Action Cameras: What you own.
09-16-21, 11:58 AM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Action Cameras: What you own.
Another action camera thread.
Let's list
1) what you have and how old
2) what you like about it or them
3) what you don't like about it or them
4) what you were specifically looking for
5) lessons learned for the next purchase.
I'll start.
Camera 1
1) Make, model, age:Kaiser Baas X300 1.5 years old
2)Like: it records videos
3) Don't like: One hour battery life sometimes shorter in hot or cold conditions. No separate battery charger. Reset date and time after every battery change. Casing shows cracks less than a year.
4) Looking for: The price was under 100cad.A cheap camera to record incidences with commercial vehicles so I can report them back to their companies.
5)Lessons: Need spare batteries and separate battery charger. Battery life longer than one hour with a good operating range. Date and time retention during battery change.
Camera 2
1) Make, model, age: Campark V30, 13 months
2) Like: Operating temperature 55C to -10C according to specs. Comes with two batteries and a separate battery charger. Batteries last 90 minutes at 1080P60 fps for the 1350 mah.
3) Don't like: Signs of failure or old age just before the one-year mark: lost date and time retention changing battery. Battery compartment really tight: pulled off the pull out tab from one of the batteries. Campark would not honour warranty because I purchased it directly from their website.
4)Looking for: Cheap under 100usd. A cheap camera to record incidences with commercial vehicles so I can report them back to their companies that's better than the Kaiser Baas I already have.
5) Lessons learned: Ask about warranty or maybe buy only from Amazon. Except for its faults, I still like this camera, so my next purchase I would ask about the battery compartment. Maybe the tight battery compartment was just a one-off.
If I buy another action camera I would be looking for
Good internal microphone that can pick up a conversation 10ft away while in its waterproof case.
Audio recording that stays in synch with the video recording.
Waterproof case that gives you access to the micro usb ports so I can plug in the microphone or the external power pack.
Let's list
1) what you have and how old
2) what you like about it or them
3) what you don't like about it or them
4) what you were specifically looking for
5) lessons learned for the next purchase.
I'll start.
Camera 1
1) Make, model, age:Kaiser Baas X300 1.5 years old
2)Like: it records videos
3) Don't like: One hour battery life sometimes shorter in hot or cold conditions. No separate battery charger. Reset date and time after every battery change. Casing shows cracks less than a year.
4) Looking for: The price was under 100cad.A cheap camera to record incidences with commercial vehicles so I can report them back to their companies.
5)Lessons: Need spare batteries and separate battery charger. Battery life longer than one hour with a good operating range. Date and time retention during battery change.
Camera 2
1) Make, model, age: Campark V30, 13 months
2) Like: Operating temperature 55C to -10C according to specs. Comes with two batteries and a separate battery charger. Batteries last 90 minutes at 1080P60 fps for the 1350 mah.
3) Don't like: Signs of failure or old age just before the one-year mark: lost date and time retention changing battery. Battery compartment really tight: pulled off the pull out tab from one of the batteries. Campark would not honour warranty because I purchased it directly from their website.
4)Looking for: Cheap under 100usd. A cheap camera to record incidences with commercial vehicles so I can report them back to their companies that's better than the Kaiser Baas I already have.
5) Lessons learned: Ask about warranty or maybe buy only from Amazon. Except for its faults, I still like this camera, so my next purchase I would ask about the battery compartment. Maybe the tight battery compartment was just a one-off.
If I buy another action camera I would be looking for
Good internal microphone that can pick up a conversation 10ft away while in its waterproof case.
Audio recording that stays in synch with the video recording.
Waterproof case that gives you access to the micro usb ports so I can plug in the microphone or the external power pack.
09-16-21, 08:20 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: Australia
Posts: 821
Bikes: 2002 Trek 5200 (US POSTAL), 2020 Canyon Aeroad SL
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 313 Post(s)
Liked 679 Times
in
327 Posts
1) I've got a GoPro Hero 3 that just sits in my cupboard these days! It must be going on 8 years old? 😅
2) It did a fine job at the time. Press button, record stuff, press button, stop. Easy to use and 100% waterproof case.
3) Pretty bulky if you want to mount on a helmet, but I did take some good helmet cam footage on a gravity go kart once. Quality is poor compared to modern cams!
4) I was just browsing an airport tech shop waiting on a delayed flight. Total impulse buy...
5) Recording videos may seem like a good idea, but I very rarely if ever re-watch stuff I've edited and most of it was crap.
2) It did a fine job at the time. Press button, record stuff, press button, stop. Easy to use and 100% waterproof case.
