Camera equipment - GoPro or Insta 360? Or other?

H

HackerDuties

New member
Hi newschoolers.

I wanna start putting more effort into getting footage so I'm getting myself a camera to use this winter as apposed to using my iPhone.

I was thinking of getting a second hand Gopro 7 that I can attach to an old ski pole. Perks being:

- it has inbuilt stabilisation

- it has a screen so I can view/delete footage straight after i've filmed it

- not the most expensive option

- correct me if I'm wrong but it can take a bit of a beating if I take a slam with it?

I've also been recommend insta 360 but they'll be more expensive, I've never used them and don't know much about them.

It would seem the one R model would be most practical as it has inbuilt stabilisation and a screen which I presume allows you view/delete clips without having to upload them to a phone/pc. But:

- can it take a beating?

- is the extra money worth those funky 360 degree clips?

Finally if I'm gonna bump up the budget for an insta 360, there's also the gopro max...?

Would love to hear your opinions/advice!

**This thread was edited on Nov 5th 2020 at 4:09:05pm
 
I have a GoPro hero 7 It has really good quality but my main complaint is that the battery runs out pretty quickly for me. Still, i would say its a solid buy, just not at full price
 
Ok, buckle up.

Resolution does not = quality video

Video is all about the story (as corny as that sounds and whether you realize it or not) and the ability to tell a story in many different ways with the tools you have is what's important. Professional filmmakers use all sorts of different cameras, lenses, drones, support equipment and microphones to get the look and feel they want for each specific scene. While this is obviously not what you're looking to do, it sheds light on the greater principle of having the right tool for the job. In the same way a multi-tool/leatherman isn't as good as just a really nice knife AND a really nice pliers... You can still do more jobs with a leatherman than just a nice knife.

What do I mean by that? A gopro is a nice pliers. It's great for follow cams, POV, getting up close and personal, etc. But a gopro only does 1 thing. It looks the exact same every time. You show someone gopro footage and they know it's gopro footage before you even tell them.

Now I'm assuming your budget is less than $2,000 and probably less than $1,000 or even $500. In my opinion, what you really want to make more interesting videos is a Dadcam.

I know, now you're like "Who is this idiot?"

Let me explain...

As an idiot, I carry a MASSIVE backpack with a big tripod hanging off of me as well as a camera cage, laptop, etc all in the bag. It weighs probably 40 pounds and literally barely has room for my phone and keys, let alone extra outerwear or water or whatever. It's really cumbersome to carry out onto the hill with me and sucks to have to move around with, but it's my job and that's what I'm out there for. With a dadcam, you'd have basically a small pouch with your dadcam and like 5 batteries from ebay and maybe a lens cloth. That's it. It's light, it's cheap as hell, and if it gets stolen.... Mom won't even yell at you.

Now there are many flavors of dadcams to choose from and I'll go into more detail if you're interested, but what a dadcam gives you is a lot of zoom range, from wide to super longlens. It gives you a very portable and stabilized setup to easily film the homies from any angle or distance. It also is very inexpensive and spits out files that are small and easily edited or processed by your computer (most people have a potato for a computer). File size will become a huge issue if you shoot a lot with a camera doing high framerate 4k.

All of this is stuff not always talked about. I could write a book on this topic specifically related to skiing, but I don't have time right now. If you are legit interested and want more info about what to look for in a dadcam, let me know.

Cheers homie

Filming is really fun.
 
14193504:Schoess said:
Ok, buckle up.

what you really want to make more interesting videos is a Dadcam.
Click to expand...

Imma piggy back off this real quick,

I made a spreadsheet a while back for a budget camera rig, the camera is the canon eos-m its a tiny mirrorless camera that you can hack to shoot 2.5k raw. Only downside is the crop factor so if you don't mind you just use 1440p. As mentioned above you make entertaining ski content not just off the camera, you gotta know how to use it and convey a story or feeling to viewers.

Here's the spreadsheet LINK
 
Thanks so much I really appreciate the input!

When I say I want a camera to use instead of my iPhone, its only really for follow cams that I want it. I'm still going to use clips from my homies smartphones and from my iPhone when I put together an edit.
 
I have the hero 7 for mountain biking and skiing. Its very durable as ive taken many falls and cheap camera wise. The stablization is good in the 7 but better in the 8 and 9 but i would recommend totaly
 
That's an interesting setup. I use an EOS R with a bunch of nice smallrig components to makeup my cage and rig, but it's taken years to get the whole thing dialed. What components are you using for the handle or stabilizer or cage or whatever in that sheet to come up with those cost figures? I love cheap stuff haha

14193543:THE-Albino* said:
Imma piggy back off this real quick,

I made a spreadsheet a while back for a budget camera rig, the camera is the canon eos-m its a tiny mirrorless camera that you can hack to shoot 2.5k raw. Only downside is the crop factor so if you don't mind you just use 1440p. As mentioned above you make entertaining ski content not just off the camera, you gotta know how to use it and convey a story or feeling to viewers.

Here's the spreadsheet LINK
Click to expand...
 
14193543:THE-Albino* said:
Imma piggy back off this real quick,

I made a spreadsheet a while back for a budget camera rig, the camera is the canon eos-m its a tiny mirrorless camera that you can hack to shoot 2.5k raw. Only downside is the crop factor so if you don't mind you just use 1440p. As mentioned above you make entertaining ski content not just off the camera, you gotta know how to use it and convey a story or feeling to viewers.

Here's the spreadsheet LINK
Click to expand...

Oh I see the links now, sorry
 
14193543:THE-Albino* said:
Imma piggy back off this real quick,

I made a spreadsheet a while back for a budget camera rig, the camera is the canon eos-m its a tiny mirrorless camera that you can hack to shoot 2.5k raw. Only downside is the crop factor so if you don't mind you just use 1440p. As mentioned above you make entertaining ski content not just off the camera, you gotta know how to use it and convey a story or feeling to viewers.

Here's the spreadsheet LINK
Click to expand...

That's actually a lot of rig for the money. How useable is that camera?
 
14193666:Schoess said:
That's actually a lot of rig for the money. How useable is that camera?
Click to expand...

Its pretty usable actually, because you can hack the software you can get a pretty good image out of it, It slightly lacks in dynamic range and would probably suffer in low light but for skiing youd be chillin
 
14193670:THE-Albino* said:
Its pretty usable actually, because you can hack the software you can get a pretty good image out of it, It slightly lacks in dynamic range and would probably suffer in low light but for skiing youd be chillin
Click to expand...

Are you saying Magic Lantern has a release for it? I used to Run ML on my 6d and it was great 99% of the time.
 
14193745:THE-Albino* said:
Yeah its Magic Lantern
Click to expand...

That would be a killer little rig for lots of stuff. I usually tell people that for $150 you can get a dadcam, bag, batteries and memory card. Everything you need to be dangerous.That $500 price point is really sick. Let me know if you ever get it and use that rig
 
I've got the go pro max and think it's worth the money. You get the ability to film both "normal looking" go pro footage and 360 footage.
 
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