Camera Review: GoPro Hero HD 2

A non-technical review by a traveller.

The GoPro 2 is the ultimate in portable action cams. It’s small enough to fit in your pocket to take anywhere around the world and when in the protective housing, it is supposedly bomb proof and waterproof. I have taken it under water and unintentionally dropped mine down a stair case to verify these claims. The video settings can be adjusted easily and you can also take decent quality stills. It has a 170-degree field of vision, allowing you to capture everything that is going on. Their is also a huge collection of add-ons that help you attach it to anything or control in remotely. It doesn’t have an LCD screen on the back, but you can also purchase this and when filming action, you don’t really need it.

What’s Good?

  • Light and small for great portability
  • Bomb proof and water proof
  • Excellent video quality
  • Good photos
  • A range of photo settings including time-lapse, 10 shots per second, and delay
  • Fixings allow you to attach it to anything
  • Used by professionals

What’s Bad?

  • Low quality audio (has a 3.5 mm audio jack to improve this)
  • No LCD screen
  • Accessories must be purchased separately
  • The camera doesn’t make you do awesome things

Who should get this camera?

  • People who want a fully functional, rough and tumble camera that captures high quality video footage

Summary

Although it does great stills, this camera is primarily focused upon being a action video camera. I compared a lot of action cameras before purchasing this one and in my opinion, this one was way above the competition. It simple to use, a great size and shape, and it captures incredibly high quality footage. I also had fun experimenting with the photo shooting modes (10 shots per second and time-lapse) to get shots that I have never been able to get before. The fact that this camera has been used in professional action footage speaks wonders for it’s abilities.

Overall, this is a fantastic quality, robust camera and I highly recommend it. GoPro have also come out with the GoPro 3 which I am yet to experiment with. A word of warning however. When you watch the sample videos and see them doing incredible things, simply buying the camera does not make you do equally incredible things. You still have to get out there and make your own adventure. I made that mistake at first but I am currently trying to rectify that.

Sample Video Sample Images

GoPro-Hero-HD-2-Sample-Video-Still GoPro-Hero-HD-2-Sample-Photo

By | 2018-02-25T10:54:18+00:00 January 17th, 2013|Advice|0 Comments

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