3) Pretty bulky if you want to mount on a helmet, but I did take some good helmet cam footage on a gravity go kart once. Quality is poor compared to modern cams!
4) I was just browsing an airport tech shop waiting on a delayed flight. Total impulse buy...
5) Recording videos may seem like a good idea, but I very rarely if ever re-watch stuff I've edited and most of it was crap.
09-17-21, 01:24 AM
#3
Kamen Rider
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: KL, MY
Posts: 1,071
Bikes: Fuji Transonic Elite, Marechal Soul Ultimate, Dahon Dash Altena
Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 351 Post(s)
Liked 277 Times
in
164 Posts
Well I started from a Sony FDR-X3000 then moved to GoPro, starting with the 6 until the present 9. Still considering if I want to get the 10 that had just been recently announced.
Anyway, on to the topic at hand:
1) GoPro Hero 9 Black
2) Tough, waterproof design; Excellent image stabilization in good light; Relatively good audio from the Media Mod accessory
3) Can still be glitchy from time to time; Image stabilization (and quality) drops significantly in low light
4) A good action camera for vlogging
5) Good audio and low light performance are the final frontier of action cameras, at least for vlogging. In adequate light, image quality and stabilization are already good enough. I thought that having a good zoom range would be beneficial, but the few times I experimented with using a camera with optical zoom for cycling videos, I rarely used it and mainly stuck to a wide-ish (but not too wide) view, which is roughly equivalent to GoPro's "linear" FOV setting.
Anyway, on to the topic at hand:
1) GoPro Hero 9 Black
2) Tough, waterproof design; Excellent image stabilization in good light; Relatively good audio from the Media Mod accessory
3) Can still be glitchy from time to time; Image stabilization (and quality) drops significantly in low light
4) A good action camera for vlogging
5) Good audio and low light performance are the final frontier of action cameras, at least for vlogging. In adequate light, image quality and stabilization are already good enough. I thought that having a good zoom range would be beneficial, but the few times I experimented with using a camera with optical zoom for cycling videos, I rarely used it and mainly stuck to a wide-ish (but not too wide) view, which is roughly equivalent to GoPro's "linear" FOV setting.
09-19-21, 07:48 PM
#4
Thread Killer
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 12,427
Bikes: 15 Kinesis Racelight 4S, 76 Motebecane Gran Jubilée, 17 Dedacciai Gladiatore2, 12 Breezer Venturi, 09 Dahon Mariner, 12 Mercier Nano, 95 DeKerf Team SL, 19 Tern Rally, 21 Breezer Doppler Cafe+, 19 T-Lab X3, 91 Serotta CII, 23 3T Strada
Mentioned: 30 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3129 Post(s)
Liked 1,696 Times
in
1,026 Posts
I have a GoPro Hero4 Session:
1. It’s old; bought on release, so maybe ‘15? Dunno.
2. above all, I like that it’s super tiny.
3. I dislike the short battery life primarily, but there are other limitations such as no live streaming, no auto uploading, low pic quality, no screen for composing, yadda yadda yadda.
4. I bought it specifically to capture ride vid and pics, but it was too difficult to make and edit movies, so I primarily use it to grab still images to illuminate Strava posts.
5. The big takeaway from the Session for me was that making vids for social media sharing is involved, and paring down the cam features did not simply or make easier the process, and in fact frustrated the effort by limiting options and constraining possibilities.
I have just this past Friday purchased a new Hero 10, which I’m hoping will allow me to expand and improve the quality of my social media outreach, and to create some fun video content for my club activities. I’m also hoping that engaging with the newest crop of video editing software will keep me from falling into the “tech gap” by developing familiarity and new skills.
1. It’s old; bought on release, so maybe ‘15? Dunno.
2. above all, I like that it’s super tiny.
3. I dislike the short battery life primarily, but there are other limitations such as no live streaming, no auto uploading, low pic quality, no screen for composing, yadda yadda yadda.
4. I bought it specifically to capture ride vid and pics, but it was too difficult to make and edit movies, so I primarily use it to grab still images to illuminate Strava posts.
5. The big takeaway from the Session for me was that making vids for social media sharing is involved, and paring down the cam features did not simply or make easier the process, and in fact frustrated the effort by limiting options and constraining possibilities.
I have just this past Friday purchased a new Hero 10, which I’m hoping will allow me to expand and improve the quality of my social media outreach, and to create some fun video content for my club activities. I’m also hoping that engaging with the newest crop of video editing software will keep me from falling into the “tech gap” by developing familiarity and new skills.
Likes For chaadster:
