Do NOT buy a GoPro 3+ if you want sharp aerial videos!

The Editor said:
Yes - Really!

GoPro ARE aware of this issue and unofficially have been replacing GP 3+'s without admission of liability. Serial numbers that are in the range of 0913 (digits 6-9) are known to be affected with more likely.

It's pointless posting links to YouTube videos since YouTube's recompression will destroy any meaningful comparison.

All I am saying is I just bought mine and it works fine, and you are right the Youtube version of the video is not as nice as the raw video right off the camera.

So my guess is they fixed the issue. My 6-9 digits are 0813
 
As I say, I've yet to see an image from a 3+ that doesn't have the focus issue. If you are happy with it, then great. Not a problem.
I wouldn't be and so won't be buying a 3+ until I can be sure that when I buy one it's focussed correctly.

It's not as easy to see on videos as things are moving.
 
rilot said:
As I say, I've yet to see an image from a 3+ that doesn't have the focus issue. If you are happy with it, then great. Not a problem.
I wouldn't be and so won't be buying a 3+ until I can be sure that when I buy one it's focussed correctly.

It's not as easy to see on videos as things are moving.

+1 - Also, YouTube does an excellent job of destroying any real examination of footage due to recompressing the uploaded file (which is already compressed!)

I shall wait and stay with my original GP 3 BE until GP address the problem and change production.

Of course the other thing I have not been able to find out is whether they have addressed the issue on the Hero 3+ of throttling the bitrate on some media cards.
Again, their marketing suggest increased frame rates at higher resolutions with the corresponding higher bitrates but if they can't even get the original Hero 3 BE to record at the advertised bitrate I'm not sure I trust the new camera!

We really need someone to crank one up and then examine the files with GSpot or similar and see exactly what GoPro are doing.
 
The Editor said:
I shall wait and stay with my original GP 3 BE until GP address the problem and change production.

Of course the other thing I have not been able to find out is whether they have addressed the issue on the Hero 3+ of throttling the bitrate on some media cards.
Again, their marketing suggest increased frame rates at higher resolutions with the corresponding higher bitrates but if they can't even get the original Hero 3 BE to record at the advertised bitrate I'm not sure I trust the new camera!

We really need someone to crank one up and then examine the files with GSpot or similar and see exactly what GoPro are doing.

I dont think there is much question that the plus is focused differently to the regular black, though its not quite as terrible as some seem to think but still clearly noticeable and an issue if uing it for aerial video.

Here is a shot from 100m up looking down shot in cam raw protune on in 2.7k30 on a gimbal at similar light using a black plus and black. You need to click the images and then view them full size at image shack to see the difference.



Here is a focus adjusted black plus different time of day but same height and angle looking at roughly the same place. Probably I still need to fine tune the focus a little but the original black is pretty much as good as it will get the plus is clearly soft in the initial batches so it will be interesting to see what happens.



Same shot after grading here.



Regarding the firmware throttling of the Sandisk cards, I understand why this was done with the Ultras but it also throttle Sandisk extreme cards which are clearly way above the specs of any other micro sd card. I have a couple Samsung Pro 64GB cards and Sandisk extreme 32gb and speed benchmarks show the Samsung only just at the speed required while the Sandisk extreme is so much faster its sad they have added them to the official supported list but still throttled to 35Mbps when they can easily do over 55MB/s write speeds which is 440Mbps as a min speed on my bench tests so only 10x faster then needed but throttled to 35Mbps :? . Current black and black plus firmware throttles only sandisk cards to 35Mbps and even under performing cards from other brands will still write and fail regularly at 45Mbps. It was a way to fix the issue with the sd ultras but the approach is pretty stupid would be much better just to have a user set max bitrate option and if you have a crappy under performing card set the lower rate but if you have a card that easily meets and exceeds the needed spec throttling this is pretty poor especially if the card is on the official supported cards list.

Samsung Pro 64gb full card write speed test
ojk4.jpg


Sandisk Extreme 32GB full card write speed test.
87ym.jpg


Here is a Sandisk Ultra 64GB card in the same comparison, My Ultra cards actually perform better then some and never had any issues at 45Mbps. You can see the write speed fluctuate quite a bit though and its the min write speed that is the big issue if this ever drops below the needed speed of 5.625MB/s or 45Mbps this is what caused these cards to fail. Mine doesnt drop below 9MB/s in full write tests and so they can handle the black in full speed. Not all SD ultras were crap but if you sell a card as c10 then every card should never write at speeds below 10MB/s and there are many micro sd cards that are c10 and fail to meet that spec not only some SD ultra's.
7dn7.jpg
 
Dave Pitman said:
justsomeguy said:
OI Photography said:
Oh boy, you guys are just gonna LOVE this (was on the air tonight too): http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50158867n

Gotta love the revisionist hype from Woodman. "before Gopro you needed not only a camera but another human being..." (paraphrase).

There were plenty of folks doing POV video (skydiving, underwater, mountain biking, car racing, etc.) way before the GoPro was even in development and those same folks were capturing much better video even after the Hero and Hero2 came out.

