GoPro Camera test, again

Nothing too exciting today I'm afraid. I was keen to give the GoPro digital camera another test, so I bodged together a helmet mount, and went for a quick play on the canal. I also managed to persuade Louise to sit on the side and take a few stills with it as well.

Getting my bow stall on!

The still shots turned out quite well, but with the camera being very simple, and totally automatic, and with a small view finder it can be a bit hit and miss getting the focus right sometimes, and in low light conditions it will automatically set a slow shutter speed, meaning that action shots will come out blurred.

Am I spinning, pirouetting, twirling, fluffing a cartwheel.......

The video is very good, it doesn't always look as good when posted on the net, due to the compression used to limit its size. But when played back on your PC at home it looks very impressive.

Overall the camera is a good as I'd expect from something that costs less than £100, including the waterproof case. The stills are good, the video is simple but crisp, and good enough for web use. It does has a few draw backs, the view finder is small, and when in the waterproof case almost impossible to use, and it can be a bit battery hungry when taking lots of short video clips.

I feel its a bit of a second camera, and the big attraction is the waterproof casing. If you want something for nonstop use in, on, or just under the water then the GoPro could be for you. If you want something for high quality photography and video, then you might want to look somewhere else.

Some helmet cam footage from a bit of playing on the canal.