How does using a GoPro as a FPV cam compare to dedicated camera ?

[Riggsbie]

Team....

So how does a GoPro compare to other cameras as an FPV camera (using the USB to VTx cable) ?

I look forward to seeing everyone';s opinions....

Thanks

[dp106]

It works fine, the biggest niggle I found is it doesn';t cope very well with going from light to dark. I got very nervous when gaining any height as the ground went very dark and I then struggled to see anything below me.

[dp106]

I am using one of the camera';s from securitycamera2000 with WDR and it makes a world of difference.

[Toledodave]

Biggest difference between the gopro hero 3 and any other is the resolution vs frame rate.  Closest cam ive seen was 720@ 30fps. Gopro can swing 720@100fps and 1440@60fps.  Ive yet to see high framerates and high resolutions other then gopro. Keep in mind at 720 you wont notice anything better i dont think to naked eye. But with fast movment you want high frame rates. Naked eye can see frame rates less then 30fps.  I love my gopro and would only be one other cam i would try because of size. It was 720@30 fps but it also had some kind of night vision mode or something close. If you need info on that i will have to find it for you.

[Hands0n]

So I notice quite a few YouTube';rs use a GoPro to video the good quality stuff but a regular CCTV-style microCam for the FPV part.  Any thoughts on that, apart from the increased weight to be carried?

[Toledodave]

As i understand...most FPV cams dont record unless video feed is split and seperate recording on ground is done. Also in the event you lose video feed you recorder loses feed also. If recorder is onboard aircraft like gopro and couple others (which others that record normally sacrifice video quality) then recording continues even if video feed is broke. In a nutshell.....gopro can live feed, powered by 5v from aircraft bec or VTX and stream/record a high frame rate and high quality video. I have yet to see another camera with same features. Some are close but not the same.  Hope that helps. Downside to gopro is size. Fpv cams are small and light for use of small and light gimbals. I have my gopro on a minni gimbal from Dronevision and i might be pushing the limits of weight.

[Gav]

If you use your GoPro for FPV cam then expect to get the ';letterbox'; wide screen view inside your goggles / fpv screen.   Use a regular wrd or other fpv dedicated cam then you will fill up the screen inside your goggs

[powerlord]

Well,  or shoot in 4:3 on the gopro   1440 mode shoots at higher than hd on the 3, so you can still edit to 1080p in post

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[dp106]

No one else has mentioned how badly it handles changes between light and dark. Does  that mean it';s better in newer versions of the gopro?

[Col_M]

The latency when using the gopro is pretty bad, I seem to remember it';s about 1/10th of a second which when flying fast and close to stuff isn';t good at all.

The GoPro also suffers from buggy firmware now and again. I wouldn';t mind too much losing footage but I sure don';t want to lose the picture in my goggles.

If I get a GoPro which I probably will at some point it';s recording duties only I';m afraid, the performance and reliability aren';t there for me to use or trust it as a live cam.

[rickp]

No latency at all when using my gopro3 and never had an issue with it turning off the live out during a flight. *shrug* - works fine for me and I';ll continue to use it that way. But then I';m not trying to fly out of sight anyway.

[JT]

No latency at all when using my gopro3 and never had an issue with it turning off the live out during a flight. *shrug* - works fine for me and I';ll continue to use it that way. But then I';m not trying to fly out of sight anyway.

+1   although mine did shut down when I forgot to press record :embarrassed

[rickp]

+1   although mine did shut down when I forgot to press record :embarrassed

Fair point - I';ve not forgotten to do that when FPVing yet, but I can see the ';record'; icon flashing in the FPV goggles, so I check that before flying.

[Toledodave]

Are you guys running off camera batt or aircraft batt when the gopro auto shuts off?   Also with my Gopro Hero 3 i see no lag at all but thats only indoor table testing. :/

[JT]

Cameras internal battery.

[Toledodave]

I see. I run power from my Vtx which is 5v. But with that the camera still needs a batt in it even though power comes from the Vtx. It wont work without a batt in it. So which is ok because i shouldnt ever lose power to cam, only could lose video though. At least the crash will still be recorded lmao!

[JT]

I see. I run power from my Vtx which is 5v. But with that the camera still needs a batt in it even though power comes from the Vtx. It wont work without a batt in it. So which is ok because i shouldnt ever lose power to cam, only could lose video though. At least the crash will still be recorded lmao!

