GoPro or Drift or..........?

[backofbeyond]

I've been using a couple of GoPros and a couple of Chinese copies for the last three or four years now and tbh they're all a pain in the posterior to use on a bike. There's loads of mounts and clamps available so you can put them most places but using them is a different matter.

The number of modes and options available plus the awkward controls for swapping between them make them jacks of all trades but masters of none. The dedicated remotes for the GoPros (hanging on a lanyard around my neck) are probably the best control option but even those are often hit or miss while you're riding.

The image files from the GoPros are significantly better than those from the Chines cameras (although I don't have a Yi) but compared with what I get from my Nikons they're all pretty poor and need a lot of post processing. That's not too bad with stills but takes for ever with video files. That's the main reason I film in HD rather than 4K. As most of what I shoot on the road is either for me only or, at most, a small group of fellow, err ... 'enthusiasts' HD has been good enough.

4K video capability does seem to be a big marketing plus but how many people here film in 4K routinely from action cams without a 'professional' reason to do so? Pulling a (largish) still out of a video sequence is probably the only reason I'd currently use it but even with HD you can get usable images. This came out of an HD GoPro file and is currently used in a book (although smaller than seen below):




AnTyx's advice about buying someone else's vanity purchase secondhand is the way I've gone with the GoPros. I doubt I'll buy any more Chinese stuff unless it's for skiing or something where the damage possibility is quite high.