Tell me about GoPros (or similar)

We are thinking about getting a GoPro for our daughter for Christmas so she can record horse riding (eventing, show jumping and cross-country mainly). It would be used almost exclusively for riding so I want to ensure I get the right type (with the right accessories/straps etc). The only other time I could imagine it being used would be on summer holidays in the pool (I assume they are all fully water-proof)? I have absolutely no idea about these things at all so is there a particular model that would be more suitable (by the look of it, there are only two versions). Also, I don’t want to be spending silly money on one so a suitable, but cheaper, alternative would be a consideration.

Thank you for any advice!

Unless you, or your daughter are prepared for the very steep learning curve and time consuming effort of learning how to edit, I wouldn’t bother. They seem like a great idea, but I’d hazard a guess that 95% of action camera footage is never watched more than once.  I say that as a GoPro owner.

I have filmed a couple of continental motorcycle tours with my wife. The results are great to look back at, but it always takes me months (literally) to trim down the footage and make it watchable. Then the next time I go to do it a year later, I’ve forgotten how to use the editing software, so have to relearn it. It’s all a little bit too much faff tbh.

I have also filmed a bit of POV stuff of me on the MTB. It seemed a good idea at the time.  It’s so boring, it even sends me to sleep, let alone anyone else!

YMMV

Apols, I realise my post above is a bit overly negative! I’m sure your daughter will be more tech savvy and competent that me! I’m not up to date with different models, but I think there are plenty of options other than GoPro now, DJI etc. Don’t rule out second hand. Mine is, and works perfectly. A lot of people ‘upgrade’ regularly for marginal gains so eBay and the like are awash with them.

I would think carefully where you mount the camera on a horse or rider. A chest mount gives a good pov but might be dangerous in a fall. On a (full face) motorcycle helmet, I use a chin mount but there would be options to mount on the top or side of a helmet too. There are loads of cheap aftermarket mounts and accessories.

Good luck!

I have filmed a couple of continental motorcycle tours with my wife. The results are great to look back at, but it always takes me months (literally) to trim down the footage and make it watchable.

It’s not that difficult for most people otherwise there wouldn’t be 3.7 million videos uploaded to youtube on a daily basis!

The freely available editors (on Linux I might add) are just drag and drop. Select all your clips drag them into the editor’s timeline and it arranges them one after the other in time order. For a basic edit, just go through them a trim out all the crap – use the ripple function and shuffles all the later clips back to fill the empty space created by cutting and deleting a section of clip. Once you’ve got a basic video, you can add some fades in/out or cross fades. Going beyond that to use effects, you’ll need to learn about key frames which are just points in the clip where you set a value for an effect parameter for example, for a blur effect you might have zero blur at the start of the clip and 100px of blur at the end of the clip.

I mainly use mine on a tripod these days.  Bought a GoPro 9 2nd hand year and a half ago, it’s good enough for me. I’d quite like an Insta360 though which would be better for tripod filming as you can then not just pan in 2d space (ie by zooming in, within the editor) ,  but rotate the viewing angle around the tripod as if turning the camera to face a different direction.

It’s not that difficult otherwise there wouldn’t be 3.7 million videos uploaded to youtube on a daily basis.

I’m sure there are. I’m far less sure how watchable they all are. I was merely relating my frustration as an old bloke at learning how to use complex software and then retaining that knowledge between infrequent uses. I’m sure someone with an actual interest in the editing process, or a younger brain would fare better.

How watchable something is, is entirely subjective and depends on a multitude of factors! Re difficulty, wasn’t so much meant as a criticism, as encouragement in trying to suggest the s/w can appear intimidating but for basic usage isn’t too difficult once you got the basics.

(I assume they are all fully water-proof)?

Not without a water proof case.

The newer go pros do not need a waterproof case for upto 10m I think it is.

I bought a go pro 11 this year for a trip to Bali, I made 7 short videos and have made another in relation to biking. Editing isn’t too difficult once you get used to it.

Unbranded accessories can be bought cheaply and allow you to experiment with different views/angles.

