GoPro alternatives - Drift Ghost S?

[tamas970]

I am planning to buy my first action cam - actually a pair for 3D. The GoPro did not catch me, because of the limited battery and its tendency to kill SD-cards or videos. However, I admire its IQ and looking for a capable alternative.


I found 2: the Ghost S from Drift and the Sony HDR-AS100V.

Does anyone have experience with the Drift unit? Currently it is my favorite, because of the variable FOV - however, the IQ is lesser than the AS100V and hero3 black (~26Mbps at fullHD 60p).
Is it a problem that the focus range (on land) is ~0.5m to infinity? How much do I loose in the first 0.5m (1.5')?

 

[greenliger]

Just keep in mind the ability to add a red filter is extremely limited.

 

[JazzeD]

The 2 cameras you have listed are only waterproof up until 3 & 5m so not really usable during SCUBA diving.

 

[tamas970]

It seems I have to go with a custom (=homemade) solution because of the 3D anyway (no default 3D option for the 3+, needless to say with variable interaxial...).

The 2 cameras you have listed are only waterproof up until 3 & 5m so not really usable during SCUBA diving.

Of course I've done my research and found the corresponding housings - rated to 60m. This is a POSITIVE thing compared to GoPro, since the hero3 is not waterproof without its housing and you loose the camera if you have a leak.

 

[Hobby Mounts]

The GoPro did not catch me, because of the limited battery and its tendency to kill SD-cards or videos. However, I admire its IQ and looking for a capable alternative.

I'm not sure if you have misinformation or whether your basing this is on the early Hero 3 Cameras, which agreed, did have issues with memory cards and poor battery life.

However, the newer Hero 3+ models are much much better in terms of battery performance and as long as you stick with a 100% genuine card from the list of recommended cards, you will not have an issue.

Hope this helps.

 

[tamas970]

The memory card issue may truly be history - I base my conclusion on the content - and the sole existence of threads in the gopro user forum. I also read sometimes of crashes/non-recording. For doing 3D systematically I really need a stable firmware - otherwise if just one shot is not recorded it will mess up the left and right file sequence and I have to check the whole lot manually.

Anyway, a hard selling point for me in the competitors is the waterproof body. Meaning if the UW case leaks I don't loose the cam in the middle of a once-in-the-life liveaboard.

I started my research with the hero3+, I am still considering it but would like to see what is the competition doing. As for IQ, I don't think any 1080p60 capable competitor with the 1/2.3" sony sensor and decent codecs would deviate much.