Agreed.

Gotta say though, the established companies (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, etc) have got to be mumbling to themselves. :oops:
Well the sony action cam is quite awesome. Yes yes people say that colours are better just needa be changed in gopro etc. But the raw video just seems better on the sony, the sony is also better in dark, it has WAY better sound and it cost half the Price. The steadyshot from the sony is outstanding and save you alot of time and bad rendering from some stabilizer program.

So when using gopro you need to handle shaking, colours and film in light.
With Sony you get great colours on raw footage, very good shake control, better sound and dont need the sunlight to be awesome, and the Price is 50% the Black
 
simonthk said:
Well the sony action cam is quite awesome. Yes yes people say that colours are better just needa be changed in gopro etc. But the raw video just seems better on the sony, the sony is also better in dark, it has WAY better sound and it cost half the Price. The steadyshot from the sony is outstanding and save you alot of time and bad rendering from some stabilizer program.

So when using gopro you need to handle shaking, colours and film in light.
With Sony you get great colours on raw footage, very good shake control, better sound and dont need the sunlight to be awesome, and the Price is 50% the Black

Big advantage of the gopro black and plus (minus the plus focus if that makes sense :lol: ) is the protune cam raw mode. You dont need to settle for what the camera is preset to colour and image wise you do it all yourself. Some may prefer default image from the sony others the gopro but I dont like either and so always shoot in protune and can have it however I like. With the sony you are stuck with its default image settings and I personally dont like them very much just like I dont like the gopro defaults, steady shot is pretty useless on a quadcopter and is only a basic software based image stabilization that if needed can be done in post with much more control and better results.

If you just want a basic camera without needing the extras like protune then go with a sony or even older GoPro hero2 or silver as these are both similar to what the sony does and price is quite comparable. I havent seen how the sony is any better in low light vs a black and seeing as both use similar sensors from Sony there is no reason why there would be any real difference between the latest Sony and black. Not sure if the plus has an updated sensor but it has a better lens even if focused badly and is definatly not any worse then the sony cam in lower light.

GoPro records at much higher bitrates and also has much better image quality when shot in protune over any other action camera's or even gopro's not using protune where other cameras like the sony are a bit closer to IQ of a gopro black.

Can you post some of your low light stablized Sony action cam footage as I have never seen it much better then what you can get from a gopro black, though you claim the sony is so much better image wise and in lower light. I think this video below turned out pretty good for low light at sunset out of a hero3 black and no gimbal. Id like to see better results in such light from a Sony camera if you have it ;)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkjNGQ04Q8c[/youtube]
 
martcerv said:
simonthk said:
Well the sony action cam is quite awesome. Yes yes people say that colours are better just needa be changed in gopro etc. But the raw video just seems better on the sony, the sony is also better in dark, it has WAY better sound and it cost half the Price. The steadyshot from the sony is outstanding and save you alot of time and bad rendering from some stabilizer program.

So when using gopro you need to handle shaking, colours and film in light.
With Sony you get great colours on raw footage, very good shake control, better sound and dont need the sunlight to be awesome, and the Price is 50% the Black

Big advantage of the gopro black and plus (minus the plus focus if that makes sense :lol: ) is the protune cam raw mode. You dont need to settle for what the camera is preset to colour and image wise you do it all yourself. Some may prefer default image from the sony others the gopro but I dont like either and so always shoot in protune and can have it however I like. With the sony you are stuck with its default image settings and I personally dont like them very much just like I dont like the gopro defaults, steady shot is pretty useless on a quadcopter and is only a basic software based image stabilization that if needed can be done in post with much more control and better results.

If you just want a basic camera without needing the extras like protune then go with a sony or even older GoPro hero2 or silver as these are both similar to what the sony does and price is quite comparable. I havent seen how the sony is any better in low light vs a black and seeing as both use similar sensors from Sony there is no reason why there would be any real difference between the latest Sony and black. Not sure if the plus has an updated sensor but it has a better lens even if focused badly and is definatly not any worse then the sony cam in lower light.

GoPro records at much higher bitrates and also has much better image quality when shot in protune over any other action camera's or even gopro's not using protune where other cameras like the sony are a bit closer to IQ of a gopro black.

Can you post some of your low light stablized Sony action cam footage as I have never seen it much better then what you can get from a gopro black, though you claim the sony is so much better image wise and in lower light. I think this video below turned out pretty good for low light at sunset out of a hero3 black and no gimbal. Id like to see better results in such light from a Sony camera if you have it ;)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkjNGQ04Q8c[/youtube]
I didn't say the sony was better overall, I said it had it advantages. Mainly in it being cheaper and easier to get good results with. The stabilizer is just an extra feature when not using gimbal. With gimbals and high wind you can still want to use a stabilizer program, but by doing so you get a way worse quality and if you don't need to do this because of the sony build in, it is a very big advantage.
The advantages of the sony vs gopro speaks for itself: Better sound, better colour in raw video unedited format, stabilizer, half the price, longer battery time.
Gopro just has better options in like quality and when you edit stuff, is lighter and take better pictures.

