GoPro or similar for trip to Thailand

Prophet · 28 Oct 2013 at 09:39

I'd never thought about taking video until seeing so many videos on YouTube so now I'm off to Thailand I'm thinking about investing.

Not sure I can justify a GoPro so I'm looking for something that's a compromise on price/quality. Ideally I'd like it to be 'water proof', not that I'll be going diving but to survive jumping into water would be a bonus.

Budget wise I'd like to keep it under £100.

Andrew Moore · 28 Oct 2013 at 09:41

We have cams in the lifestyle section

Prophet · 28 Oct 2013 at 09:47

Andrew Moore said:
We have cams in the lifestyle section

I know

I just need some recommendations

Nexus · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:14

Have no experience with sub £100 action cams, but you know how these things are, you get what you pay for.

Features and video quality aside, which may or may not be compromised on cheap cameras, the biggest issue is that unlike GoPro and their biggest rivals, there are loads of different types of mounts and mounting systems. This is something you won't have the luxury of.

If you want to spend less than £100, I'd look for a second hand Hero1 or Hero2.

Russinating · 28 Oct 2013 at 19:13

I wouldn't get a GoPro at all for this kind of trip, simply because you can't see what you're shooting. Battery life is also poor for regular shooting.

A flip cam will be much better, something like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kodak-PlayF...=UTF8&qid=1382987540&sr=8-3&keywords=flip+cam. That was literally the first sub-£100 one Amazon listed so look around and check out reviews or getting a second-hand more expensive one. You can get waterproof ones too.

Nexus · 28 Oct 2013 at 19:42

Oh you are right, I kind of jumped the gun with my answer.

If just doing general filming then a GoPro is a bit of a waste of time, aside from the reasons Russinating has given, the other is that because of the wide angle, its not good for filming non-POV footage. Anything thats a little way from you will look a lot further away than it really is.

Given you don't really intend to do diving, then you don't really need a camera that has a waterproof housing.

Russinating · 28 Oct 2013 at 19:58

Just to add another point! I forgot but when I went to SE Asia I simply bought a waterproof bag that was suitable for my point and shoot camera, a la: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...f+camera+bag&rh=i:aps,k:waterproof+camera+bag

A much cheaper alternative and will still give you flexibility of filming or taking photos underwater. These were all taken on my S95 with a £9.99 bag:

As you can see the lens zoom bit sneaks into the corners sometimes but easy enough to crop out if you can be bothered!

Given most point and shoot cameras can also record 720p+ video this might be a pretty good option as you can just use it as your camera then too.

Prophet · 31 Oct 2013 at 21:08

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll take a look at some of the flipcam options and see what turns up.

I'm taking my Canon 40D for still shots but it doesn't do video