I’m clearly in the minority on this, but I hate the GoPro. I find it totally unintuitive to use and really badly designed

I bought a cheap Akaso one on Amazon a few years ago – for viewing on my iPad, Insta or FB you don’t really notice the lack of quality. You can buy a big kit of mounts and accessories for £20 – no need for the GoPro stuff. It takes a few attempts to find what mounts / framing works best. As the lens is wide angle, you really need quite dramatic movement to look good on playback. Uploading the footage and editing can be quite time-consuming.

I’ve got a GoPro 8.

Push one button to record, push the other button to set to photo/ time lapse/ video.

It can with the go pro quick app. It takes 10 minutes to make a 2min  passable video, 30 to make a more complicated one. I tend not to record any video longer than 2 min.

This compares to buying a Sony action camera and taking 8h to make a passable video.

Its not a professional quality video and that’s fine for me.

Whilst I’ve currently got a GoPro 8 and am generally pleased with the results (especially the stabilisation) I get frustrated with it locking up occasionally (usually at the worst possible time) and having to pull the battery out to reset it.  If I replace it sometime I think it will be for a dji.

One thing, I’ve seen reference to trying cheap mounts….. be careful, I had a cheapo handlebar mount on my handlebars on my roadbike which suddenly snapped without warning. My bad and I never had the lanyard on and the GP hit the road pretty hard… but I was lucky and it survived.

I have a GoPro 11. I’d agree with some of the comments above about editing and the relative “value” of the content, but I’ve done a couple of runs with it and still enjoy the very short videos I created. GoPros own Quick App makes a pretty good stab at a 3 minute video, which is about my attention span anyway.

I mostly use mine for stills though. I’ll capture video when, for instance, out riding my bike, then just use the editing software to create a few stills. I have mine attached to a small selfie stick so it’s easier to handle/point with one hand and easier than trying to manage a phone (with the risk of dropping it).

Oh – voice activation/control is also very useful when trying to operate it one-handed.

Voice control doesn’t appeal to me so have a little push button remote I keep in my pocket and can use by feel. Around £28 on Amazon which is quite a bit cheaper than the official remote.

GP11Mini and GP4Black owner.

They work, the take video (GP11 is waaaay better for video and Hypesmooth is awesome), but the biggest effort is editing the footage into something that is watchable in the long term.

My media library is huge, many Gb of footage, but the actual watchable time is minutes. The time it takes to convert the footage to that is hard to describe, but I have repeatedly decided to just throw out film instead of doing a really professional job.

Anyway, GoPro works. So does DJI, so do other brands. Image stabilisation works and is lovely to have, but not essential. If you can find a second hand GP8, 9 or 10, they will all be great.

I also have an Akaso one, bought it a few years ago for use on my motorbike. Quality is fine and I suspect the newer ones will be better.

Came with lots of accessories for mounting options, etc and a waterproof case.

The time it takes to convert the footage to that is hard to describe, but I have repeatedly decided to just throw out film instead of doing a really professional job.

Yes sometimes it can go quite quickly if you’re sure of what you want to achieve and the footage and process all align! Other times I haven’t been sure, and it can take weeks to slowly whittle it down to something I feel is acceptable. I’ve never been interested in doing a professional job so to speak, just something I consider watchable. Still not finished trying to express what I was attempting to say about this. In my experience of being creative over the decades, in various media/forms, is that what viewers value about something I’ve made and what I value about it can be very different. Perhaps be more open to potentially missing the value of what you’ve produced and put it out there anyway. For my usage, it’s okay to delete the unedited footage once I’ve produced the edited version.

Longer term GoPro user got fed up with losing footage.    Recently switched to a DJI Action 4, which is last year’s model.  Long battery life never freezes, much more user-friendly menus, and magnetic mounting which is only available on the new Go Pro.  Currently £199 at Argos etc.  Good compromise between the brand new models and the cheaper cams on Amazon

Gopros are a bit like walkie talkies were as a kid. As a child it felt like magic being able to talk to a mate just round the block, and you could spend all day talking absolute shite and keeping yourself entertained. As an adult….that keeps you entertained for about 30 seconds then you have a reason to use it otherwise….gets kinda dull. Turns out I wasn’t actually Bodie or Doyle and I don’t do too much cool shit to use a walkie talkie for.

