Video Camera Suggestions: Is GOPRO Good Enough?

December 27, 2011 3:28 PM

In a couple of weeks I'm going to start shooting icehockey games for our local kids, the San Diego Saints.

I've learned from the skaterboarder kids at the local skatepark that gopro is pretty cheap and awesome...they taught me how to get different angles by mounting the cam on pvc tubing.

Will a gopro mounted that way suffice for capturing hockey game footage that can be used for coaching? ie. shooting from above the glass/boards?

I kinda have it figured out in my head, but I've never used a gopro cam so I don't know if it's any good from that distance and maybe I should be thinking about a different camera. If you suggest better cameras, I'm a DIY guy so I won't have any problems mounting anything.

Many thanks in advance!

posted by snsranch to Technology (5 answers total)

The gopro's lens is extremely wide. Like, approaching fish-eye. This is what makes it such a great camera for shooting "action sports" and extreme stuff in pov. The wideness really enhances the feeling of speed and movement. Also it shoots slow motion which is always cool. If your goal is to generate footage for coaching purposes you may not be playing to the camera's strong points. I would think ideally you would want to be as high as possible shooting with a more neutral length lens to better represent the distances and angles of the action (similar to NFL all 22 film). However if that isn't possible, the wideness of the lens may be an advantage because mounting it on the top of the glass you'll still get a very wide field of view. The thing is, if it's above the net the distortion is ping to make the guys at the blue line seem very very small. I imagine this would be an issue for power plays and the like.
posted by nathancaswell at 3:50 PM on December 27, 2011

The thing that makes the go pro so cool is it allows you to get very CLOSE to the action while still seeing ALOT of the action. Keep that in mind when you're figurin out where to put it/them. Will you have access to more than one?
posted by nathancaswell at 3:52 PM on December 27, 2011

Ps holding a go pro up above the glass on a PVC pole and looking down at people digging out pucks and the like is going to look RAD. I'm just not quite sure what the ultimate goal is.
posted by nathancaswell at 3:54 PM on December 27, 2011

I've worn a GoPro on my helmet while playing hockey and while near and medium-distance stuff looked awesome, when I was on the bench looking down towards the far goal you couldn't really see what was going on. Just something to keep in mind.
posted by ghharr at 4:12 PM on December 27, 2011

Thanks for the insight guys. Exactly what I needed to hear. The gopro sounds great for the highlight reels, but we're gonna have to with something more traditional so the coach can easily point out positions and plays.

The approach will still be the same, shooting from one side at center and scanning. Just need a different camera with some zoom.
posted by snsranch at 1:34 PM on December 28, 2011