Friday, May 03, 2013 at 08:28
PradoMad,
These cameras are a bit different from your
home video camera. They are action cams designed for extreme sports. The default setting for video is wide angle which is what gives you the fish eye effect. All you have to do is point it in the general direction of your subject and, chances are, they will be in the shot. So, it is possible to strap the camera onto your head or car etc and be relatively sure it will capture what's ahead of you. Once you have the footage on your computer, it is easy to crop the parts you don't want. It is just like cropping a still photo but it applies it to the whole video clip.
There are view finder add ons you can buy to make it more like a normal video camera but the cheapest is the iPhone app which gives a preview screen see what's in the frame (assuming you have a smartphone).
If you want to shoot holiday snaps, I'd stick to a conventional video camera. The GoPro is really only if you want to do strange things, like mount it under your car or on your mountain bike.
They have a cult following among the
young ones for capturing extreme acts of stupidity. They also seem to be increasingly popular among the greying for things like sunsets.
They also have an extensive menus system so it can be set like a normal camera but it is not intuitive and the lense is fixed (no ability or need to focus).
Hope this helps.
Skull
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