I’m looking to buy a Go Pro or DJI Action camera but I’m concerned about how much they seem to overheat (particularly the Go Pros).
Does anyone own a Go Pro or anything similar and have any experience with overheating?
Here’s some context -
I’m building a ‘creative hub’ for myself and other likeminded artists and musicians.
As well as making music videos, I’d like to extend into artist interviews, video biogs, and most relevant for this thread, full live hardware sets.
In order to achieve this, I’d like a video camera which can reliably shoot for over an hour so I can set it up and record live hour long sets.
As a bonus, I’d like something versatile that inspires me to use it more, instead of having something more ‘delicate’ I only dust off for the hour-long requirements (as I could probably use my iPhone for shorter segments).
I was just settling on getting a Go Pro as I felt it could capture an hour of footage and would hopefully be really fun to use so I’d also use it for music video ‘fun’ stuff, and maybe even take on holidays etc.
As I was researching it I kept coming across people saying they are really unreliable and have a tendency to crash.
I then decided I’ll get its competitor, the DJI Action 3, because it can shoot for longer, seems fairly similar though not quite as pro, and will be more reliable.
Now I’m researching and hearing that action cams in general might not be great for longer indoors shots as they are waterproof (not good for ventilation) and designed to be used outdoors with the wind blowing (mountain biking, surfing, snowboarding etc) and as such can overheat quite quickly in more static environments.
There’s also talk that you just need to format your memory cards properly to avoid crashes.
Does anyone have experience using Go Pro or any of its competitors and can give me any feedback please?
I hope that makes sense, please feel free to ask more questions if you need more info.
Not directly answering your question but a consideration with a Go Pro is that it’s a wide-angle, fish-eye cam. That may not be an effect you always want for the kind of content you wish to capture. At that price-point I’m not sure I have any good alternative recommendations I’m afraid but I’m sure others will!
No it’s a great point worth mentioning, thank you!
I’ve also looking into audio line-in specs, and it seems I’d need to get a £50 attachment for the Go Pro.
Still not sure if I’d just sync videos up to a Ableton project in post for the audio, or if I should be capturing it directly too.
All interesting stuff it’s better to be aware of now so thanks again.
I’d never looked into their stuff but this seems like a great deal on paper:
My experience with most handycams is they they struggle in low-light situations (this is where a big lens can’t be beat, i.e. a DSLR or camcorder format), but tbh without spending twice as much there’s nothing that will help there anyway.
I have a little live studio (video, bunch of cameras & lights etc) in my home office for work. Got a GoPro 11 to capture a view of my desk (me writing on paper). I can honestly say that I‘ve used it maybe twice, because the damn thing is super unreliable unfortunately. Google „GoPro won‘t turn on“ to see how many people have silly issues with theirs. I guess if you can get it to work it‘s a decent camera especially for the low price, but as @natehorn already pointed out, its wide angle might not be the right thing for an interview setting.
I also have an Insta360, I‘d say it‘s cool & gimmicky but video quality is totally not worth it if you‘re considering higher quality video work etc.
I‘m probably the wrong person to ask here, as I spent way too much time researching video cameras and eventually settled for something higher end, but my impression is that if you want something that can film quality images for long periods, there‘s really nothing „cheap“ out there that will do the job amicably (barring maybe your iphone).
If you can dish out considerably more ($1300+), Blackmagic has cameras made just for that purpose (live/longduration filming) with very good quality for a comparatively „low“ price (Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K) - alternatively Sony is a good brand for this, but their dedicated video cameras tend to be a lot more expensive (eg for my Sony FX3 I paid over €4000 without lenses).
Again, take my advice with a grain of salt - I needed a high quality image so my research ended up tending towards the higher end, I might be missing a whole segment of the market
Yeah this actually looks perfect. I was expecting it to be twice as expensive!
Thanks for your thoughts on handycams too. I’ve heard that as well. I’m in a situation where I’m looking for I suppose, a groovebox of video - I’m starting out so want something that can do a lot of stuff ok, and then in a couple of years I’ll know what specific part of my workflow needs upgrading to something more expensive and less flexible.
So I was thinking I can blag lighting for a bit, especially as I imagine my first few sets will be shot in people’s living rooms etc. Kind of felt the same about the fish-eye lens limitations.
