPro's price point.

 

[Michael Snyder]

You can get a use Go Pro 4 Black with extended Battery Pack for around 200$. Record at 1080P, and it will cover 4.5 hours. Its great for capturing your entire chase. Doing a timelapse of Dodge city Go Pro footage doing that turned out really nice results. You'll need a 64GB card and a windshield mount.

 

[Bill Giles]

Back in April 2017 I bought a Sony FDR-X3000 action camcorder and took it on my first chase of the year. I ended up returning it, mostly because it overheated quickly. I wrote up a sort-of review of it on my blog on this chase log:

http://chasingwithbill.com/index.php/2017/04/18/4142017-elm-creek-ne-year-2-chase-1/

The first half is the log, which you can skip if you want. The camera review is the second half.

The very next chase log on my site has footage from the GoPro 5 Hero Black I bought to replace it, if you want to compare. I liked the GoPro better, due to the lack of overheating and it's ability to auto-flip the horizon for recording. The GoPro can detect which direction it's being held and adjust. The Sony couldn't; it's buried in a menu.

Why does that matter? I had to hang the camera upside down in the car on the windshield mount. When you pull it off the mount and stick it on a tripod, it sits the normal way. I don't want to be playing in menus while trying to film.

However, I did have to buy a better/faster memory card for the GoPro. Which funny enough is covered in the chase log right after that.

(I swear I'm not trying to get you to read my blog)

 

[Mark Blue]

My wife gave me the Go Pro 4 Black for my birthday a couple of years ago. I used it on a few local chases and found that these units tend to run hot. Mine even shutdown a few times due to heat. It seems if you continually have WiFi enabled to view your camera lens on a phone or tablet display that tends to push it over the edge. I should probably get a window mount that puts it closer to an AC vent as mentioned above, otherwise it’s prone to go nuclear if it’s really hot outside.

I purchased the $400.00 version of Cineform Premium a few years ago and used it to offload video from my camcorder (Canon HV-40). It’s no longer supported and the newer versions of their software only work with Go Pro cameras from what I can tell. I need to set up a partition running Windows 7 and find the original install file, but it seems to be more brain damage than it’s worth with the FireWire issues on newer hardware. No one ever said chasing was a cheap hobby as it seems frequent upgrading comes with the territory!

 

[B. Dean Berry]

Does anyone have any experience with the Sony CX440 or the GoPro Hero3 White? Considering picking one up used.