Action Camera's

Cathalibm

Im thinking of getting either a GroPro or a Condor camera for skiing/snowboarding.

Is there much of a difference between them other than the price. Kinda leaning towards the Condor +2 as its easier to use.

Rew

Assuming its the Contour your thinking of? The GoPro is better but if you just want a camera thats not too technical for recording your holiday you will be happy with the Contour.

alwayssideways

Just a heads up if you are reading some reviews online about the GoPro. I (along with everyone else) found the GoPro Hero 3 to be very buggy when it was first released. It was constantly crashing etc. Justifiably it got a lot of bad reviews at the time and I imagine a lot of these bad reviews are still circulating.

Firmware updates followed soon after and my GoPro (Hero 3 black edition) has performed flawlessly since then. I would highly recommend one based on my experiences (post updates), just make sure if you do go with the GoPro you have the latest firmware updates installed.

CardinalJ

As said, Hero 3 was massively buggy when it appeared first, just be aware that the reviews for it might be one sided. My battery was also brutal and only lasted an hour, but GoPro replaced it for me. I now use the other as a back up now. Since all the issues have been fixed I find it brilliant. The wireless remote and app are pretty handy.

In terms of comparison, the GoPro does a huge amount, a lot of which you mightn't want or need. I think a plus for the contour is that it sits at the side of your head if you have it helmet mounted, the GoPro sits at the front and could get knocked off easily enough by lift bars. That said it didn't happen to me but I was highly paranoid about it. I've never used a contour, but I've seen a few videos used shot on them and they still look good.

One thing Ill say is only get a Hero 3 if you're getting the black edition. The silver edition is technically very similar to the Hero 2.

Final word of advice applies to either camera, most of your videos will be brutal. They take a while to get the hang of, but you will get some amazing shots once you get the hang of it.

Cathalibm

Possibly might go for the Gropro 3 then, Is there much a difference between the white/black & silver 1's. I may be a fairly good skier but im rubbish as a camera guy! Even my vid's on my phone are rubbish. I need something which has a fairly longish battery life and easy to use. That why i was originally going for the Condor +2

Rew

White is pretty poor all round, silver is the equivalent of a Hero 2 but has better sound and built in wireless, black is top of the range all singing all dancing. Silver is enough for most people but if you want the remote your better buying the back as the price of the remote + the silver = the price of the black

Rew

Also worth a look are the Drift cameras which have come on a huge amount recently.

CardinalJ

Contour seem to have gone out of business.

http://knobblytyres.com/breaking-contour-closes-for-foreseeable-future/

Red Nissan

Cathalibm wrote: »

Possibly might go for the Gropro 3 then, Is there much a difference between the white/black & silver 1's. I may be a fairly good skier but im rubbish as a camera guy!

Apart from inbuilt WiFi the only new release is the H3 Black, it has a new lens and new converters and new specs.

As regards the white and silver, one might be better served by getting the HD2 instead especially if battery life is a concern.

The H3 all version have a different battery and a built in battery pac accessory. The HD2 uses the same battery in the body and in the accessory pac and as an additional attraction the HD2 battery pac can charge your other batteries via a car adapter.

The HD2's dome lens may also have a few benefits.

But consider only the HD3 Black otherwise.

Rew

CardinalJ wrote: »

Contour seem to have gone out of business.

http://knobblytyres.com/breaking-contour-closes-for-foreseeable-future/

Pitty, thought they could hold on as the no.2

Cathalibm

Thats a pain, and the contour +2 looks like a great camera...Looks like i will be probably going for a gopro silver, Are the accessories expensive for the gopro, will probably 2/3 batteries.

Rew

Cathalibm wrote: »

Thats a pain, and the contour +2 looks like a great camera...Looks like i will be probably going for a gopro silver, Are the accessories expensive for the gopro, will probably 2/3 batteries.

Get the batteries from Ebay, you will get 3 or 4 for the price of one genuine gopro battery.