Exactly, I had the battery fall off my quad and would never have known what had happened if it wasn';t for the gopro

[Col_M]

No latency at all when using my gopro3 and never had an issue with it turning off the live out during a flight. *shrug* - works fine for me and I';ll continue to use it that way. But then I';m not trying to fly out of sight anyway.

It is there even if you haven';t noticed it, there are videos on youtube and posts on forums where people have calculated it, it';s been shown to be around 100ms on the Hero 3.

Even at relatively sedate speeds like 10m/s or 22mph, in 100ms it has traveled 1m, add reaction times and that goes up considerably. With twigs, wires and saplings appearing a few metres in front of you in goggles there';s a good chance you could hit something before you can change course.
Saying that though, if you';re not flying low, fast or close to things you should be fine.

[Toledodave]

I have got to believe that unless your hardwired any video being transmitted will have lag and will greatly depreciate as your quality (dpi) goes up due to compression times it takes to bundle and transmit.  Maybe then since gopro records at such HD qualitys and at such frame rates unlike most other cams thats its more noticable?  Not forgetting to mention audio. If it has to compress audio to transmit also it will add latency to the transmition.  In a nutshell maybe the better image and sound you get the other side of that coin is the latency you get with it.  I would have to assume that most the time would would and should only run 720@ 30Fps and no sound and you should be able to minimise your latency.?

[Col_M]

You';re right, I';m not 100% sure why the GoPros have video latency but it could be down to design. On a digital camera recording on a digital medium, digital to analogue conversion speed probably wasn';t a high priority, the majority of their customer base apart from FPVers don';t likely use the composite video out apart from the occasional playback on a TV where latency isn';t an issue.

On the other hand the security camera style cameras have a lower resolution and converting the signal from a digital to analogue is their primary function, you';d think they';d be better at it and it seems to be the case.

From the numbers I';ve seen reducing the resolution and frame rate will improve the latency, I mentioned 100ms above, that';s for 1080p/60fps, it seems that 720p/120fps is around 70-80ms so a good improvement. From that it looks like the performance is limited by the DAC processing power. It';s a very rough calculation but for every 1080p frame of 2,073,600px you have two frames of 720p which is 1,843,200px of raw data, 720p is 89% of the data of 1080p, the latency of 80ms @720p is 80% of the latency of 100ms at 1080p, close enough to assume a relationship.

I think I';ve seen a lot of people recommend 720p/60fps for recordings as this reduces jello and still provides a good image that doesn';t take an age to upload to youtube. It';s also a lower data rate than the calculation I did above so you';d expect lower latency too.

Now I';ve thought it through the latency isn';t as bad as I first thought if you use 720p/60, however it';s worth keeping in mind that it could become an issue if flying low and fast with higher resolutions.

[Toledodave]

Also..under lowspeed and normal flying conditions only a trained eye can notice any frame rate lag @ 30 fps anyway. Not untill you get into fast movement or maybe fast manuevers will you see your video hindered. I notice quite a few videos with audio also which is required to compress and absorb latency. Why even bother with sound when all you hear is props :/  so you might as well leave audio out and save compression. My intents are to record and stream at 720 and 30fps until i absolutely need 60fps. Theres no reason to run above 720 unless your going to do video editing and by saying that i mean like zoom and/or picture editing. Clipping videos doesnt matter. :/

[powerlord]

From the ';other';  group:

ProTune Enabled:

4k/15T
130ms +/- 15ms

2.7k/30T
100ms +/- 15ms

1080/60T
100ms +/- 15ms

720/120T
80ms +/- 15ms

ProTune Disabled:

2.7k/30p
115ms +/- 15ms

1080/60P
100ms +/- 15ms

720/120P
70ms +/- 15ms

Also some of you seem to be thinking that this data is ';streamed';  across your tx rx video feed -  it';s not: it';s just transmitting sd analogue video remember (even if you set 4k 15fps you';ll still get NTSC analogue 30 fps out of the gopro).  All the gopro resolution setting does it very very slightly affect how quickly the chip gets around to passing through the live video -  the live video is not ';720p'; or ';compressed';

Stu
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[Toledodave]

Thankyou for clearing that up. I meant to represent it that way. Convert was a better use then compress. Signal is still just signal its just how the differnt devices comprehend it.   Then the only other thing to add is the higher resolution the more Sd card space thats required if recording :/