GoPro 2.8 lens test

[GMP]

OK, here are a couple short videos using the 2.8mm lens on the GoPro. Still a bit of movement, but not as bad as the 3.6mm which looked like the "Blair Witch Project". I know the angle is a little low and I will adjust that up next time. I have a kid on a mini behind me so no warp speed action, but I was anxious to get some footage.

The first is a rough climb that is all uphill except the last 30sec.

http://youtu.be/NXyiz0Qe63o

This one is part of some brand new side mountain single track that needs a little more riding in. First time on the section of trail since the leaves came back. The camera mutes the off cambers a little but its better than the stock lens.

http://youtu.be/pAJqffFVmzM


Think its too jumpy? Puke on your keyboard? It is rough, smoother trail should look a lot better.

[Jakobi]

Lookin good to me Glenn!

[Krisden]

Is there a wider lense ?
as it would be nice to get the bike and the track at the same time

[Jakobi]

You mean wider field of view Kris? The stock GoPro has a wide FOV which lets you get everything however the expense of it all is that you lose a lot of depth perception and the trail starts to look very flat even when taking big obsticals, hills, drop offs etc. By going to a narrower fov you get some more of that depth back.

[GMP]

Yeah, I think its a good compromise if you want to limit the excessive fisheye effect of the stock 1.7mm lens. This brings the technicality of the trail into a more realistic view. It should look real good on smoother faster trail. I took a guess at the angle of my adjustable visor mount and maybe a little bit higher would be good. The first clip is a fairly aggressive climb so I'd expect that to be more focused in front of the bike. YouTube really dummies down the detail with its bitrate limitation, too bad.

FWIW, on a stock GoPro Hero, the FOV in 1080 is more narrow than in 720/960. Problem is you run into a limitation of the camera/CMOS sensor known as "rolling shutter" in high motion scenes that appears as a slight vertical wobble. Most if not all of the cameras like this have the same anamoly. I never played with a Hero 2, the bandwidth is higher so perhaps its better. It can shoot 1080 @ 60fps.

[Fred1956]

Looks better to me, & I didn't get sick either. Nice trail & very similar to what we have here. I need to ride your suspension....I saw some stuff that would have 'skittered' my bike :-)

[Wilksiee]

liked the moth being stuck to the camera

[Krisden]

Its just nice to know im not the only one riding on rock on rocks with a few rocks around them
Looks good your right you get better depth ,i have a drift and its hard to tell how nasty the ground realy is

[Jakobi]

The Drift HD has an extra wide angle 170 degree field of view which has become the industry standard for helmet cameras. This makes the video very smooth to watch and does a great job of capturing all the action. There isn't any alternative lens options available for the Drift HD. In the 720p modes there is the option of applying up to 4x digital zoom to pull your shot in closer. I believe zooming to max brings it down to around 90 degree.

I have a drift and a go pro. I should play around with the drifts zoom settings to see what effect it has. The go pro makes everything feel very smooth even when its beating the crap outa ya!

[GMP]

Yes, and thats the compromise you have to decide on. Of course, the videos look a lot better before the YouTube encode, which causes loss of detail in the terrain. This gets worse the more narrow the FOV because a greater % of the frame is high motion content(terrain rushing past) and requires a high bitrate for a quality encode/playback. Digital zoom is not free, you either loose detail or likely bump into the sensor limitations as discussed before. Interesting though, try it and see how it handles high motion. 90 - 100 deg is a natural FOV, but in practice does not work well for helmet cam off road. I suspect thats why GoPro chose the lens they did for a mass produced multi-purpose camera.