Action Camera

[AirSniper]

Any suggestions for an action camera thats cheap and not a gopro (too expensive)

The one I currently have is an apexcam, the thing is pissing me off, it never recorded the first hour of game play today and i'm not impressed given that the remote signalled it was recording when I looked, it was moaning that the SD card was full, on checking, its empty. 

So I am looking for a mid range up to £150 ish thats got as good a picture as a gopro, don't need 4K, 1080 is good enough.

Anyone got any cameras themselves that they'd recommend? 

 

[Steveocee]

I've been through a few of the cheaper ones, from Apeman and most of the way thorugh the Amazon reccommended range.

Honestly, the GoPro Hero 8 is the best camera I've bought, use and continue to sing the praise of. The picture is unparralleled.

Also, I know you say 1080 is "good enough" - it's not. If you aren't 100% outdoor in the bright, if you want 1080p final footage then record in 1440p at least. It helps a lot with darker shots due to the noise/filling the cameras do.

I told myself for a long time the cheaper camera was "just as good" then there was a noticable image quality difference in my output files.

 

[concretesnail]

There is a reason that gopro have such a hold on action camera market. They are good, simply put and have set the consumer standard for years.

I don't use mine for airsoft but have used and abused it with flight footage, and track days where it has been crashed and taken it all. 

 

[Tommikka]

As others have said the GoPro is the market leader, but as you’ve said it also has the price to go with it 

Your underlying problem that I’ve taken from your post is that you have lost trust in reliability of your current camera.

Were you able to get to the bottom of the original failure ? Eg did it just record the next time with no change, or did reformatting / changing the card fix it?

Is there a possible mismatch between the camera and the remote? Eg you had hit record on the remote and it indicated that it was recording, but were unaware that the camera was showing an error instead ?

1) see if you can resolve and regain trust in your current camera

2) I can’t recommend any current cameras, being out of date.

But 1080p is good enough to you, as others have said you would notice a difference with better sensors/chipsets etc, but you would probably find it harder to restrict yourself down to 1080p on action cameras now - aim for 4K, and potentially choose a lower setting for your ‘optimum’ of file size, compression, processing speed etc - other factors will affect quality of results such as performance in light vs dark and whether you’re moving between environments 

3) if you have accessories already then consider those for a similar body, battery etc

4) if you’ve resolved the recording failure but you’re still lacking in trust then relegate your current camera to number 2 as a barrel cam, and get another as a head cam etc - more angles, less chance of zero footage, but also more editing time 

 

[Daveoc33]

I used a runcam 3 on a drone I used to own. No complaints about it from me but I've never owned a gopro so I can't tell you if it was better or worse. YouTube says not as good but decent for the money. I was happy with the footage and the camera took many crashes in its stride and kept working.

 

[AirSniper]

I used a runcam 3 on a drone I used to own. No complaints about it from me but I've never owned a gopro so I can't tell you if it was better or worse. YouTube says not as good but decent for the money. I was happy with the footage and the camera took many crashes in its stride and kept working.

Thanks for the reply, I looked and it would be a bit expensive to buy, almost the cost of a RIF.

Guess I will have to save my pennies.

As others have said the GoPro is the market leader, but as you’ve said it also has the price to go with it 

Your underlying problem that I’ve taken from your post is that you have lost trust in reliability of your current camera.

Were you able to get to the bottom of the original failure ? Eg did it just record the next time with no change, or did reformatting / changing the card fix it?

Is there a possible mismatch between the camera and the remote? Eg you had hit record on the remote and it indicated that it was recording, but were unaware that the camera was showing an error instead ?

1) see if you can resolve and regain trust in your current camera

2) I can’t recommend any current cameras, being out of date.

But 1080p is good enough to you, as others have said you would notice a difference with better sensors/chipsets etc, but you would probably find it harder to restrict yourself down to 1080p on action cameras now - aim for 4K, and potentially choose a lower setting for your ‘optimum’ of file size, compression, processing speed etc - other factors will affect quality of results such as performance in light vs dark and whether you’re moving between environments 

3) if you have accessories already then consider those for a similar body, battery etc

4) if you’ve resolved the recording failure but you’re still lacking in trust then relegate your current camera to number 2 as a barrel cam, and get another as a head cam etc - more angles, less chance of zero footage, but also more editing time 

I had no idea what the issue was, the SD card was empty but it said the card was full, swapped out the SD card and it recorded fine.

The main reason I want a camera is to show game play and also help with game strategy, you learn alot from watching your previous game, especially who the cheaters are!!!

 

[Tommikka]

I had no idea what the issue was, the SD card was empty but it said the card was full, swapped out the SD card and it recorded fine.

The main reason I want a camera is to show game play and also help with game strategy, you learn alot from watching your previous game, especially who the cheaters are!!!

In theory you’ve fixed the problem with the card swap

You might be able to resolve the first card by reformatting and doing some test runs with it sat at home to be sure that it will record/delete/record - or not bother if you may no longer trust that card

If you’re happy with the setup now then it will do the job, but without too much expense you can get a newer camera and run multiples for extra angles and halve the risk of a failure 

The typical two camera setup is a barrel cam plus a head cam:

the barrel cam shows what you’re shooting at, but also gets a lot of ground/sky footage and can also be quite bouncy on the end of a barrel when running etc 

the head cam is steadied by your brain when running, but will flick left / right as you glance all around. But it will show where you are looking except for when obstructed by gun sights, trees, walls etc

(Typical head cam placement is often to one side of goggles or helmet which is clear of your gun but obstructed by half of your cover, an option is your forehead or top of a helmet but makes you easier to spot popping out of cover)

Other good options for a second (or third) camera is a rear facing gun camera (then you can edit in you as the hero of footage stalking your target) or stuck to a telescopic sight (you can then play back the hits amd edit in all the glorious SFX with hitcounts and clickbait)