Ive been looking to get a digital camera, Finally! What would be the difference of a GO-PRO camera, and a good digital regular camera? besides the go-pro's waterproof casing,mounting suction cup items that comes with it?

I would like to stay in the under $200 price range.

Id use it for still life pics, and the occational short video clip recording.

Would like to be able have the Option to take my digital pics to be made into regular Prints (ie: at meijers,walgreens,etc) (old school) do they do that, or would i have to get a hi-tech printer and my own hi-def paper to Print out my digital cameras pics?

I would like it to have a auto-zoom, or auto-flash setting.

Id like it to be able to HOLD a good amount of hi-def Pictures (at least 100) at a time.

well thats the idea, so what are your 10 cents guys?

Im in no rush to get a camera, but the sooner the better... as i dont wanna miss out on taking nice pics during my Rides and Trips on NATE this riding-season! :thumbup:

So i did a BING.com search for GO PRO, and found this site that sells em.

www.sonicraven.com

the go-pro motosports hero 5 selling for $199 AND comes with FREE S&H, 2 FREE lithium batteries (recomended kind), 1 FREE 2GB memory card!!!! i read the FAQ's and theres a built in 16mb memory, hold only 25 pics. (Ughh) the 2GB card will hold 56mins of HD Video, or 3000+ pics Holy ****... thats alotta ninja pics to post here :P

well so far this website looks to have a good deal... free S&H and free memory card,batteries! (STG, i checked their site and they want same price, but doesnt include the 2GB card, or batteries)

KnoxNinja has a GoPro. I have a regular digital camera. They both work fine. GoPro has a mount and other fancy stuff. Regular camera takes better video. It's a trade off.

I have a go-pro myself. The camera is TINY and comes with a waterproof/shock proof case. It also comes with this massive fish-eye lense and the quality of the video is mighty impressive. It's pretty much a camera that was designed for in-action movies/pictures to be taken. It's not a replacement for a digital camera by any means.

As far as a comparison between this camera and a regular one....i'd say the go-pro is a lot smaller, and will have better vibration dampening (depending on how you mount it and the "regular" camera you compare it to). It does not, however, have a flash, or any kind of zooming capability. Also, the functions on the camera are fairly limited, with only a few different settings (ie: movie mode, picture mode, take a picture every 3 seconds mode, record video upside down mode, etc).

GoPro is a nice "toy"........... I never tried it for stills.

But, for making jpegs into pictures you can hang on the wall. Mpix.com does an awesome job :thumbup:

Mpix.com? is that a photo printing co.? that would be sweet to blow up a badass ninja pic of me to mount on the wall! :D

Ok, so the go-pro CANT take regular single picture snaps? ie: like " hold still you guys... smile" ... *snap a photo of your friends next to bikes* ?

so go-pro wouldnt be a 'be all,end all' camera. just a nice 'toy' to be able to video or auto-snap pics during my rides and trips?

(i told my gf, that shell have to snap pics of me riding by,etc.... once i get a camera and we start going out for rides in 2weeks)

she just had gull bladder surgery and needs to take it easy.......... im So glad she didnt lose her legs* that post was sad man! :(


So recap... go-pro is a good motion camera. a good regular digital camera would be ideal for now.. until i can afford to get a Go-pro for that Extra style of pics/videos? Ill have to look at best buy and other stores and start my Research to get the right digital camera for me!

^ Yeah, Mpix.com you can up load your pics. They come out real nice(super quick service & shipping), I have a few track pics on the wall :)

The gopro takes still pics, then theres a mode for pics every 3 seconds I think. Still's look small compared to a real camera.
The videos are OK, Iam still trying to make some that really make me happy thou.

Hope your GF gets to feeling better... I was on the track 10 days after gallbladder surgery. Wasnt gonna miss the last track day of the year(08).
Did she have that hida scan??? Mine said gb was only working @ 10%, so I dont really miss it much.

GoPro has just announced their new HD version. Might want to wait until its out before you buy.

GoPro has just announced their new HD version. Might want to wait until its out before you buy.

yea im looking into digital cameras, by Cannon or Sony. ill get a GO-PRO for X-mas or next riding season. thanks for all your input guys!

