Which action cam?

andrew4178

Hi,

I am going on a holiday of a lifetime in September and have made the decision to invest in an action cam of some kind.  I could get a go pro but I'm not sure I will get the long term use for the outlay.  With the go pro are the attachments extra?

Some of the budget cams seem to review great but what are they like in real life?

Any tips, advice or alternatives would be welcome.

Thanks

Andrew

Terfyn

I've used my Denver ACT-5030W for a couple of years now. Its Danish, so not seen as a main stream camera but I have no complaints. It comes with the usual kit of waterproof casing, bike mount, helmet mount etc.
Good bits:- It fits Go-Pro accessories. I can get extra batteries for it. It can be remotely controlled.
Bad bits :- No external mic socket. Fixed lens, no zoom.
Clearly better ones on the market now. Look in Amazon for a decent range.

Personally I would go for a decent camcorder for general use and an action cam for when it is needed. The  files can be mixed in a video editor to give you a compendium of shots. For example I stuck the Denver on my Granddaughter while she went on an extremely dangerous fairground ride (a roundabout ) and I filmed from the safety of the road. The mixture of shots worked perfectly.

stearman65

I have an SJ6 Legend that I'm taking on holiday next week. Does everything a normal compact does apart from zoom. I've been using it for 6 months intermittant ly & it's great & half the price of a Go Pro with many more features.
SJ6 Legend Series 4K Action Camera Series from SJCAM

Terfyn

First fix your budget then fix your requirements from a camera. Most action cams do what they are designed for very well but they are not as flexible as most camcorders. Unless you are only interested in the action aspect go for a conventional cam. Example: only action cams have decent underwater capabilities but most camcorders will fit into a jacket pocket, mount on handlebars etc. give better audio, a good zoom range (mine does 50X easily) better low light performance and options.(slo-mo, timelapse,  8mm effect and so on) Most cams will also give still shots (photos) have a flash fitted and a video light.
I suggest you balance the choice with how you intend to use the cam, if you are scuba diving then an action cam is the only answer.
We all have our favourites but I use my camcorder 90% of the time and the Denver about 10% plus cams will grow with you. Example: I have a wide angle attachment, a wireless mic, a shotgun mic, headphone connection, full camera remote control through an app, the app also controls a remote pan/tilt head I use for discreet wildlife filming. I can feed the audio from mics or from line inputs (keyboard)

JabbaNut

Remember You can go on YouTube and look for actual footage taken with the camera you are thinking of.

Consider how easy is it to charge and or extra battery costs, memory card costs?

Could you film with your phone?

Just how much interest have you in having to invest in extra gear, microphones and expensive editing software?

Do you really want it to spend £200 - £1000 just to record holiday memories? Or use that money on better holiday or more memories?

Terfyn

Don't you like people wanting to make memories they can keep?
I made it clear that OP could build up equipment over a period of years. My Granddaughter is 12, I started filming her at 3 months. I now have a record of her growing up - a very precious record.

andrew4178

The plan is to be spending quite a bit of time scuba diving and snorkelling, also a few things like climbing, dune buggys etc. Where I will need both hands.  

A people have said they have gone cheap but ended up having to pay more when the quality hasn't been what was expected.  But I've also heard that about go pro where the waterproof casing hasn't been as watertight as expected.  

I've seen a few alternatives to go pro, but are they any good?

Terfyn

Difficult I know but I took a chance. Denver has a good reputation in Denmark. The case seemed waterproof in the bath! The openings in any case are the door which you can seal with vasaline and the buttons which you can't really get at. Maybe there is a supplier who uses membranes to operate the camera buttons. Most cams seem to rely on a waterproof case rather than being designed for sub aqua use.

12harry

There will always be stories of kit-failure...sometimes you wonder if the User was at fault, for not checking etc... but in reality without specific knowledge, it's not easy to know what you need to check. I guess the Go-Pro has the top-end of the Market because it appeared first - and if you're a Pro, the kit-cost is tax deductible.... So why risk anything cheaper?

However, for most folks the half-price version will be fine - or you could buy TWO and have the benefit of a second view ( maybe clip-on a close-up lens, or arty filter?). On a Zip-wire you can then record both directions....

Sonic67

I have a GoPro Hero5. It can go down to 10m without a case.

GoPro Hero5 Black review | TechRadar

Now on Amazon for £250.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M14ATO0?aaxitk=3Q1Q9r-keOx2tzgCtHUPZg&pd_rd_i=B01M14ATO0&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_p=5525970907818403459&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_i=gopro hero 5&hsa_cr_id=1785483240502

I bought this which includes a huge amount of accessories for the GoPro:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KU70F5S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I bought this for Scuba diving:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01L2CP126/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

With that I've been down to about 29m.

Note. One scuba dive recording at 4K took about 14Gb of footage. Make sure you have a large enough MicroSD card.

Footage looks gorgeous.