GoPro cameras

[dahoeb]

I'm thinking of getting a GoPro camera, but before I drop the money, I'm hoping to pick some brains here about them....

Do the video recordings suck up huge quantities of HD space? Is it pretty much just like pulling vids/pics off a regular camera or thumb drive?

For the purpose of a scenario....am I correct to assume that the gopro start recording right before you get in a fight?

Mounting it on masks pretty easy?

Any wisdom or recommendations you can share is appreciated, I'm very unfamiliar with this corner of pball.

[going_home]

I wouldnt mind messing with a game cam but most seem to have not given much thought to a good mounting system for paintball masks.

And the gopro is like mounting a huge target on top of your head.....

Watch a couple gun mounted cam videos and you'll see why thats just a dumb idea.

[BLachance75]

I used a camera for a year, mounted on the so of my mask. I'd turn it on at the start of a game and then record until the game was over. Then you have to cut it all up and edit out all the boring stuff. I stopped bcause the video just wasn't that good. It is hard to see what you are shooting at if it is over about 20 feet away.

[Nobody]

The Inception Designs camera mounts are the best. They mount securely and will not mark up your barrel. The are found here.

If you have picitanney rails, you can also use this.

[Laku]

GoPro cameras

GoPro are generally pretty bad for paintball use (form and function)

Ideally you'd want to have something that has narrow field of view, small profile from the front and of course good image quality.

[going_home]

The Inception Designs camera mounts are the best. They mount securely and will not mark up your barrel. The are found here.

If you have picitanney rails, you can also use this.

Nothing against Inception, I support them, but its just a dumb idea to put the camera on the gun.

Mount it on the mask if you want watchable videos.

[bowcycle]

I bought a new Ion/Contour to use at OK D-Day. I really like the video slider that will also turn the camera on. It was great functionality, pulling the videos down to my computer is super easy (just like a flash drive), and the phone app that lets me check the view of the camera was extremely helpful.
It was also a huge plus that the camera doesn't need a case, has a replaceable lens cover, is naturally waterproof, has a smaller profile than the gopro, and costs a lot less.

For the negatives:
the mounting systems aren't great, but ziptie-ing it to the side of my mask worked great and kept the profile even smaller.
you can't see any of your targets in the video
even using the lower-quality HD recording still takes up a lot of space (get the 32gb at a minimum)

However:
the quality of my video was as good or better than the many gopro heroes, the ziptie-to-mask mount held the video more stable than those using the gopro mounts, those using gopros were definitely jealous of the ease of operation of my camera, and it did a great job showing unit movement even though you can't see what we're shooting at.

[Walker]

My GoPro works fine... I just use a bicycle helmet mount, and zip tie it through the vents over the lens.

Easy to use, looks where I look.... I like it.......


Walker

[going_home]

My GoPro works fine... I just use a bicycle helmet mount, and zip tie it through the vents over the lens.

Easy to use, looks where I look.... I like it.......


Walker

Post up a video !

[cudamelland]

I won a r7 replay a few years ago and used it a lot. It clamps onto the feed neck and has a small profile. It has a rechargeable battery that last all day ( i turn it off when i leave the field) it uses an usb cable so you can charge it in your car if you need to and i use a 64gb SD card. Its a sweet set up tho editing is a pain and time consuming. Like posted before it has a wide lens and its not great for anything over 10-20yards. Also it's a lot easier to clean when the camera is on your marker

On another note I run a pawn shop and have a GoPro hero+ LCD new in box if that's the way you want to go.

[zondo]

I have a couple of vids with a Contour mounted on the side of my mask... comes out really nice when I play it on my living room TV!

I have a GoPro Hero Session as a gift, I have yet to try it out but it's much smaller than the previous model.

[dahoeb]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Going off what I've found online and what you guys have been putting out there, I'm leaning toward a contour mainly because of the $$$ and form. Putting it on the mask is my preferred method, but the Grillz mask with the visor doesn't make for a lot of easy mask mounting options though. I'm sure plenty of zipties can fix that though

[Nobody]

There are benefits and hiderences to any camera and mounting system. So to a point, what works for one, might not be the best fit for you. I would play around with a few ways to find what works for you. It goes from guns, masks, barrels or cameras and where they mount.

[bowcycle]

As mentioned before, I just ended up ziptie-ing my Ion air to the side of my mask. A friend told me to angle it up just a bit and that made a huge difference. Most vids you see do not give you a good view of the field. That's because most of us tend to tilt our heads down a bit when playing. So if you tilt your camera up, it compensates and gives you good vids.

This is a highlights vid from our unit at OK D-Day this year. When there's a green mask in the vid (like the first clip), that's my Ion air. The guy with a trilogy cocker is using a newer contour. The rest are various versions of gopros.

[BLachance75]

I was using an Ion Air as well and I really liked the big record slider. It was really easy to tell if you were recording or not by just feeling where the switch was. I had the mount zip tied to my mask and used one of the 90* bends so I could adjust the angle easily.