GoPro Newbie + iPad

[duncdiver]

I will be extensively traveling remotely with new H3 where I do not want to take a laptop, but have an iPad and iPhone. I do not necessarily want to do video editing while there, although that would be nice to quickly discard any "wasted" space on the SD chips. Any suggested apps or where to find more information about how to preview GoPro videos on iPad? There won't likely be any HDMI TV's where I am going.

 

[yarik83]

This is what I do:

Apple sells SD card adapter... as always they like to milk their clients so people like us buy them. SD card adapter fits either (really important) into 30 pin standard connector (IPAD 1,2,3) or lightning connector (IPAD 4, IPAD mini) but not interchangeably. Kit comes with SD and USB thingies. You then take micro SD adapter and put micro SD card in it, you then put that into IPAD connector and voila. Ipad does a great job recognizing the card and photos and videos on it.

I always watch my stuff and show it to other folks in our dive group while we are out having lunch or dinner on dive trips.

Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit - Apple Store (U.S.)

Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader - Apple Store (U.S.)

Those are sold in most stores (ie walmart, target, best buy etc). Be sure to buy one that fits your ipad.

 

[duncdiver]

I have a multi-function Line Out Doc (LOD) adapter (quote) apple compatible (end quote) which I have used to offload pictures from other still cameras. It has a micro-SD slot, plus USB and more. What app is used to offload videos? Is it built-in Apple or 3rd party? It does not seem to work for me, but perhaps i am not looking in the right spot. Plug/play would be nice!

 

[JamesK]

go in to the photo viewer and it will give you the option to download from memory car. this works for me using the iPad camera connection kit posted above.

 

[duncdiver]

Thanks for the reply. I just figured out that I need to first insert the micro SD chip into the adapter, THEN plug the adapter into the LOD. That insert action will auto-play the built-in PHOTOS app which allows me to download the video. I learned most of this by inference and closely watching a couple of YouTube How-To videos posted by HooHooHoblin which also provided some guidance about using the ($5) iMovie app and/or the Avid Studio app to perform daily video editing while over dinner, assuming my wife would rather help with editing rather than converse! Some wine may be involved too. I highly recommend these two easily searched YouTube videos for newbies like me. I suspect other iPad-based editing jewels of wisdom are lurking in this scuba-board, I just had not found them. I am currently waiting many minutes for the iMovie app to download. How dang big is it?

I hope to practice what I learn here very soon, before I "go overboard" ;^). I still need to make some light diffusion filters similar to the Hero 3D post.

 

[yarik83]

I would apply some caution with respect to dumping stuff onto ipad. My ipad 3 and my ipad 4 are both 16gb which means that video footage will pretty much occupy entire hard drive. I do not know whether it backwards converts video onto ipad format but I am sure there is video reduction going on somewhere.

I always travel with 2 8gb sd cards for my main camera. Now that I also purchased 2 gopro hero 3's I also have 2 8gb micro sd as well as 2 32gb micro sd. My take on it is that there is no such thing as too many sd cards. I prefer to make backups of backups of backups and travel with multiple cards so if camera floods or fries or whatever I would not have lost entire vacation's worth of stuff that some people like to record on 1 chip.

 

[duncdiver]

Good points. My ipad 3 has 64 gb, but already half used. I am deleting stuff in preparation. A few like the national geographic will be read and dumped during my flight. I also purchased four 32gb micro SD chips, but will be traveling almost three weeks and ten each two tank dives planned. If I don't have enough memory, I will just trust to the one I was born with. Although that seems on the fritz more often lately. I also fear the loss of the iPad itself too! My wife looked at the recently arrived GoPro and simply said "it is too small. You will lose it! I hope to prove her wrong and to have a tether for the underwater setup t least. I have been looking at above waterline holders too.

---------- Post added December 16th, 2012 at 06:43 PM ----------

I should also add that iMovie itself is 529 MB, while Pinnacle (Avid Studio replacement) is only 65 MB and apparently more capable. I am guessing this is not an apples to apples comparison?

 

[yarik83]

Aye, definitely want to tether it. My bonica camera screwes into tray but I always wrap the lanyard around my arm just in case. When its clipped to my bc its clipped in 2 places holding each arm of the tray as well as lanyard is clipped to a 3rd spot. With gopros (have not done it yet but will soon) I will use heavy duty metal line that will connect both cameras to the tray. I went to sports authority and bought 2 fishing hooks that came with metal lines. I cut the hooks off and will recycle the wires for camera setup. I figure you can never have too many safety precautions.

 

[Ricardo V.]

Perhaps buying a good number of SD cards and a couple of memory storage cases will help. Memory costs has come down considerably nowadays and it's also good to have the freedom of traveling light. As far as editing and working with an iPad, I've had issues editing photos and videos with iPad and found best to do that type of work with a computer that offers more processing power than a pad.
Much success to you and enjoy your dive trip.

 

[Eneay001]

Thanks all. You can watch GoPro videos on iPad with video converter for iPad app.