The inner child in you can have a right good laugh with a GoPro – you can make a film, with you as a star, just like in the movies or like the pros do. But then the adult in you takes over and you quickly appreciate your films are shite boring and to make them a little bit less shite boring means filming from a bunch of different angles, having a plan rather than just riding around with a camera recording and spending enough time editing it together to make it watchable. And that turns it from riding around as you like recording stuff to going out to record stuff with you and your mode of transport as props. Oh, and being mediocre at best on a bike/skis/ whatever is made brutally obvious when recorded for posterity and I don’t know any stuntmen who could do some crazy shit for me to film.

To me then gopros are sustainably interesting either to people who can keep their expectations at childlike levels, adult narcissists who value the footage because it’s all about them even though it’s a bit shit, or the truly committed amateurs or professional film maker that’ll do the hard yards to make truly watchable stuff.

As this is a gift for a child, I guess it should be viewed as such – it’ll be fun!  Most adults find they make good paper weights or crap drawer fillers not too long after purchase. Mine is now living a much happier life as a toy for a recent immigrant kid who is loving filming shit for giggles.

Personally I’d be buying a GoPro copy rather than the real thing and a bunch of mounts – I’d imagine a chest mount would be the way ahead on a horse….and maybe mounts to attach it to a jump for possible more interesting angles.

Been doing a bit of research to get my daughter one too, for BMX and mountain biking.

So far I’ve narrowed it down to 2 brands and two sizes.

Latest GoPro is the 13 at about 400 quid. Older models like the 12, 11 and 10 look better value at about half that.
But there’s also a current model called just “hero” that’s about half the size , lots lighter, and looks better for a kids helmet, bike or chest.

Latest DJI is action 5 at 300+quid which gets better reviews than GoPro . Their older model is the action 4 ( which stainypants recommends above) which is 200 , gets great reviews and might well be favourite at the moment. Their smaller mini model is an older model called action 2 which looks to me like a better size but I’ve not got my head round what’s “missing” compared to the action 4.

So – in summary- she’s probably getting the DJI action 4 if we go full size, or the GoPro “hero” or DJI action 2 if it’s decided that the smaller lighter weight is more important than whatever features are missing.

Whatever we get will probably be half the price in January.

To me then gopros are sustainably interesting either to people who can keep their expectations at childlike levels, adult narcissists who value the footage because it’s all about them even though it’s a bit shit,

I mean, I probably fall in into the second category to some degree, but I try to use the GoPro as a different way to share routes, i.e. splicing bits of trail footage into a Relive fly through or something.

That said I’m still more inclined just to use it for stills on the go rather than faffing about shooting video…

Recent DJI action 3 owner here. Simple to use, stabilisation is brilliant, voice on/off recording and the app works well. Footage is edited on the free ‘Lightcut’ app which is dead easy. Overall I’ve been impressed and would recommend

That said I’m still more inclined just to use it for stills on the go rather than faffing about shooting video…

I have one of those little, bar-mounted, feedbags on the gravel bike and the GoPro can be grabbed out of there as required – and stuffed back in when I’ve finished. The voice activation is handy then as I’ll often be riding along and need one hand to keep me pointing in the right direction 🙂

That process would work equally well on a horse, so I’d be looking at some sort of forward saddle bag for it if I was just using it for hacking. For jumping, a chest mount might work better, though I’d certainly be considering the safety aspect of that given the possibility of being thrown. The GoPro, attached to the side of the ring, would also be handy for anyone entering virtual dressage contests and/or analysing their own riding position as they wouldn’t always need someone to be filming them.

We bought a GoPro for my eldest last Christmas. In the end we went for a Hero 7 Silver edition from Ebay – it didn’t break the bank and provides all he wants/needs at this stage. He still uses it but as some have said above, it’s often a case of watch once then never again. Having said that though, he has more spare time than we do and is more inclined to learn how to use editing software (which comes bundled with most OSes). If you do get one, be prepared for subsequent requests for a YouTube/Instagram account.

