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5 Easy Steps To The Site
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In Depth Product Reviews
You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.
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Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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Have some fun in the travel section.
I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.
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My Photography Gear: The Cameras/Drones/Action Cams I Use Daily
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
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The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
Big Request to Ray:
Please don’t post your videos in 25 frames per second. Especially when they include camera or drone tests – where you paste footage from a tested webcam working at 30 frames per second.
In all Yours videos with camera / drone tests We can see how the movement is cutting / shaking.
Even if you record the original material on the tested camera / drone in 25 frames – please remember that 99% of displays in monitors / TVs / smartphones work at 60/120 frames per second. And very often they are not able to smoothly display the motion from a movie shot with 25 frames (60 don’t dive by 25).
So Big Request one more time: Do All Your movies in 30 / 60 fps.. This is the only format for sport based content (especially GoPro / drone materials)
He is based in Europe and we have 25fps not 30fps.
Generally speaking, my A-roll (the part where you see me talking) is shot in 25fps, because in Europe, my lights are set to that. So I don’t do that, then I’ll get flickering in some scenarios. Obviously, outside, that’s not an issue, and in this case, I could have set it for 30FPS for the a-cam (non-GoPro). Except, then I’ll forget to change it back later, go back to the DCR Cave, shoot something, and have to throw away all my footage.
Now, the workaround would be to have Final Cut Pro convert that from 25FPS to 30FPS. Almost all my action stuff is shot 30/60/120/etc. And, that’s logical, maybe I’ll do it for my Action 2 video in a second, since it’s an easy toggle. The only downside is it costs me some time in Final Cut, but that’s not a big deal.
All that said, your TV actually isn’t the one doing the decoding here. YouTube is. YouTube transcribes it all from whatever I upload it to, to a gazillion resolution/FPS combos. :) I’ll be honest, nobody has ever made this request/suggestion before, but I’ll keep it in mind.
YouTube don’t touch / convert fps.. Only resolution and compression formats… You can always check this in Details for Nerds (right click in Youtube player)…
If You will convert content in Final Cut Pro from 25 to 30 FPS, there will be one double frame every 5 frames (1 2 3 4 5 5 6 7 8 9 10 10). So some video frames will be display twice as long. Is very visible.
25 FPS is only Europe thing from analog TV era. It is synchronised with frequency in electric grid (50 Hz). But in digital era is a thing from the past. I talking as person who is from Europe (Poland born / Portugal living).
You have a lots content from GoPro / drone cameras, which in default configuration shots in 30/60 fps…
And a lot of sports content, which looks best in higher frame rates (like 30/60 fps).
If You have problems with mixing and matching FPS, the simplest and the best solution is simply STAY for all content (studio, outside, without lighting, with lighting, GoPro, drone, anything else) in 30 / 60 fps… And stay in 30 / 60 fps in all phases of production / distribution (Final Cut Pro, YouTube, Facebook etc).. And in on all Your cameras…
You can mix 30 with 60 FPS (so use 60 FPS material from drone / GoPro in 30 FPS material published in Youtube) – conversion from 60 FPS to 30 FPS if flicker free.
But not 30 FPS 24 FPS or 30 FPS 25 FPS – there will be always visible flicker.
PS. With good modern studio lighting there is no any flicker. This lighting is used also for 24 FPS cinematic content (in Europe with 50Hz grid or USA with 60Hz grid) – no problem.
T
The
It’s funny, when Ray said in the video about the Hero 10 walkthrough getting a million+ views in a year, I was also thinking “this guy needs my advice about YouTube”…
;)
Yeah – I get it. I really do – everything your saying is logical in a perfect world. But unfortunately, it’s just not practical at scale.
Let’s take the hotel room I’m in right now. That lighting? Doesn’t work at 30FPS (as I found out last night). I have to switch to 25FPS.
When I travel to various company offices, trade shots, etc… all have whatever random lighting is in them, and in Europe, that’s virtually guaranteed to be 25FPS. I can’t afford to go shoot stuff and then have to re-shoot it.