For stills, IMHO regular Point and shoots are not that great, especially not the more compact ones. Most of them don't have proper wide angle lenses (equivalent to 35mm on most, the odd 28mm equivalent on some) which can be restrictive. Even then the lenses are not great, lots more Chromatic Aberration and distortions than I'd want, and of course with Point and Shoots you have very little control of Depth Of Field.

Go-pro seems to be biased totally towards video, I can't imagine the stills being great but Its got to be one of the best option for video.

A 2nd hand SLR with a decent 18-55mm lens would be the ultimate for stills. But probably cost a bit to much and most of the SLRs are big and don't do video.

So the best compromise is probably a regular P+S camera, with a wide angle (28mm equivalent), put in a memory card big enough to meet your storage requirements. You said regular prints, well depends what you mean by regular. But in terms of pixels to get the best you need 3 megapixels worth of data for a maximum quality 6x4 print, for a 5x7 its closer to 5 megapixels, and for an 8x12 around 10 megapixels. So if you only print regular 6x4's don't think you need a 15mp camera, as all that extra info can't be used by the printer anyway. In fact more pixels = more digital noise, so sometimes less is more ;)

More info:
Just as an FYI, with my Sony DSC-T90 @ISO100 (when you've lots of light to play with) it produces not to much noise, my Canon 40d is far cleaner though, at ISO800 it looks better than the Sony at ISO100. So as soon as light starts to fall, the sony becomes to noisey. Also the Sony applies heavy noise reduction(basically blurring), so taking an shot at ISO3200 makes people look like they have plastic skin, its really 12 megapixels of junk in low light. But the Canon with a fast lens even at ISO3200 produces beautiful images and lets you decide what to do with the noise, so you can be aggressive with the noise reduction or leave it. I have a film SLR also and cheap fuji ISO400 film looks cleaner than the Sony at ISO400.

Just FYI this is the cleanest image I have ever gotten out of the Sony, it was ISO80 - f/4.5 - 1/320 so the best possible conditions. Notice how the square building seems to curve slightly due to poor lens, colors are flat, hard to tell at that size, but for a big print 16x12 the noise would be an issue even at ISO80. The background is sharp enough to be a distraction due to the actual focal length of about 4mm
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2429/3702076962_08593e84d0_b.jpg

And this is an SLR in similar conditions ISO100 - f/1.4 - 1/3200. I has rich colours, does not distort, the background of ugly branches is beautiful blurred out due the the fast lens (f/1.4) and the longer focal length of 30mm and I could focus on just one or two of the flowers that looked good knowing the others would be blurred out. If I wanted to I could have shot it at f/11 and got alll the flowers in focus. You can't do this on most P+S cameras, the lens only does on or two f-stops. I could print this as a 20x30 without issue.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3353/3526505028_0c2bfd4c8b_b.jpg

Still cameras can be fun on moving vehicles also, as i found when i put a tripod in my car ;)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2132/3528727977_e45ab7abf0_b.jpg


Personaly I have 3 slrs and 6 lenses, so for me I'd get a gopro for the video. If I was in your shoes and I could strecth the budget I'd get a go pro and try find a decent 2nd hand slr, around 6mp with an 18-55mm range lens. The quality of these are so good you can upscale the image to 10mp in software. The downside of course is you have to learn how to get the best out of them, if you leave then on Auto mode its not worth it.

well last week i finally got my first digital camera!

i picked up a Cannon:Powershot A1000 IS, for $129.99 @ staples.

the new A1100 IS is out, but for 199.99 ( best buy just had it on sale week b4, @ 169.99)

isnt worth the extra price. I looked over alotta info on stats,prices,in store hands on feel,etc! 3 weeks of looking then found th right camera for me... then price shopping was hard as its discontiuned item. places around here just dont have them, until a Staples store near me, had only 2 left, on clearence!:thumbup:


Next riding season ill look to get a GO PRO, to make videos while riding... where you CANT snap still pics, needing both hands to ride! :p lol