Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - HERO 1080 "Motorsports" camera - $235.81(US)

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smasha
08-19-11, 06:23 AM
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VA57XC/
as of this writing, $235.81

i've been keeping an eye on these, and wanting to upgrade my HERO-960s (front and rear) to "real" HEROs so i can get 60fps (1280x720) and catch more ass-hat license plates on video. 30fps seems to be losing too many plate numbers.

at $235 i just ordered one to a friend in the states who can re-ship it to me along with some other things that amazon doesn't ship outside of the US.

FWIW, the "motorsports" package is the same 1080 camera as the helmet, surf and naked packages, but with the biggest variety of mounts. i've already got all of the mounts i need, so if this package is available cheaper than the naked package... i think it's time to buy at least one... and maybe i'll think of ways to use the mounts.

the question now... should i buy a second one for this price? or wait and see if/when the price drops further?

dougmc
08-19-11, 12:29 PM
I'm pretty sure I've seen the HD Heros on sale for even less than that. Might want to start with going to shopping.google.com and searching for "gopro 1080p" -- it looks like what you've found is about the best available, but I am pretty sure I've seen better deals in the past, so you could wait for something better.

Though there is a lot to be said for buying from Amazon rather than some unknown site.

Personally, I think that 1920x1080@30fps would pick up more license plates than 1280x720@60fps (though I don't remember how wide the 720p mode is. I know that 960p mode is really wide, which is good and bad -- good in that it picks up more area, but bad in that there's slightly fewer pixels and those are more spread out.)
smasha
08-19-11, 04:25 PM
both 960 & 720 are 170º (both are 1280 wide, so the only difference is height/aspect ratio and the option of 60fps). as you say, that's good and bad. there have been times when the best/only shot of the plate was all the way at the edge of the frame... so it can't be too bad.

what i'm noticing is that the HERO-960s often catch blurred plates @30fps, taking up enough pixels that they should be readable, while the contour 1080 (1280x720, 60fps) often catches a few frames of clearly readable plate number... despite the contour being on my head (moving around, higher up) and the HERO being on the bike (steadier shots, closer to the ground & plates). i'm confident that 60fps is the difference between getting plates and not getting plates. resolution and FoV are also important, but i'm finding them secondary to frame rate.

if i just rode during the day, i'd get a bunch of contour-1080s (135º FoV) for $140-150... but at night the HEROs do quite a bit better.