I have been thinking about getting a GoPro Hero cam to mount on my helmet during my bike rides, so I was wondering if anyone has used these camera's underground with any success.

Would a GoPro in a dive housing be sturdy enough to survive the rigors of the underworld?

You are going to get a 100 different opinions lol.

I "think" Tim (webmaster) has one mounted on his lid and if he does he will be the best person to ask (He is at Knowlsey Safari Park today the poor sod).

Light is obviously crucial underground and video cameras won't work without it (this is not as obvious as it seems).

I have tried many video cameras and they were virtually all very poor in low light conditions (even one I tried out with a purchase price of £1600).

I found a small, Nth generation video/photo camera which can be bought on Ebay which seemed to handle the low light well but, sadly, they die very easily underground and it is not HD.

See if Tim picks up on this thread before you buy one (I know Tim also has stupidly strong bright lights too)



Ian

Yes, I think I've seen some pics of Tim's mounted camera, but wasn't sure if it was a GoPro. I've read the Hero's 1 & 2 aren't very good in low light but apparently the Hero 3 is supposed to be better, I've seen a few great cave diving video's that were filmed with the Hero 3.

I plan to use a GoPro for my bike rides, so it would be an added bonus if they were any good underground.

I've been looking at buying one, and i've spoke to tim about his..

His is one of the first Gopros, he says it's OK but not great underground, the hero 3 is supposed to be much much better, but be warned, not all the Hero3's are the same, the one you want is the black addition which is £350 ish...

all the other HD hero3's are just a hero2 in a smaller body, the only one worth buying for underground is the HD Hero3 - Black addition. this is why it is £160 more expensive then the normal hero3

Mine is Hero HD, the later Hero 2 and Hero 3 (normal) will be usable. But yes, Hero HD black will be the best.

Don't get me wrong though, with a decent light even the Hero HD is usable, and the Hero 2 and 3 can only be better again.

Hardest thing is actually using it to take good film. I.e. remembering to keep your head still at times!

I run my one with the extra battery backpack and a 32gig card and it'll run for a whole 6ish hours (not actually timed it - it might be longer)

Also used it on bike and skiing and climbing