Diemos

I would recommend the GoPro.
If you are thinking about a Silver 3, I'd just get a GoPro 2, same camera, cheaper and the old batteries are better than the new ones.

CardinalJ

Sportpursuit have the hero 3 black for £249 for the next few days.

It's not the newer one but it's the top of the range model from the last model.

Fattes

It's not the newer one but it's the top of the range model from the last model.

Unless you are using it for proffesional work you wont notice the diffrence! Small changes in how the new one handles light, and it it slightly smaller! Kind of like the Iphone 5 and 5s

CardinalJ

Fattes wrote: »

Unless you are using it for proffesional work you wont notice the diffrence! Small changes in how the new one handles light, and it it slightly smaller! Kind of like the Iphone 5 and 5s

Yea exactly.

I've a hero 3 black and it's hugely improved on the original hero I had. Only area I find it falls down is when I'm mountain biking at night, but i doubt most small cameras would get great quality in low light, even with powerful enough lights.

Rew

Fattes wrote: »

Unless you are using it for proffesional work you wont notice the diffrence! Small changes in how the new one handles light, and it it slightly smaller! Kind of like the Iphone 5 and 5s

Battery life is about 30% better on the 3+. Its not actually smaller then the 3, its the case thats smaller. The 3 fits in the 3+ case and vice versa.

Fattes

Rew wrote: »

Battery life is about 30% better on the 3+. Its not actually smaller then the 3, its the case thats smaller. The 3 fits in the 3+ case and vice versa.

Black edition is now 20 percent smaller

Go pro's own blurb is above! Be it the case or the camera they sell it as smaller! Battery life is irrelivant for snow sports as either way once you have it up there at altitude and in the cold the battery will be eaten up pretty quickly even with the extra battery pack

Rew

Fattes wrote: »

Go pro's own blurb is above! Be it the case or the camera they sell it as smaller! Battery life is irrelivant for snow sports as either way once you have it up there at altitude and in the cold the battery will be eaten up pretty quickly even with the extra battery pack

Yeah their blurb is quite misleading on size thing. Anyway the up shot is that anyone with the 3 can use the slim case if they want to cut down weight and size but keep it protected.

http://gopro.com/camera-accessories/hero3-housing

The other thing they are a bit misleading on is the slim case isn't compatible with the accessory backpacks which is a bit **** if you go out and buy the 3+ then have to fork out for the chunky case.

Im not sure how the battery thing is irrelevant, it will last longer then a 3 so if thats important to someone its worth considering. It lasts longer mainly due to improvements in the hardware so you get a boost in time over the 3 with battery backpacks as well.

In general you can get spares batteries on ebay very cheap, I got 3 plus a wall charger for about 30 quid. They aren't as good as the originals but its marginal. I brought along a rechargeable pack that has USB ports and stuck the remote on charge at lunch as that suffered a lot in the cold.

CardinalJ

I think what Fattes is saying is probably right in a cold weather context. Even the extra 30% won't mean you can get a while day on one bsttery.

For mountain biking or something summery itd be nice though.

Fattes

I still love them and can forgive an awful lot for some of the footage I have gotten over the years even the original one!

Rew

Im madly in love with them as well, easily the best bit of kit I ever bought, I kept my 2 when I got a 3 and got nice multi angle stuff last year. Id be all over the 3+ but no skiing for me this year

For the battery thing the 3 was a big step back from the 2 and 1. I used to get though a day on 2 batteries switched at lunch where as last year I was plagued with dead batteries so the extra 30% would bring (me at least) back to the 2 a day or close to it and TBH the 3+ is the camera the 3 should have been. I was also plagued with software problems that they didn't fix till well after I was back which didn't help.

CardinalJ

Yea. The initial 3 battery problems were dire. To he fair to go pro they posted me a new battery the day of my complaint and the software update hugely improved it.

Great piece of kit if you enjoy your outdoor sports.