Comprehensive Camera for Filming your Golf Swing Thread

[mchepp]

I am thinking about getting the GoPro Hero 3 Silver edition so I decided to bump this thread and see if anyone has tried one to film a golf swing yet? It does 120 FPS at 848x480 resolution and 60 fps at 720p.  The black edition actually does 240 fps but its $100 more.   So anyone using one of these to film with? Seems like it would be really convenient and easy to setup as well.

I was ALL jazzed to get the black edition from Santa this year, but after thinking and fretting and theorizing I am thinking of not getting it. I am using the Nikon J1 right now as a loaner from work and the 400fps is really good, but it is a strange aspect ratio. So for right now I am in a holding pattern. Sorry if that didn't help.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by mchepp

I was ALL jazzed to get the black edition from Santa this year, but after thinking and fretting and theorizing I am thinking of not getting it. I am using the Nikon J1 right now as a loaner from work and the 400fps is really good, but it is a strange aspect ratio.

I'll record with my Black edition here soon. We'll do it indoors and see what we can discover.

The aspect ratio is 640 x 240 right? Can you try it vertically - in portrait mode - and see if the videos are auto-rotated at all? Can you record a swing vertically and send it to me?

The golf swing SHOULD be recorded vertically for maximum "pixel coverage" of the golfer (higher resolution). We waste a lot of space to the left and right of golfers in landscape mode with grass, other people in the background, etc. but we are forced to do so because most cameras assume you're recording a movie in landscape mode (iPhones don't, which is the one nice thing about recording your golf swing with an iPhone), and it is more annoying to rotate those videos EVERY time you look at them (or even the first time you look at them).

[JimMurphy99]

Honestly I would look at an investment in a GoPro Hero...

They have by far the best movie cameras for sports out there.  Check out their home page at http://gopro.com/products/?gclid=CMWBg4mC8rMCFcuZ4Aod5HIA0w

Good luck - will make a great Xmas present for yourself!

Originally Posted by evan01

Hey guys and gals, does any one have a review on a inexpensive recorder that can pick up a golf swing? I would like to be able to look at my swing  or a buddies.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by JimMurphy99

Honestly I would look at an investment in a GoPro Hero...

They have by far the best movie cameras for sports out there.  Check out their home page at http://gopro.com/products/?gclid=CMWBg4mC8rMCFcuZ4Aod5HIA0w

Good luck - will make a great Xmas present for yourself!

You can't control the shutter speed. And you have to pay an extra $79 for an LCD BacPac to know what you're shooting exactly.

[darkhunter139]

You can use the GoPro cell phone app with the Hero 3's to do that as well.  Not sure how good the app is but its an option.  (Not an option on the black edition yet, still waiting for a firmware update for that one)

[iacas]

Originally Posted by darkhunter139

You can use the GoPro cell phone app with the Hero 3's to do that as well.  Not sure how good the app is but its an option.  (Not an option on the black edition yet, still waiting for a firmware update for that one)

True, if you want to use your phone for that. And you're wrong... I can't... prior to December 14. :)

P.S. Reviews mention that the video on your phone is several seconds (4 or 5) behind what the camera is actually recording. Which is fine when you're just setting up to record a golf swing. I bought an LCD BacPac, though.

[mchepp]

Can you record a swing vertically and send it to me?

Will do. It might be a few days because the Pineapple express has hit Northern California and we may float away into the Pacific Ocean over the next couple of days. [quote name="iacas" url="/t/55373/high-speed-video-camara/30#post_787791"] True, if you want to use your phone for that. And you're wrong... I can't... prior to December 14. :) P.S. Reviews mention that the video on your phone is several seconds (4 or 5) behind what the camera is actually recording. Which is fine when you're just setting up to record a golf swing. I bought an LCD BacPac, though. [/quote] The LCD is another thing that sort of turned me off of the Hero3. I can probably guess what to shoot, but I like to be able to review quickly after. That will be tough. One thing I don't like about the Nikon 1, is that it runs for about 6 seconds in the 400fps mode. So I have to set the 10s delay, run to set up to the ball and then hit it within the 6 sec recording time. 10s to run from the camera position to the hitting position is okay, but there is a little bit of stress to hit it on time. Also the Casio has a nice editing feature that you can edit the video to be only the swing. That is nice. There seems to be tradeoffs with almost all the cameras.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by mchepp

The LCD is another thing that sort of turned me off of the Hero3. I can probably guess what to shoot, but I like to be able to review quickly after. That will be tough.

One thing I don't like about the Nikon 1, is that it runs for about 6 seconds in the 400fps mode. So I have to set the 10s delay, run to set up to the ball and then hit it within the 6 sec recording time. 10s to run from the camera position to the hitting position is okay, but there is a little bit of stress to hit it on time. Also the Casio has a nice editing feature that you can edit the video to be only the swing. That is nice.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that entirely stupid 6 second thing.

Stupid.

[darkhunter139]

Originally Posted by iacas

True, if you want to use your phone for that. And you're wrong... I can't... prior to December 14. :)

P.S. Reviews mention that the video on your phone is several seconds (4 or 5) behind what the camera is actually recording. Which is fine when you're just setting up to record a golf swing. I bought an LCD BacPac, though.

