Nowadays, travelling without immortalising every nanosecond of your experience is almost unthinkable. And this new dogma has even taken hold in moments of maximum action. The most versatile and practical response to capture these moments arrived some years ago and revolutionised everything. Yes, it’s the GoPro and here are some tips to take full advantage of it.
The GoPro is perhaps most well-known for its size. You don’t need to carry kilos and kilos of camera equipment, lenses, accessories, emergency batteries, etc. It weighs less than 90g, and the gives a field of view of up to 170 degrees, and you can mount a fisheye lens of close to 180 degrees. This is the very best of high-tech in the palm of your hand.
It’s worth noting that we don’t have to abuse it either as it has its moments and spaces well defined to obtain interesting material. Since the hero4 model appeared on the market with its rear screen the impulse to take it out with us at every moment is huge, but… it has no zoom, and the focal is fixed. It’s not the best camera out there for taking photos, even if you can fit a herd of wildebeests into your selfie. When you’re moving it’s perfect and underwater with good light, the results are stunning.
You also need to remember that the microphone is far from great and the battery dies a lot faster than a regular compact or reflex camera. It’s also not the best option after sunlight, so you should forget about taking it out with you for capturing the action after dark as it generates grainy and blurry images at night, so it’s definitely not its finest hour.
Its major strength is capturing movement and the range of accessories and anchors, but by far the best way to capture the action with a good frame is the Gimbal, a pivoted support “stick” that automatically adjusts when it detects any sudden movement. At this moment, the GoPro Hero5 Black is the latest model, and it’s being described as a small “missile”.
When should you use it, no matter what? Without a shadow of a doubt when doing sports underwater, riding a surfboard, rafting with the camera fixed on your head or helmet, or on the bow of a kayak. And if you go hiking, attach it to your chest or use a stick.
The classics – skydiving, cycling, skiing and snowboarding, and driving as it has an excellent suction pad that lets you attach it to any part of the car. Apart from these tips, it’s all up to your imagination, so make sure let it run wild.
