I've been active in a baseball forum these days because, well, it's fall baseball season around here and my softball player plays volleyball this time of year. But I wanted to make sure I pass on the information we have learned from our GoPro HERO5 testing. Most of this is a blatant paste of what I put over there. So for you folks that hit both sites.....sorry for the duplication.
Just a first blush follow-up. Here are some initial thoughts:
1.) Quality was good, but didn't really rock my world at 1080p/60 as compared to the HERO4 Silver.
2.) Menu system is a lot better. Much easier to find and change settings.
3.) Wifi seems to be better, but still far from perfect. Range does not seem to be as great. But this may add to the stability.
4.) REMO remote is very good. When in range (which is very limited...sometimes even 50' was too far) it works very well. My only complaint, and this is more of a camera complaint rather than a remote: When you start the video with the REMO, the LCD on the camera turns on. So you can see this from a distance (like in the stands). But when you stop the video with the remote, the screen stays off. I kept finding myself going to the fence to make sure it stopped recording. So at that point, it seemed to defeat the purpose. And on more than one occasion, I stopped the recording when I was evidently out of range. The REMO beeped as if it stopped. But when I got back to the camera, it was still running.
4a.) Voice commands are the cat's meow. Especially "GoPro Highlight". Really helpful for finding things later.
5.) REMO remote battery usage was good. Far better than the original GoPro remotes (which in my opinion were worthless as they would never be charged when you needed.)
6.) Linear FOV is good but pretty wide on very large fields. This will lead to a reduction of detail. You can zoom in during post production, but at a quality loss and also requires more work. With that being said, Narrow FOV would have worked on the fields we played this weekend, but would clip right at first and third, possibly missing some action.
7.) Updated smartphone app allows the ability to extract video clips from even very large files. I did the one below in just a few minutes between games. Was pleased with the results.
I am pleased with the camera. Not really any issues were found in our production test this weekend, so it certainly is a usable camera. However, overlaid with the HERO4 Silver, I can't say that it really blew my socks off. Clearly the 5 Black has slightly better clarity and certainly more color saturation. The HERO4 Silver has always been a bit dull and slightly washed out. But honestly, that can be fixed in post. But I was really hoping for more detail, especially in middle infield. I can't say that I can really see anything special. Also, the 5 is supposed to have a more intelligent noise reduction algorithm with the audio. In this case, I would have to say that the 4 Silver did a better job in audio alone. Check out the results and see if you can come to any other conclusions.
As mentioned, it is baseball season (or was). Sorry I don't have any softball video to offer.
Side note: Make sure to look for my son's "throw down dance" as we waits for the out call. Would you believe this happens every single time he throws a runner out? And he had no idea...I doubt he could stop it if he tried.
[video=youtube_share;A02rhhMw9Dk]http://youtu.be/A02rhhMw9Dk[/video]
Just a first blush follow-up. Here are some initial thoughts:
1.) Quality was good, but didn't really rock my world at 1080p/60 as compared to the HERO4 Silver.
2.) Menu system is a lot better. Much easier to find and change settings.
3.) Wifi seems to be better, but still far from perfect. Range does not seem to be as great. But this may add to the stability.
4.) REMO remote is very good. When in range (which is very limited...sometimes even 50' was too far) it works very well. My only complaint, and this is more of a camera complaint rather than a remote: When you start the video with the REMO, the LCD on the camera turns on. So you can see this from a distance (like in the stands). But when you stop the video with the remote, the screen stays off. I kept finding myself going to the fence to make sure it stopped recording. So at that point, it seemed to defeat the purpose. And on more than one occasion, I stopped the recording when I was evidently out of range. The REMO beeped as if it stopped. But when I got back to the camera, it was still running.
4a.) Voice commands are the cat's meow. Especially "GoPro Highlight". Really helpful for finding things later.
5.) REMO remote battery usage was good. Far better than the original GoPro remotes (which in my opinion were worthless as they would never be charged when you needed.)
6.) Linear FOV is good but pretty wide on very large fields. This will lead to a reduction of detail. You can zoom in during post production, but at a quality loss and also requires more work. With that being said, Narrow FOV would have worked on the fields we played this weekend, but would clip right at first and third, possibly missing some action.
7.) Updated smartphone app allows the ability to extract video clips from even very large files. I did the one below in just a few minutes between games. Was pleased with the results.
I am pleased with the camera. Not really any issues were found in our production test this weekend, so it certainly is a usable camera. However, overlaid with the HERO4 Silver, I can't say that it really blew my socks off. Clearly the 5 Black has slightly better clarity and certainly more color saturation. The HERO4 Silver has always been a bit dull and slightly washed out. But honestly, that can be fixed in post. But I was really hoping for more detail, especially in middle infield. I can't say that I can really see anything special. Also, the 5 is supposed to have a more intelligent noise reduction algorithm with the audio. In this case, I would have to say that the 4 Silver did a better job in audio alone. Check out the results and see if you can come to any other conclusions.
As mentioned, it is baseball season (or was). Sorry I don't have any softball video to offer.
Side note: Make sure to look for my son's "throw down dance" as we waits for the out call. Would you believe this happens every single time he throws a runner out? And he had no idea...I doubt he could stop it if he tried.
[video=youtube_share;A02rhhMw9Dk]http://youtu.be/A02rhhMw9Dk[/video]
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