If the Zoom Q8 is similar in price and much, much better for what I need it for primarily and will also be great for interviews, then out of nowhere it seems to be a clear leader of the pack!
Shame as I was getting excited about strapping my go pro to my head and making music videos, but that will just have to wait/be saved up for.
I own a couple of GoPros. I would definitely say they overheat, especially when used outdoors in the summer. Doesn’t really have any impact on filming, but it eats into battery health very quickly. I have a couple of spare batteries on top of that and they have all declined in total capacity rapidly.
These days I would go with the Blackmagic PCC 4K.
Another alternative for longform recording is webcams. If you are planning to do this at a computer, there are advantages to using free open-source software like OBS (which can record audio & video simultaneously, no need to sync the two in post). With multiple webcams you can set up scenes, switch between them to have different camera angles & shots, transitions etc. Elektron devices do audio over USB so it’s plug and play for something like OBS to set them up as dedicated devices. Overall an easy way to record/stream that I recommend.
The overhead camera is a GoPro and you can see how it performs fairly poorly in the low light. The rear cameras are a Logitech BRIO and Razer KIYO Pro.
My setup has changed since then, mainly I use iPhone wirelessly now with continuity camera.
Really attractive price. And you have built in XLR inputs. Wonder how well they work and how line level can be adjusted, but on paper looks like a fantastic deal.
Thank you so much, this is great info!
It’s exactly what I wanted to hear - either everyone telling me to go buy one, or people confirming they’ve had issues with them.
I’d like to keep this below £400 ideally as I’m starting out and would also like to start saving for a DSLR.
I appreciate your previous research on the subject! It’s hard not to fall into the cliche of wanting everything to be great for an affordable price. In most industries in the world, you get what you pay for.
I’m at that beginner’s stage where, for anything less than 20 minutes I can just use my phone.
Hopefully in a years time I’ll be making loads of video and will be desperate to spend more money on something particularly good for my needs, but until then I should just exhaust the tech I already own.
I want to be inspired, and to have access to some kit that pushes me forward and opens up new possibilities, but don’t need more than that.
Thank you for the info!
I’m trying to avoid being fixed to my laptop because its the hub of everything in my life and it would be nice to get away from it and not be worrying about it all the time.
That being said, I use OBS at the moment and I didn’t know it was that flexible!
Edit: I realise I’ll probably have my laptop on me anyway as I’m sure I’ll want to record the music direct to my DAW at the same time as shooting the video.
Thanks for the heads-up!
And thanks for the video link, you’ve got a great setup there!
I can definitely see what you mean about the Go Pro for lighting.
Do you have any kind of camera with HDMI Output?
If yes, I would recommend buying a Video-Input device such as the Magewell, Elgato or Blackmagic HDMI to USB ones. Pretty much the best quality video with your own lenses and compatibility with anything that has an HDMI output.
This actually might be the best bet for what I want, which is a little bit of everything.
Sounds like this can record video for hours, take pretty good photos and has super slow mo too.
Not quite as fun as the go pro or as technical as the Zoom, but gives me a bit of everything and lets me take my time to discover which bit of kit will need a pro upgrade later down the line.
Did make me think about what audio I’ll want to be recording, too.
Do I actually need two XLR inputs?
One way would be to get some nice jack to XLR leads and plug into the line-in, for sure.
But actually do I need that option?
Could I just use any camera’s external mic input and whatever converter cable was needed? (Assuming the camera in question actually has an external mic input).
If so, am I better off paying for the Sony ZV1 as it has a camera too, and just connecting audio via it’s mic connection.
Sorry, I’m just thinking aloud more than asking questions now.
Gopros are not so useful for what you describe In my opinion you should consider the NDI system for this type of shooting. NDI to send and receive video over IP, it can connect to a LAN and seamlessly integrate with hundreds of software applications including OBS.
In simpler words: for your recording you can use any kind of smartphones, webcams or NDI cameras, and send audiovideo live feed to a laptop that records audio and video in sync.
This is all much more practical, no need to transfer footage from memory cards or deal with timecode anymore
Just as a word of caution, keep in mind not all those 3.5mm mic inputs will have options for adjusting incoming signal. You might find when recording that the signal is too quiet, too noisy, etc. In which case, you’d need to also invest in a mic preamp. With a DSLR, ideally you’d want something mountable like:
