My action cam stinks. What are you using in 2020?

[evranch]

It's terrible guys. Half the time everything is out of focus and the rest of the time, it's obvious the actual sensor resolution is far from the advertised 1080p. The camera on my phone is light years ahead of it. And it hasn't even been crashed that many times.

I never plan to be a pro youtuber, but I wouldn't mind being able to film video and actually see what I was filming. However I just can't justify buying a new GoPro to make videos that get like 20 views.

What's an affordable but decent small video camera that could be used to capture flight videos from the ground or from the air? Honestly something like a Runcam Split wouldn't be half bad. What's everyone strapping to their race quads these days?

 

[The Hangar]

I’d recommend getting an older generation GoPro. You can find them under $100, sometimes even under $50. Even if it’s like a hero 3 or something, it will be a step ahead of what you have...

 

[Ryan O.]

I got the Runcam 2 for weight saving, but I think the split mini 3 is a better option.

 

[Merv]

I use the Möbius. The A lens for the hat cam & C lens for the plane.

 

[evranch]

Thanks guys, I've always thought of Runcam as a FPV/split cam manufacturer but didn't realize Runcam 2, 3s and 5 are dedicated action cams with internal batteries. These might be the best choice for what I want since they are tiny and could also be used as an FPV cam.

Hero 3 are worth a look for sure, very variable in price from Ebay, right now there are some refurbs for $30-40, though most out of the USA which always results in taking a beating on shipping and customs processing fees. Might end up paying as much as I would for a new Runcam. I don't know why it's cheaper to ship from China and this always makes me mad. Will keep an eye on these.

Mobius also looks good, small and light, especially because HK makes some cheap gimbals designed for it, but will be tricky in Canada. There are a ton of fakes floating around on Amazon/Ebay, and HK doesn't carry them anymore, saying it was discontinued when they are not.

 

[Merv]

The Hawkeye Firefly Q6 is also worthy of consideration.

 

[skymaster]

The Hawkeye Firefly Q6 is also worthy of consideration.

i have the Hawkeye firefly 1 and it's very good and they came with a 2nd one hope it's better.

 

[Bavarian_RC]

I am using the GoPro 3+ silver in almost all of my flight videos. I think it offers a pretty good price / quality balance. Check out some of the flight videos on my YT Channel.

If I need to go a little bit lighter, I use the RunCam Split 2. It still has a good quality, but far from the GoPro. The flight video of my Noratlas was done with the RunCam.

 

[Hondo76251]

The Hawkeye Firefly Q6 is also worthy of consideration.

The Firefly has been great for me, light weight, low cost (for HD) I've used it on tripods, taped it to wings, glued it to baseball caps... I'd give it a serious thought...

 

[evranch]

I am using the GoPro 3+ silver in almost all of my flight videos. I think it offers a pretty good price / quality balance. Check out some of the flight videos on my YT Channel.

So I had to download these to see them in full resolution and really compare. Thanks for giving me something to look at side by side. You are right, the GoPro delivers a smoother feel with better depth of field. It's quite a bit better and feels more like it's stabilized or on a gimbal. However, the 3+ doesn't have built in stabilization, does it?

You're a good flight videographer. I'm guessing you do multiple flights with the camera in different spots rather than weigh your plane down with a bunch of cameras?

 

[Bavarian_RC]

No, the 3+ doesn’t have stabilization. I was using a stabilization plugin for my editing software to make everything more smooth. There was quite a bit of wind on that day and it is not as smooth as I would have liked it, but software stabilization is able to do a lot... but no miracles 😜.
The advantages of the GoPro compared to the RunCam are better colors, it can handle difficult light situations better and the picture is more crisp.
I am glad that you liked my flying 😃 and your analysis is correct, I do multiple flights and then edit them in a way that they look like one.

 

[evranch]

What software do you use to edit? I used to trust YouTube to stabilize my videos, but it must have cost them too much processor time.

I was looking at different packages and wanted to try out DaVinci Resolve which looks very professional, but had ATI GPU issues under Linux. Never buy an ATI card for a Linux machine. I've had this card for years and plenty of problems with it...

So I'm downloading the Windows version and will boot into Windows to give it a try for the next video I do. I'm planning on building a VR-spec computer this year and using an NVidia card this time, so if I like it I can hopefully use it under Linux in the future.

 

[CrazyFastFlying]

I've used the SJCAM M10, its pretty cheap and records awesome video!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EKQ5D0G/?tag=lstir-20

 

[CrazyFastFlying]

I've used the SJCAM M10, its pretty cheap and records awesome video!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EKQ5D0G/?tag=lstir-20

All of the SJCAM cameras are really good quality!

 

[evranch]

My camera was supposed to be an SJCAM Instead it is a GeneralPlus, as detectable from the firmware.

We have a serious problem here in Canada with products not being available from their manufacturers on Amazon, and 3rd party sellers supplying fakes. Amazon.ca is nowhere near Amazon.com, though it has improved in the last year.

 

[CrazyFastFlying]

My camera was supposed to be an SJCAM Instead it is a GeneralPlus, as detectable from the firmware.

We have a serious problem here in Canada with products not being available from their manufacturers on Amazon, and 3rd party sellers supplying fakes. Amazon.ca is nowhere near Amazon.com, though it has improved in the last year.

Yes, I got scammed on a SJCAM SJ4000. You either have to order directly from SJCAM or from a seller you trust.

 

[Bavarian_RC]

What software do you use to edit? I used to trust YouTube to stabilize my videos, but it must have cost them too much processor time.

I was looking at different packages and wanted to try out DaVinci Resolve which looks very professional, but had ATI GPU issues under Linux. Never buy an ATI card for a Linux machine. I've had this card for years and plenty of problems with it...

So I'm downloading the Windows version and will boot into Windows to give it a try for the next video I do. I'm planning on building a VR-spec computer this year and using an NVidia card this time, so if I like it I can hopefully use it under Linux in the future.

I am using Edius 8 for editing. It already comes with a stabilization function that is working quite well. For more tricky cases where the Edius stabilization is reaching its limits I got myself the ProDad Mercalli Plugin.