But it is all about what you need and how you are gonna use it. Gopro is great but sony is also great and clearly have great advantages. If I had to choose one for my trips in the mountains with friends, I pick sony. If I had to do aerial photography with a quadcopter, I choose gopro.
Generally I have yet not to see any comparison of the raw video output vs these two camera´s, where the sony doesn't win.
"look at the tiny dots" and "it will be better after render" is not that impressive really, if it is all about hobby use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR00LcjXH6A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlUUq7ARJRU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvJuutU5sNs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kri1CNwJIQE

In whatever comparison there is, the sony seems to have much better light and do better in dark areas. Sure man it might not be better. I have no clue on why gopro has to be yellow in all its colours.
 
Personally, I'd swap it for a 3 until you can be sure that you won't get a 3+ with the focus issue.
 
There have been reports of people receiving replacement cams from gopro with focus fixed now. So quite likely this issue will be fixed in all new cameras and if you already have one you should be able to contact gopro regarding getting the focus fixed if you feel you need it. I did the mod myself mostly as I want the option to have an adjustable focus so I can get better near focus for underwater use and sharp to infinity for aerial video use.

Regards to the sony camera and gopro black or plus I really dont see any way the sony can match the gopro at its best. Its an amazing little camera and shooting in protune cam raw gives you pretty much complete control of the image and much higher bitrates. Sure if you dont want to edit the footage then the sony and gopro's are much closer and you may prefer one default look over the other but anyone wanting the best image quality would have to prefer shooting protune and grading over any auto set camera modes in any camera.

Here is a recent edit I did playing around with my gimbal and the black plus. There ironic thing is I fixed the focus but then used some effects in post to get some blur and the freedom the blacks give in post is quite impressive for such a little camera.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-dspv6JjrI[/youtube]
 
The Editor said:
Yes - Really!

GoPro ARE aware of this issue and unofficially have been replacing GP 3+'s without admission of liability. Serial numbers that are in the range of 0913 (digits 6-9) are known to be affected with more likely.

Just checked my new Hero3+ Black and those digits start with 0813. So does that mean I'm good?
 
martcerv said:
There have been reports of people receiving replacement cams from gopro with focus fixed now. So quite likely this issue will be fixed in all new cameras and if you already have one you should be able to contact gopro regarding getting the focus fixed if you feel you need it. I did the mod myself mostly as I want the option to have an adjustable focus so I can get better near focus for underwater use and sharp to infinity for aerial video use.

Regards to the sony camera and gopro black or plus I really dont see any way the sony can match the gopro at its best. Its an amazing little camera and shooting in protune cam raw gives you pretty much complete control of the image and much higher bitrates. Sure if you dont want to edit the footage then the sony and gopro's are much closer and you may prefer one default look over the other but anyone wanting the best image quality would have to prefer shooting protune and grading over any auto set camera modes in any camera.

Here is a recent edit I did playing around with my gimbal and the black plus. There ironic thing is I fixed the focus but then used some effects in post to get some blur and the freedom the blacks give in post is quite impressive for such a little camera.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-dspv6JjrI[/youtube]


Haha... I see there's some tilt shift going on in there! Try doing some long shots on the Phantom on wide, hold hover and increase your speed to 200% on the timeline - gives a cool effect

good job.
 
OI Photography said:
martcerv said:
I fixed the focus but then used some effects in post to get some blur

Are you referring to the awesome depth of field you created? If so, I'd love to know exactly what effect(s) you used to arrive at that.

There are plenty of ways of doing it but basically it's just a gaussian blur applied to an area top and bottom of the frame (although thee are specific lenses that will do this). The effect 'tricks the eye' into thinking it's a miniature scene. It can be used top and bottom or side to side or specific areas using a mask.

It's very effective in time lapse sequences.
 
The Editor said:
OI Photography said:
martcerv said:
I fixed the focus but then used some effects in post to get some blur

Are you referring to the awesome depth of field you created? If so, I'd love to know exactly what effect(s) you used to arrive at that.

There are plenty of ways of doing it but basically it's just a gaussian blur applied to an area top and bottom of the frame. The effect 'tricks the eye' into thinking it's a miniature scene. It can be used top and bottom or side to side or specific areas using a mask.

It's very effective in time lapse sequences.

Awesome, thank you! Yes, that's exactly the look I wanted to learn how to create, the "diorama effect" as I call it. I've seen a lot of GP + Phantom vids that would look really cool that way and have a few planned out in my head already.
 
heres one of the most extensive video tests I have seen done between the black and black plus. the video detail looks better on the black plus when they do the quadcopter comparison of the tree leave quality zoomed in. Is the original poster saying that picture quality suffers because video quality sure looks better to me? also several forums are mentioning the hero black edition for 249 at best buy on black friday (even posting screenshots of the ad) but I can not find it on bestbuy.com



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0bGzSMr2C8#t=702[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0bGzSMr2C8#t=702
 

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