They are fun for fooling around and making funny surf videos of myself and friends. You can get some great still shots by going frame by frame as a wave barrels over you. Even if you were crushed a second later in real time it is really wild to get a picture of the wave curling over your head. Also I have so few pictures or video of me surfing it's the only way for me to get a view of what I'm doing right or wrong. I have a head strap for my motorcycle helmet which is cool. I like them.
advice! need help i wanted to try one but im 6''0 and ride a 5''9 to stick the gopro in front i feel would give a to close angle and will look dizzy would it look nice on the tail of a shortboard ? all footy ive seen was on longboards or savage tubes if anyone has footy of a gopro on a real shortboars please share thanks...
I had a go pro still camera when they first came out. They are cool. You just have to use the buddy system. I would drag a buddy out with me and we would take turns snapping shots. That way you dont mount the thing on your wrist or board... I would just give it to my buddy, he would swim out into the impact zone if it was big and just take a handfull of shots. And then he would sit over on the shoulder to get the perspective from above looking down at the bottom turns and stuff... That is a really cool angle. If you can get someone to float on their board sitting on their shoulder, you can set up really cool shots. You can do nice sprays and setup your turns right in front of the camera, but my personal favorite is the perspective from the shoulder down into the flats. If you dig your hand and do a deep bottom turn, the perspective makes the wave size look huge. I took shots of a friend on a 4 foot day and the perspective makes it look 10 feet. So, I would use the buddy system. It just sucks, cause sooner or later, you gotta switch and take some photos of them. Sitting in the impact zone is not always that fun.
staystoked I am 6'1" and ride 6' boards. I have mounts on both the tail and the nose. The mount on the tail has to be raised up or all the water flowing over it blocks the shot. You would be surprised at how much water washes over the tail of a board when you are just catching the wave or making a turn. Also some of the pictures and videos probably were taken on a short board, the camera really stretches them and makes it look far away. Here is a picture of me with the camera mounted on the front of a 6'2" board 6 inches from the nose.
Glad you like it. Here are a couple more taken on another small day Waist - Chest max, tiny barrels and really crunched up to get my head in them. lol.
The funny thing about these cameras is how it changes your perspective on surfing for good and bad. An example would be this, one day I took the camera out and recorded every wave I caught, from the minute I started paddling to the minute I kicked out. I would then shut the camera off and paddle back out. I surfed for close to 3 hours and caught a ton of waves, some that I thought were incredible where I pulled off some big turns and floaters etc. When I got home I was excited to check them out so compiled them all into one "long" video. Well guess what after 3 hours and a ton of waves, maybe 35 - 40 of them, the video totalled up to just under 3 minutes long! And those incredible waves where I was ripping like Kelly Slater, well they were indistinguishable from 90% of the other waves. The camera also tends to flatten the waves since it is moving at the same angle so unless it is shoulder high plus expect it too look knee high at best on playback. I think part of makes surfing fun is the adrenaline rush etc that makes that tiny little turn feel like a huge roundhouse etc. Time slows when you are on a wave but back at the house while you relax drinking a cup of coffee and watching the video it makes you humble.
Sorry none of the tail shots worked out. I wouldn't dare post the videos, lol. They really suck and I would be embarrassed for anyone but close friends to see them. I'll see if I can piece together a few of the least embarrassing clips and post them.
when mounting the camera on your board do you just use the adhesive mounts that are included or do you have to get the special surfboard ones? i got the regular 960 one because it was a hundred dollars cheaper but i didnt get the surfboard specific mounts,
ive got the kodak playsport and its a pretty good camera and has hd footage and 1080p and 720p 60fps and its super cheap
what kind of POV angles can you get with that?? and whats the odds of losing it in the water ? allll i need to know thanks