And all this entirely ignores the fun of shooting AMOLED displays on watches, which have all sorts of wonky frame rates I’m constantly trying to shoot around (and 25FPS actually fixes it almost all the time).
If I remember, I’ll edit an outside timeline in 30FPS, and trust me, I’d love nothing more than to shoot everything in 30FPS and not worry about constant sync issues. But, I also can’t afford to lose footage and hours of time when things don’t line up. :-/
Can you please tell me what framerates are in the 8:7 and 4:3 mode please?
As no one seams to actually say it, not even GoPro
Many thanks
I actually show the 8:7 config screen in my video. ;)
That said, it’s 5.3K/24/30, 4K/60 + 50Hz equivs, And on 4:3 it’s 5.3K/24/30, and 4K/24/30/60, plus 50Hz equivs.
Thank you, so we get maximum of 5.3k 8:7 at 60fps and 4k 4:3 also at 60fps?
That is a shame as the camera can now do 4k 120fps in SW which is basically 4k 4:3 120fps, which I was really hoping for…
Sorry, 5.3K 8:7 24/30 + equivs.
But yeah, no 120FPS 4:3 unfortunately, just 2.7K 4:3 120FPS.
Thank you
Good stuff!
Some things I’m hoping come up in the full review…
GPS – Will the Hero 11 capture GPS while mounted upside-down from bike handlebars?
This is my biggest gripe with the Hero 10 – it has failed to capture GPS on every single bike ride mounted upside-down.
Workaround is to purchase 3rd party software, or use Garmins older virb edit and (manually) try to sync the fit files from my Garmin Edge. Extra work that shouldn’t be necessary.
PC software – any word if it will be coming back? I realize there is 3rd party software, but I like the Gopro optimized UI, however their old PC Quik software being unsupported is really glitchy and lacking. This means using a phone or tablet to (slowly) process a video and take up space, when my desktop PC is wayyy more powerful.
Aside from that, the horizon lock has me considering an upgrade from the Hero 10 to 11 (I believe the 10 requires max lens mod for this). The Hero 11 stock lens on the other hand may not even justify the need for the max lens for general bike footage?
That is weird about GPS. I have a Hero 10 and it always upside down on my bike. I checked a bunch of photos and they all have correct GPS. K-Edge mount with a Wahoo Roam. I have two Hero 10’s and neither have this issue.
That must very frustrating!
My Photography Gear: The Cameras and Equipment I Use Daily
Perhaps it’s time to update this article, as the date on it is years ago.
Great site btw!
Ray,
The “App Changing Digital Lenses”, do you know if this is a feature only available to Hero11 or will also apply to the Hero10. Also are there any other features that are not exclusive to the Hero11?
Thanks for great reviews
As far as I know, it’s only Hero 11, but I’ll check…
Hi , What about lens mod and is it any usefull on the 11?
Really surprised there was no Max 2 announcement, especially with Insta360 bringing the X3 out. GoPro seem even further behind now in this area. Just bringing out year on year incremental changes on the Hero and forgetting the Max seems odd.
Completely agree with this. The Hero 11 is so similar to the Hero 10 but a Max 2 with new CPU and bigger screen would be a huge step up and an immediate buy for me even though I bought the Max earlier this year. I can’t justify the 11 even though I’d like one as the 10 is good enough. I can only assume they have one ready, maybe a second marketing event so they each get sufficient attention?
Hi,
do you know how long will battery hold for 11 mini model?
Action 2 lives only approx half an hour that is way too short
The mini looks awesome for running. Really hoping it can be configured to take photos as well as video, and not rely 100% on manual extraction of frames in the app to get a photo.. But not holding my breath.
It might just be me, but the Mini seems like a bit of a disappointment. Comparing sizes, it’s just not that “mini”.