Can anyone recommend a decent editing software for Apple Appstore

One bit of wisdom that made me laugh was ” get the GP Hero model. It’s smaller and easier to dust on the shelf…. ”

GP 8 was when hypersmooth started in earnest. Get a bargain second hand and the so called issue with the fixed lens covers can be overcome and the cover replaced.

Apple store: iMovie works well for me.

I have a GoPro Hero 10 and love it. It’s a breeze to shoot on and doesn’t take long to get to grips with it. I also really like editing and making little films whilst being under no illusion that anyone outside of my family want to watch it (even then tenuous). It’s just a more involved version of taking photos for the memories in my eyes, and quite rewarding if you’re into it.

I take it out on the bike every so often, but also if I am swimming with my wife in the sea or something, or just on a wee holiday somewhere nice.

I mentioned about it before, but actually have some of my kit here, so will try and post a picture of it.

This is what I normally use for filming skydiving. The lower camera is the GP11mini and shoots 4k at 60fps with the lowest level of hypersmooth, while the upper (GP4Black) is 1080p at 30fps. Both roll from the red light (about 2 mins before I climb out) and get shut off when I am safely under canopy. The round thing on the front is a ring sight and is there so that I can judge distance a make sure the formation is filling the frame. The rough rule is that, when the formation fills the sight and is centered within the ring, it’s going to be good.

I can also mount an SLR just behind where the GP4 is and run a remote shutter release to that, but it means taking away the GP4 and adding a lot of weight to my head and, if I am filming teams in a competition, stills are a “nice to have” compared to film for debrief and/or scoring.

The setup works well and the only grumble I have is that I would ideally like to mod the GP4 so that I can use the same shutter release as the SLR and use it for photos instead of using the SLR. Even if I could bodge it to take one frame a second for the total freefall time it would be an improvement on carrying an SLR.

Thank you all – I get that these things might be a bit of a novelty, and editing might be a pain, but my daughter wants the camera so she can watch footage back and critique her own riding (rather than have memories or post on social media). It turns out we have a more limited budget as she’s already got some other presents, so I am currently looking at the Akaso (as recommended above). Thank you all.

On the subject of editing, if you subscribe (at additional cost, of course) the GoPro Quik app will put a short edit together for you and it’s surprisingly good. You’d spend hours doing the same yourself. You can still spend hours tweaking it if you want it to be perfect but the results are way better than the average person would come up with.

I have a hero 10, which I’m pretty sure can be had for a decent price now and still feels a modern piece of kit with good image stabilisation, which is key for any action sports really.

I’ve got 227 videos on YouTube (please subscribe!) all filmed on either a hero 7 or 12. The GoPro hero 12 is much more reliable and the menus easier to navigate.

Editing does take time but after a while you can story board and edit on the go which does cut down on the post production.

Just a chest cam video lasting an hour is going to be boring and I think users under estimate that for example a 6 minute video with multiple angles, on and off bike/horse footage takes quite a lot of dismounting, setting up, running back to the bike/horse etc and I can just lie the bike down and it’ll stay out unlike a horse I guess.

What I’m trying to get across is that to fork out a couple hundred quid for a camera, plus memory card, spare batteries etc is a lot if the user is going to get bored of it because of the time/work involved.

But I’d definitely recommend the latest gopros over the competition.

My channel

https://youtube.com/@ukgravelco?si=QEfOLTI5PWu9HcVu

The trouble with the budget cameras is the lack of stabilisation. Not a worry if using it static but body cam footage is terrible without it. So get a camera with decent stabilisation at a minimum

I have one of those little, bar-mounted, feedbags on the gravel bike and the GoPro can be grabbed out of there as required – and stuffed back in when I’ve finished. The voice activation is handy then as I’ll often be riding along and need one hand to keep me pointing in the right direction

Used the GoPro for photos only today as I imagined the trails would be too poorly lit (and slowly ridden) to be worth filming. How wrong I was! Really regret not having vouce activated video as the good bits of the ride today were very very good.

Having said that, taking 172 photos and managing to whittle them down to 12 has resulted in some pretty decent and easily shared memories of the ride.