Backup camera for the GH2: GoPro Hero HD ?

B

Beernardo

Active member
We shoot weddings with a couple of GH2's and recently we lost 1 hour of footage due to an SD card failure (sad story). After that sour experience I decided to look for a footage backup system.

First I thought of using the atomos ninja since the GH2 has clean hdmi output (wrapped in 60i though). But it is kind of out of our budget right now ($1,000 USD each + hard disk).

Then I saw the HyperDeck Shuttle from Black Magic Design ($345 USD) but it records to uncompressed video and it looks like it work only with the expensive ss drives, so it doesn't fits the weddings work flow.

At last I thought about just mounting a GoPro Hero HD on the Rig, which will give me the option of having an alternate wider field of view of the same stuff I shoot more in a tele focal range. I can just slap a 32gb sd card and power it from the tekkeon battery and I'm good to go all day long. Plus I can get 720 60p footage for slow mos :). My only concern is the lowlight performance, I know this camera wasn't meant for indoors but I haven't seen any low light comparison with any known camera. Does anybody have had a chance to compare its low light performance with say a 7D or GH2?
 
As a back-up camera, a GH1 is hard to beat (prices on new & used GH1 cams have gotten really low). A hackable "GH13" would be even better, if you can find one. That's what I use my GH13 for. Cheers.
 
As fun as GoPros are, the footage has curvature no matter what, fisheye'esque just not actual full fisheye, regardless of 1080p or 720p viewing angles. GoPros are not good for interior or low light areas.

Another GH2 or GH1 is a better choice. Also buying good SD cards makes a difference. All cards can fail, but certain brands do have higher failure rates.
 
Yeah I'd just get a backup GH2- it's already a backup camera to an AF100 for a lot of folks...

Noah
 
I recently thought about picking this camera up. I am curious about the low light ability of it too, I mean for the price it seems like you could do some fun things with it.
 
Amir Assasnik said:
I recently thought about picking this camera up. I am curious about the low light ability of it too, I mean for the price it seems like you could do some fun things with it.
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The sensor is a decent size 1/2.5" but the aperture is fixed at 2.8, so it struggles in low light compared to say a Sony/Panny/Canon consumer camcorder with similar sensor size and 1.6 aperture lenses.
Off topic - has anyone seen the new consumer JVC - 1.2 lens on it!
 
if you throw light in the scene the go pro is ok...for a super last resort i've lost all my low light footage scenario. If you are shooting in darkness with no added lighting expect similar quality of a hd mobile phone. This is a good example of what it looks like if there is decent amount of lighting in a dark room...not too shabby.

http://vimeo.com/22338614Previous Thread
 
I like the gopro and use it quite a lot, but It's a different took and not quite the same thing as the GH2 or a comperable B-camera for that. In that case if you truly want something that can step in a pinch, there's a ton of other options. I really like the TS3 from Panasonic and I"m sure there are others.... At this price point, do you also really need to get a much cheaper camera than the GH2? I think it's a steal at this price.
 
That video sample is really cool. I have used the gopro on a lot of concert footage and as long as you compensate with extra light then it's fine... I tend to put a couple of LEDs right next to the talent and then it's a really decent usable camera shot... For exteriors in the day it's really pretty darn good...
 
Why not a pocket cam like the flip or Kodak Z8, the image quality will be similar to the go-pro without the extreme wide angle, and a lot less money. I've seen the JVC version in discount/refurb stores for like $60. Yes for pure image quality, the GH1 seems to be the best bang for the buck, but that is for second angle back up, not for mounting on your rig. And get decent SD cards so that losing footage is not an issue.

If I was to get back into weddings I'd get a bunch of pocket cams for additional footage and hide in discrete spots, loan one to best man, maid of honor for the pre wedding stuff.

In my area most people still care more about quantity than quality of footage.
 
I will be using it with a GH2 but for underwater shots, using the new Trollpro housing designed for the Gopro. The GH2 will be my backpac camera for a series of fishing DVD's in Mexico, Costa Rica & Panama, so I hope they work ok together.
 
ozfish said:
I will be using it with a GH2 but for underwater shots, using the new Trollpro housing designed for the Gopro. The GH2 will be my backpac camera for a series of fishing DVD's in Mexico, Costa Rica & Panama, so I hope they work ok together.
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Go pro will do you well for fishing and many other crazy stuff that i can think of in Mexico =)
 
Since I use the GH2 for weddings and there is a lot of stuff you have to be taking care of like, where and when to move next, trying to be as less obtrusive as possible, audio (we use zooms h4n and h1), exposure, focus, sd card remaining time, etc. I honestly can't use another GH1 or GH2 as a backup, I will need another brain for that. That's what I was thinking on getting an external video recorder or a small gopro that you just plug in and forget about it (I'll only need to hit rec and stop). Another downside of using a GH1/GH2 is that I'll have to get more lenses.

Another limitation I have is weight in one of the two rigs since I fly it on a blackbird stabilizer+pilot arm and vest and I'm already over the weight limit (I had to add washers at the bottom).

Thanks everybody for your input!
 
photonashville said:
As fun as GoPros are, the footage has curvature no matter what, fisheye'esque just not actual full fisheye, regardless of 1080p or 720p viewing angles. GoPros are not good for interior or low light areas.

Another GH2 or GH1 is a better choice. Also buying good SD cards makes a difference. All cards can fail, but certain brands do have higher failure rates.
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We use Sandisk cards class 6 and 10. I guess I got a bad card? There's also the possibility of user error (me being dumb reformatting cards while shooting). That's why I feel a backup footage should be a must.
 
MR Fanny said:
if you throw light in the scene the go pro is ok...for a super last resort i've lost all my low light footage scenario. If you are shooting in darkness with no added lighting expect similar quality of a hd mobile phone. This is a good example of what it looks like if there is decent amount of lighting in a dark room...not too shabby.

http://vimeo.com/22338614Previous Thread
Click to expand...

The GoPro hero footage is only the one from their helmets and when the hold it on his hands right? Nice clip by the way.
 
Beernardo said:
The GoPro hero footage is only the one from their helmets and when the hold it on his hands right? Nice clip by the way.
Click to expand...

yep all the wide strange angle shots are the go pro. It gives you a good indication of how it performs in low light shoots and as you can see it needs alot of light to be decent. if you were to stick this in a dim chapel i honestly think you wouldn't be too happy with the results vs a HD camcorder, GF1 when trying to cut the two footages together but i haven't tried so can't say.

The guy who shot this has been in the industry for a while and it shows. was good to see how he went about it all.
 
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