Hero 3 Black Edition First Impressions

[eyeflying]

The props are unbalanced, the gimbal is out of order and the quad had developed an unusual ';twitch'; but my GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition arrived today and I was keen to hoist it aloft!

So, armed with rubber bands and zip ties, I hastily strapped it to the shaky underside of the only thing I had ready to fly - and here';s the very brief result. Sorry about the shakes and jerks - as I said the quad';s a little poorly at the moment but I know people are keen to see the Hero 3 in action.

Boring video I know but it was the image quality I wanted to see.

http://youtu.be/x4fbYwqy_VM

[teslahed]

That';s very impressive video quality, especially if the quad has a few minor issues as you say. Thanks for posting.

[icedfusion]

Where did you buy it and at what cost?
very good video - wondering if they have a wdr sensor in there?

ice.

[eyeflying]

Where did you buy it and at what cost?
very good video - wondering if they have a wdr sensor in there?

I was really lucky with this. I spotted it on ebay for £300 BIN - Brand New unopened. I thought this can';t be right, but it turned out the guy who sold it to me had bought it in the US a week ago and then returned home to an unexpected bill for his car. He just wanted to sell the camera for what he paid for it. I spotted the item within 6 minutes of him listing it He even included the receipt to show me what he paid.

I think I was quite lucky with this as they';re generally selling on ebay for around £450

The video I';ve posted is nowhere near as good as what came of the camera - its lost so much sharpness through YouTube conversion. The original is pin sharp.

The only problem with the camera that I can find so far, is that if you want to use the higher quality settings then you';re going to need a really powerful computer with a fast disk array to edit the material it produces. Also it';ll eat Micro SD cards in the 4k mode.

Incidentally, the guy I bought it off travels to the US twice a month on business, he says he';ll get me another for a fee of £30 - we';ll see 

[Jumpy07]

I really want one of these.. I think the ability to do time-lapsed stills is great.. also it will allow post editing and framing without dropping below 1080p quality

Cant find one yet in UK they were supposed to be in stock end Nov

[eyeflying]

I really want one of these.. I think the ability to do time-lapsed stills is great.. also it will allow post editing and framing without dropping below 1080p quality

Cant find one yet in UK they were supposed to be in stock end Nov

I agree, the time lapse mode looks really interesting - I might give that a try over the weekend and post the results if anyone';s interested. Also the slo-mo looks good too because the camera can capture at high frame rate (up to 60fps). It also does a 12Mb burst of stills - I think up to 30 per second. I think the best feature though is the built-in wireless.

The last thing I heard about stock availability is that the initial pre-orders have cleared their stock - they';re looking at late January now so expect to pay a premium if you want one now or buy one from the US - there';s absolutely no difference between the US and UK version.

[Gaza07]

Very nice but I will wait for the gopro 4 to come out so I can get a 3 at the right price   

[eyeflying]

I';ve had more of a chance to play with camera now (no aerial stuff I';m afraid - weather too bad). Picture quality is amazing although editing at the higher resolutions is a bit slow - need some faster disk drives. Not had chance to try out all the features yet, timelapse, slo-mo, etc. - did try the 30fps burst mode though - very impressive.

However, I noticed that it seems to get quite warm very quickly. I can';t seem to find any comments relating to this and I was wondering whether this is normal?

[Brian]

However, I noticed that it seems to get quite warm very quickly.

Does that stop it fogging up in the waterproof case?

Brian

[eyeflying]

Does that stop it fogging up in the waterproof case?

Brian

You';re probably right Brian. Maybe its intentional - it probably would help prevent fogging. This is the first GoPro I';ve ever used so I haven';t had much experience with them - do the other models (1 & 2) get warm too?

[Gaza07]

Ive never noticed my gopro getting warm but then its not using such a powerful processor to do the higher res maybe its just that 

[Balders]

not noticed mine getting warm, but the housing does fog up quite easily, with a bit of flying into the sun

[Brian]

Not really noticed it myself, but I do wait till I get back home before I take it out of the case.I may bung in a few grains of that silicone stuff you get with electrical stuff to see if that helps.

Brian

[johnrs]

I sold my Gopro 2 and then they started to push the date back so I am gopro less now    keep checking the site  currently the 13th dec

[Jumpy07]

My cousin is in the states on Fri.. have asked her to try and source me a black edition.. as no one can confirm when they can ship me one in the UK..

Fingers crossed ..