Yeah the LCD BacPac and wifi remote are a better option for sure if you can afford it.  Especially if you use it for things other than filming a golf swing because I'd imagine you wouldn't want to risk taking out your expensive smart phone if you were in the middle of snowboarding or something.

I ordered a Silver just because of the price basically, excited to get it in! Ill post a few 120 fps swing samples.  Looking forward to seeing the 240 fps the black edition can do.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by darkhunter139

I ordered a Silver just because of the price basically, excited to get it in! Ill post a few 120 fps swing samples.  Looking forward to seeing the 240 fps the black edition can do.

I'm going to do some of these tomorrow (Thursday). I'll probably post them later at night.

[darkhunter139]

Did you ever get a chance to try it out yet? If so what'd you think?

[iacas]

Yes. Here's an image from two clips (I recorded one landscape and one portrait):

Here's a link to a zip file with these two movie files in it (I trimmed it in QuickTime Player but that was all).

http://cl.ly/3L1F1Y1l1L1A

I think for not setting the shutter speed and just using the indoor lights (which we record at between 1/500 and 1/1000 - in the special hitting bay we can do 1/2000 but this wasn't filmed there) it did a pretty good job. ODDLY , the camera plays the videos back AT 240 FPS. Now a Casio will record a video at 240 FPS but play it back at 30. So you'll note these videos try to play back in real-time. If your computer isn't fast enough, it'll skip and jump frames, but frame-by-frame in Analyzr works just fine.

Note: literally the first two swings I made in the past three weeks, perhaps a month. Still got the handle forward, baby! :)

[mchepp]

Do the videos feel like they have some barrel distortion? The running at 240fps is a bit odd.

[darkhunter139]

Awesome thanks!

Looks pretty good, I was able to slow it down and jump frame by frame and it looked great! If the Silver edition I ordered works even half as good I will be happy, the only thing I had to video my swing before was my iPhone and you can't really slow that down much without losing a bunch of frames (and it is a pain in the ass to mount somewhere).   Itll be super easy to throw in my bag and take it to the course/range/setup in the back yard with my net too.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by mchepp

Do the videos feel like they have some barrel distortion?

Yeah, but it's operating at a wide angle and everything's pretty close. Get it outside and it's much less noticeable.

[Beachcomber]

Nice!  Thanks for posting the videos.  This is what I'm asking Santa for.

Any chance you can take some pictures of the H3 Black mounted to a tripod?  I'd like to see how you are mounting the camera as I'll need to get one that can fit into my golf bag.

Originally Posted by iacas

Yes. Here's an image from two clips (I recorded one landscape and one portrait):

Here's a link to a zip file with these two movie files in it (I trimmed it in QuickTime Player but that was all).

http://cl.ly/3L1F1Y1l1L1A

I think for not setting the shutter speed and just using the indoor lights (which we record at between 1/500 and 1/1000 - in the special hitting bay we can do 1/2000 but this wasn't filmed there) it did a pretty good job. ODDLY, the camera plays the videos back AT 240 FPS. Now a Casio will record a video at 240 FPS but play it back at 30. So you'll note these videos try to play back in real-time. If your computer isn't fast enough, it'll skip and jump frames, but frame-by-frame in Analyzr works just fine.

Note: literally the first two swings I made in the past three weeks, perhaps a month. Still got the handle forward, baby! :)

[darkhunter139]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

Nice!  Thanks for posting the videos.  This is what I'm asking Santa for.

Any chance you can take some pictures of the H3 Black mounted to a tripod?  I'd like to see how you are mounting the camera as I'll need to get one that can fit into my golf bag.

I am planning on using a Gorillapod for mine, there is an attachment you can get that will let it fit on a standard size tripod mount.

http://www.amazon.com/Joby-GP1-A1EN-GorillaPod-Flexible-Tripod/dp/B000EVSLRO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid;=1354611198&sr;=8-1&keywords;=gorilla+pod

They give you a few sticky mounts with the camera as well so you could probably rig up something yourself if you were feeling creative.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

Nice!  Thanks for posting the videos.  This is what I'm asking Santa for.

Any chance you can take some pictures of the H3 Black mounted to a tripod?  I'd like to see how you are mounting the camera as I'll need to get one that can fit into my golf bag.

Originally Posted by darkhunter139

I am planning on using a Gorillapod for mine, there is an attachment you can get that will let it fit on a standard size tripod mount.

I have a GorillaPod. I also have this, which is a no-brainer to buy:

http://www.amazon.com/GoPro-Tripod-Mount-HERO-Cameras/dp/B002RCLYXG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid;=1354632111&sr;=8-1&keywords;=gopro+tripod (when I bought, the OFFICIAL GoPro one was $5.99 - this one's a knockoff but the official one is weirdly $11.95 on Amazon right now. I doubt the knockoff is problematic - it's a simple piece of plastic).

Also, consider this: http://www.amazon.com/GoPro-Camera-ANDMK-301-Naked-Frame/dp/B009PK9QGU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie;=UTF8&qid;=1354632214&sr;=1-1&keywords;=gopro+frame You're welcome to use the waterproof housing that comes with the camera, but it's bulky. I like the frame's simplicity.

Note: you'll probably want to add the LCD BacPac.