GoPro 4 - It's here!

martybabe · Oct 10, 2014

I went to my local camera shop Today To see how many years it would be before the new the Gopro 4 would arrive in my forgotten land, NZ ain't exactly a happening place. Only a week after the rest of the world I was told and then, on a whim, the lady dove into a pile of recently delivered parcels with a box cutter and popped up with a smile and a shiny new Gopro 4. I now have no money but I do have a new camera, expensive bloomin shopping trip that was.

plut0nius · Oct 10, 2014

Greetings-
Any input/real world results on the Black GoPro 4 battery life/consumption on a Phantom 2 with H3-3D?
New chip set. New battery. New power consumption? Any thoughts on the GoPro 4's interaction with the Phantom's smart battery?

I had full battery charge. Only 4 flights over one afternoon spanning 4-5 hours. I removed the camera preparing for an underwater session. It would not power on.
Depleted battery.

I'm trying to replay my sequence to determine if it was user error, such as it was not an actual full charge. However, I recall 3 bars on the battery symbol at first flight. Verified only 4 recorded flights, no hidden accidental recordings on the SD card.
Perhaps the camera was not turned off between flight sessions when I packed up to a new location. That would be the most likely answer, barring any other early real-world input you all can offer.

More testing once the rain lets up.

thanks for your consideration,
Eric

plut0nius · Oct 11, 2014

Perhaps a faulty battery?
Attempting to start camera today while the Phantom 2 was off, discovered the GoPro's battery was fully drained.
It was stored overnight on mid charge after 15 minutes of flight attached to its H3-3D gimbal with the ribbon HDMI connected (no smart battery in Phantom 2).
No accidental recordings, QuickCapture is off.
Still pondering what my possible user error(s)...

ianwood · Oct 11, 2014

I am seeing no difference between the H4B battery and the H3+B battery.

Now that I've worked out most of the kinks with the H4B, I'm seeing some pretty amazing video.

plut0nius · Oct 11, 2014

I agree. It is a dense box of photonic magic.

GoPro 4 Black + your v5 profile = (the potential for) masterful imagery.

I'll prefer to blame the rapid discharging of the battery to my possible lack of turning it off...

Fully charged it tonight. It's loaded on Phantom, HDMI cable in, without smart battery. check it in the morning...

Do you use the Native and Flat settings? When you use the Polar ND 2.0 filter, what ISO do you generally maintain? Do you tweak the exposure? All environmental/sunlight dependent?

Any night flying/footage?

best to you,
Eric

martybabe · Oct 12, 2014

plut0nius said:
Greetings-
Any input/real world results on the Black GoPro 4 battery life/consumption on a Phantom 2 with H3-3D?
New chip set. New battery. New power consumption? Any thoughts on the GoPro 4's interaction with the Phantom's smart battery?

I had full battery charge. Only 4 flights over one afternoon spanning 4-5 hours. I removed the camera preparing for an underwater session. It would not power on.
Depleted battery.

I'm trying to replay my sequence to determine if it was user error, such as it was not an actual full charge. However, I recall 3 bars on the battery symbol at first flight. Verified only 4 recorded flights, no hidden accidental recordings on the SD card.
Perhaps the camera was not turned off between flight sessions when I packed up to a new location. That would be the most likely answer, barring any other early real-world input you all can offer.

More testing once the rain lets up.

thanks for your consideration,
Eric

I think this might help you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIkuH8kij4w

plut0nius · Oct 12, 2014

Greetings New Zealand!
Ah, yes good ol' Mic Bergsma. His basic side by side test is helpful.
It does hint at the basic challenge of battery technology in the face of ever increasing processors.
By his numbers, the H4B has 20% less longevity than the H3B+ when shooting 1080 24P
Maybe less in a real world moving situation.
Would be interesting, for testing sake, if a simple modified battery connector was made to switch the new H4B battery with the H3B+battery for each unit.
That is, the H3B+ runs off the H4B battery and the H4B runs off the H3B+ battery. And run the same side by side 1080 24P test.

My H4B battery is still full charge this morning.

appreciate the reference.

Hope your new P2 flying is going well on the windy beaches on the edge of the world
link us some of your H4B glorious vistas if you can.

Cheers

ianwood · Oct 12, 2014

That comparison is with the H4S not H4B. H4S has a screen on it which will consume a lot of juice. The H4B depending on the settings will be writing more to the card so it will probably use a marginally larger amount of power to do so.

As for shooting settings, I shoot flat, ISO limit 400, sharpening low. I've never needed to adjust exposure. Haven't done much night shooting (none with the H4B) yet.

Very impressed with the H4B so far.

plut0nius · Oct 12, 2014

Does it not appear that Mic is testing 3 models: H3B+, H4S (screen off) and H4B?

Yes, it is logical (and worthwhile price for the advanced capabilities) that the battery life should be at least 20% less on the new H4B.

Appreciate you sharing your settings.
You keep your polar filter on (almost always?) with your listed settings?

I have been having good operation with the H4B on the H3-3D. Balanced with various U.S. coinage.

Yes! "Exploring the Galaxy" brings back the glory of JT. One of my very favorite locations. Was there in 2006 when you were camping. Lived in Twentyinine Palms for a couple of years.

take care

Mako79 · Oct 12, 2014

Hi everyone.
I have the vision plus and feel limited by the camera. Looking to get a backup/secondary Phantom2 with the Hero 4 Black edition. I do not want to go down the Dronexpert path either as it is expensive and not really a redundancy solution.

Can I please get a suggestion on what will work with the Hero 4 Black with minimalistic modification:
Which version Zenmuse H3-3D is compatible?
Which FPV AVL58 is compatible?
Which IOSD is compatible.

And on an tangent, is it better to go Hero3+ Black for the price and plugability and sacrifice the 4k@30fps?
I don't really have a use for 4k at the moment but the LCD's are bordering the 1k mark.

I have a basic understanding of electronics and can solder.
Many many thanks in advance.

Cloud9 · Oct 13, 2014

Mako79 said:
Hi everyone.
I have the vision plus and feel limited by the camera. Looking to get a backup/secondary Phantom2 with the Hero 4 Black edition. I do not want to go down the Dronexpert path either as it is expensive and not really a redundancy solution.

Can I please get a suggestion on what will work with the Hero 4 Black with minimalistic modification:
Which version Zenmuse H3-3D is compatible?
Which FPV AVL58 is compatible?
Which IOSD is compatible.

And on an tangent, is it better to go Hero3+ Black for the price and plugability and sacrifice the 4k@30fps?
I don't really have a use for 4k at the moment but the LCD's are bordering the 1k mark.

I have a basic understanding of electronics and can solder.
Many many thanks in advance.

I set up my P2 in a very similar way:

H3-3D, iOSD mini, GoPro, Hero 3+ (getting the 4), but I'm using a FatShark transmitter instead of the AVL58 - set up is the same regardless, so whichever you prefer.

I set it all up with zero soldering - all plug and play. I bough the 3 way pre-made cable from Amazon so it just plugs in my iOSD mini, fatshark tx and GoPro with no issues.
Really clean setup

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00LDX65OS