Video camera for park- Go-Pro, iPhone, Camcorder.. other???

[Angeliki19]

Hi all! I am debating buying a new video camera for our upcoming trip. We were inspired by some videos we saw on YouTube of families that put together highlight videos of their trip and would like to try and do the same! We currently have a Sony Camcorder, which is great, but its big, was expensive and for that reason I have found on recent trips I didn't bring it into the parks that much and now have a serious lack of videos from those trips.

I was intrigued with the idea of getting a GoPro... they seem smaller, more convenient, and have bonus features like being water-proof etc. But I have never actually used one... I am not sure how the picture quality is or if they are really going to be lighter/more convenient then our Sony.

On recent trips I have relied more on my iPhone for pictures/videos... can't beat the convenience of that! But the quality of the images and video aren't always great....

Anyone have a GoPro and use it on their vacations? Or can anyone offer any other recommendations of something that would be fairly durable, lightweight, but still shoot great videos?

 

[baildrk]

For the Go-pro's if you want quality pictures, you will have to pay for the higher end models as there is a difference in quality between the models. Its like anything you get what you way for, plus if you want to take night time videos or pull pictures off of those videos, there has to be a decent light source for it to turn out halfway decent. Between myself and my brother in law we use our new iphones for most pictures on trips, he has his picture taking down to a science. For some reason all his pictures turn out better than most cameras do, but the one thing he did tell me was on almost all phones the "zoom" is only an optical zoom that's why pictures start to get grainy when you look at them if you "zoomed" in. I can't remember the name of the case but it is a full phone case that has a lens attachment to it and you can get different lenses like, wide, fisheye, macro and its waterproof to I think 30 feet. I want to say its called Optriz but I could be wrong. but when you buy these add-ons for the cameras it makes the optical zoom more crisp

 

[wsssup]

It really depends what you are after.
As stated the Gopro hero 4 black or silver is the best option for Gopros.
I use a silver model which has the lcd screen built in on the back.
It really depends if you want to shoot 4k or 2.7k or just 1080p.
The gopro does struggle in low light, there are a few tricks you can do and it will be good enough for night videoing but there are better cameras that record brilliant in low light.

I prefer the gopro for its size and have it attached to a feiyu wg gimbal which gives great stability of my video shots.

For photos i just use the Note 7. I have a sony mirrorless camera but it is too much to carry around and a pain with swapping lenses.

There are a few small compact cameras with 4k abillities but will cost twice as much as a gopro.

Good luck in your search

 

[GaryDis]

only an optical zoom

I believe you mean it's only a digital zoom, done by computers. Optical zoom is achieved by moving the lens components in and out, which is hard to do when the entire unit is a fraction of an inch thick. Digital zoom is done by having the computer increase the size of each pixel (intelligently), which is what adds graininess because it's not possible to add detail that wasn't captured by the sensor in the first place.

Digital zoom can be done in the camera or after the fact on th desktop. Optical zoom can only be done in the camera.

 

[CAS239]

I would use a good GoPro for videos.

I use my iPhone 6s Plus for all photos and fireworks videos and all my stuff comes out great. But I don't record trip videos like you see on YouTube, for that I would definitely look into a GoPro

 

[boBQuincy]

I have a GoPro, iPhone 6, and Panasonic mirrorless (G7) and have used all of them for video. I would rank them as I listed them: GoPro is good for when we want rugged and waterproof, it has no zoom lens and that really limits it's usefulness; iPhone is good because it is always with me; video is a mirrorless camera's native mode and they are very good at it, better than most dSLRs. Low light is not a problem and there are a wide variety of zoom lenses.
If I want good video the mirrorless is my choice.

 

[Angeliki19]

It really depends what you are after.
As stated the Gopro hero 4 black or silver is the best option for Gopros.
I use a silver model which has the lcd screen built in on the back.
It really depends if you want to shoot 4k or 2.7k or just 1080p.
The gopro does struggle in low light, there are a few tricks you can do and it will be good enough for night videoing but there are better cameras that record brilliant in low light.

I prefer the gopro for its size and have it attached to a feiyu wg gimbal which gives great stability of my video shots.

For photos i just use the Note 7. I have a sony mirrorless camera but it is too much to carry around and a pain with swapping lenses.

There are a few small compact cameras with 4k abillities but will cost twice as much as a gopro.

Good luck in your search

Thanks! I was looking into the Hero Silver with the LCD screen... as for shooting in 4K or 2.7k.. I don't really know. I am not a videographer by any means. Just trying to take good family videos we can watch on our HD TV's and put on YouTube and not look grainy. I haven't been super impressed with my iPhone6's video or camera. Its just ok. I have a Canon DSLR for photos but same thing.. I hate bringing that in the parks because it is too big, was too expensive, and to be honest, with two little kids I don't really have the time to set up artsy shots or anything like that.

I don't really plan to use it as an action camera.. I won't be mounting it to anything. So I was curious if a GoPro was still a good choice for us since we wouldn't be using it the way it is mainly intended to be used. I also looked into "pocket" camcorders but like you said, they are twice as much money as a GoPro.

 

[Angeliki19]

I have a GoPro, iPhone 6, and Panasonic mirrorless (G7) and have used all of them for video. I would rank them as I listed them: GoPro is good for when we want rugged and waterproof, it has no zoom lens and that really limits it's usefulness; iPhone is good because it is always with me; video is a mirrorless camera's native mode and they are very good at it, better than most dSLRs. Low light is not a problem and there are a wide variety of zoom lenses.
If I want good video the mirrorless is my choice.

Thanks.. I don't think I can afford a mirrorless but they look awesome!!! I have never tried shooting video with my dSLR but maybe that's an option... at least then I would just be carrying one camera around!

 

[boBQuincy]

Thanks.. I don't think I can afford a mirrorless but they look awesome!!! I have never tried shooting video with my dSLR but maybe that's an option... at least then I would just be carrying one camera around!

I agree with not wanting to carry around a big, heavy camera which is why we switched from Canon to Panasonic.