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November 18, 2009
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Man, the GoPro has come a long, long way
since they first released that kooky wrist-mounted 3-megapixel camera a few years back. If you've been following this gear column, you might remember my review of the wide-angle GoPro Surf Hero. (If not, you can check it out here.)
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First off, as the name suggests, this thing now shoots true high-definition video. You can choose from five settings, including 1080 pixels with 30 frames per second. That's the highest quality setting but you'll sacrifice some of your wide-angle view getting a 127-degree fisheye rather than 180 degrees of view. It seems the most handy settings for capturing surf are the full-frame 960 pixels with 30 fps mode or the 720 pixels with 60 fps mode, which is really good for slow-mo shots. Take a look at the sample footage and you'll no doubt see the added clarity and how the camera picks up even the tiniest details (like water droplets, for instance). In straight photo mode, the new model still shoots similar, good-quality 5-megapixel images. You can set it to shoot one at a time, or on continuous shooting to snap a pic every 2, 5, 10, 30 or 60 seconds. This new camera is only slightly larger than the old model and weighs a mere half-ounce more. But instead of its battery-eating cousin which pounded a pair of AAA lithium batteries each session (it costs about $6 bucks for two lithium AAAs), the HD Surf Hero comes with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. You'll get about 2.5 hours of life out of each charge and it can be recharged in about two hours by attaching it to your computer via the USB plug. For $20 extra bucks you can get the optional wall charger or car charger. The only downside I see to this is that if you're on a surf trip somewhere without your laptop and without electricity, charging it will be a bit more difficult than simply popping in a pair of AAAs. With the old model, I had a fair bit of trouble with lens fogging, especially when the water temp was colder than the air. Well, GoPro addressed that too, offering up these thin Drikette silica papers that you slide inside the housing along the sides and below the camera. From my testing, it seems they do indeed keep the moisture and fogging down. In the new model they also got rid of the little viewfinder, which truth be told was pretty useless anyway. What they added was a new expansion slot on the back of the camera. Basically, when the camera is out of its housing you can plug in a small LCD screen called the Bakpac ($50; due out next month) so that you'll be able to view your images and video straight from the camera on the beach rather than going home and loading it up on your computer. This should be pretty helpful because when shooting from the nose of the board straight back at yourself, it's difficult to get just the right camera angle so that you won't cut your head off in the shot. If you could check it on the beach, there'd be less second guessing and you would be more likely to get the framing right the first time. The new HD Surf Hero can accommodate up to a 32-GB SD card (the older model only works with cards 4 gigs or less). A 32-GB card will hold nearly 4.5 hours of footage at the highest HD setting. But of course that begs the question is: If the battery only lasts 2.5 hours, what's the point? Finally the new model rings up at $270--that's about $110 more than the standard Surf Hero Wide. Sure, that's a lot more cash, but it's packed with more functionality, better video quality, and the rechargeable battery alone will likely save you money in the long run. [$270; gopro.com.] MORE GEAR SURFLINE HOME PAGE |
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