Adorama TV presenter Martin Dorey explains why he loves his GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition
For people like me, the invention of the GoPro action camera was a gift. And it couldn’t have come at a better time. Why? As a former film student and film maker I experimented with all kinds of angles. I know it’s going to show my age but the first thing I tried was strapping small super 8 cine cameras to the underside of skateboards.
After that, in my final year at film school, we spent months making specially designed brackets to mount a 16mm Bolex film camera to a mountain bike. We got some lovely angles of gears changing, pedals turning and, inevitably, the from-the-handlebars-selfie.
Early experiments with board mounted video worked okay (well, not really) and were expensive and difficult to shoot. Compared to the shots surfers are getting every day with GoPros it is awful.
Later I made a film on video using a camera strapped to the front of a surfboard looking back at the surfer. We had all kinds of problems with getting a small enough camera that was waterproof and attaching it to the board. In the end we had a DV cam in a wet bag on a specially made long board that was 10’ 5” long. Even then the shots weren’t that good. At least we tried. However, as it took a lot of teamwork, time, energy and money to get those rudimentary shots it wasn’t something we could do very often. Film making using specialist equipment such as mounts and underwater housings simply wasn’t easy.
But then GoPro came along and blew it all out of the water.
It was inevitable I suppose that someone would invent a camera to take the ultimate in moving action sport selfies from just about anywhere. It had to be small and it had to be simple enough to use and it had to be able to get the kind of angles no one had been able to get before.
And they did it in spectacular style.
We used a monopod to get this great angle on the front of my bike. The GoProis so light it’s only your imagination that stands in the way of great filmmaking.
I got my first GoPro, a Hero 3, in 2013 and was, even then, late to the party. I bought it to record a series of adventures I was writing for a magazine here in the UK. We had plans to jump off waterfalls, throw ourselves down zip wires, cycle trails and take to subterranean tunnels in the Yorkshire Dales. From the off the footage was fantastic. Everywhere we went the camera was slung into a backpack and brought out at the right moment. The handlebar mount, which I used to get shots of my children on their bikes, did away with all the work I had put in making a bike mount all those years ago with one simple piece of grip gear. I simply went online and ordered it. It was nothing short of a miracle to me.
The Go Pro makes action sports filming a real joy. You have a full film crew in your pocket.
The GoPro has democratised adventure film making in the same way that Kodak Box Brownies brought photography to the masses. What used to be expensive and difficult and ‘best left to the experts’ can now be done by anyone with a couple of hundred dollars and a PC. It means that genuine, raw film-making talent can now shine without needing the support of an entire industry, a bucket load of money and a truck load of expensive equipment. I love that. Having worked on big film sets for more than ten years I cannot say enough how refreshing it is to escape the tyranny of collaborative working. I’ve got a whole film crew in my pocket! How cool is that?
Using the GoPro underwater means mastering the camera menu flow chart – if you want to change settings mid dive.
Getting started with a GoPro is so easy that it’s fair to say the only difficult task is getting the camera out of the box (why do they make it so hard to unpack?). You simply switch it on and start recording. The default setting powers up and records video in NTSC format at 1080 Superview at 30 frames per second with Auto Low light on. I’m not sure why the auto low light is on for that first burst of filming but maybe it’s because you’re more likely to record your first frames of video in your living room (at Christmas?) looking straight down the barrel at the sensor. You’d want it to be as good as it can be, wouldn’t you?
Downloading the GoPro app is essential for first time users, in my opinion. It makes sense of all the options (and there are many) and makes it easy to change modes, capture settings and resolutions. And if you can work out how to get to the wifi setting that you’ll need to work the app using just the MODE and SHUTTER buttons (it’s MODE – SETTINGS – SHUTTER – WIRELESS – SHUTTER – MODE – GOPRO APP if you must know) then you thoroughly deserve to have an easy life from then on.
GoPro’s range of accessories and mounts make it easy to capture rarely seen before angles. A POV from the dog AND the stick. Wonderful stuff!
After that all you need to remember is the way back to wifi if you ever want to use your wifi remote. What I am really saying is that your user manual is going to be your best friend for a while. Keep it handy for goodness’ sake. Getting to know your GoPro’s menu is going to be essential the more you use your camera, and all the more so when you are in situations where the camera is out of range of your smartphone or it’s simply not practical to use it. Like at sea, for example. If you can happily toggle between settings without having to wonder where the hell you are in that infernal camera menu flowchart you’ve pretty well got it cracked. If only I did.
Happy Shooting.