Hero 11 – 71.8×50.8×33.6mm = 122,553mm2
Hero 11 Mini – 53x52x38mm = 104,726mm2
So by volume the Hero 11 Mini is 85% of the Hero 11.
Compared to the Hero Session 37.9×37.9×36.1mm = 51,854mm2 roughly 42% of a Hero11
You look at how often users talk about battery life for their Gopro, sure an endurance battery gives a little more, but let’s face it most people have a spare. It made sense that the Session had a fixed battery, but I don’t see the same logic in the mini.
I assume you have to make settings adjustments on a connected phone, and phone connection hasn’t been a strong point for many folks.
As I said it may just be me, but I think the Mini just loses more than it gains. Maybe a niche product. I look forward to your review, where I’m sure you’ll elaborate and fill in what I might be missing.
Will any of the new features come to the Hero 10 via firmware?
Hi Ray,
I received my new GoPro 10 on the day the 11 was released. Is it a no brainer to return & upgrade to the 11 during the 30 day return policy period? It’s my first experience with GoPro so not sure how easy/hard the return process is? Cheers Nate
Hi Ray,
In the video you mention that there will be a Dropbox link for original files but there is none in the description.
Not a real bummer but if you do side by side comparison of the cameras, it would be very nice to have the original files of the same scenes to compare for yourself without YouTube.
I am impressed by the DJI audio in the bay of Alcudia.
Best regards,
Cypher
hey mate, great review as always. you’re my go to source for anything action tech related.
something I’ve been wondering is how the hyperview mode compares to using the Max lens mod? as I understand it, the Max lens mod caps out at 2.7k 120, but hyperview can be used at 5.3k 60. but hyperview is digital, and the only review I’ve read that covers this says they prefer the Max lens over hyperview. can you comment on this?
I’m a big fan of the Max and use it all the time as a single lens camera. my only reason for not upgrading to the hero is because the Max lens caps out at 2.7k.
I have been scanning the internet and cannot find anything on this either! please answer go pro guru!
The FOV for the Max Lens mode is 155*, whereas Hyperview is 141*. However, keep in mind that Max Lens Mod is still limited to 2.7K recordings, whereas HyperView can go up to 5.3K. Inversely, I think Max Lens mod looks ‘cleaner’ because it’s optical, versus a digital squeeze of Hyperview.
That said, as much of a Max Lens Mod fan as I am (I’ve gone long periods with only using it), the lack of ability to quickly get back to a Linear mode kinda sucks. So, I’ll probably just use Hyperview and be more aware of how best to use it (e.g. which situations look good/bad).
Where’s the mini review, keen to see if this will be a good Session replacement (for helmet camera) but looks a tad big…
What’s low light recording performance like? never saw it mentioned apart from the Night Video modes…
Second looking forward to the mini review. Plus what’s the battery life like?
Mini review will be closer to availability, which is currently slated for late October.
As for low light recording, it’s the same as before – not super great.
For battery life on the Mini, GoPro is saying you can use the Hero 11 figures, minus about 10-15%. However, they also say that the “apparent battery life” for most users will feel more, since there’s no screen. Thus, there’s nothing burning battery in between shots. It records and hangs out in a low-power mode compared to the more power hungry Hero 11 (which also has GPS that the Mini doesn’t).
Is the Mini *only* video, or can you change modes?
Ray has answered this elsewhere – it’s video only.
Hi Ray,
Thanks for the review !
Be careful for the Price, the Hero 11 is 449.98€ with subscription, the Hero 10 is 399.98€ (link to gopro.com)
Interesting that the EUR pricing is different, as the USD pricing that I included above is correct ($399/$499).
You shouldn’t require a channel for snorkeling as reds do not truly begin to decrease discernibly until around 15 feet.
I continuously utilize a lodging with my camera indeed in case snorkeling as a security degree. Fair my inclination.
How is the battery life? My VIRB decided it wouldn’t charge the battery inside it any more so I had to carry their external charger. Sold it with some accessories for enough for a GoPro 8 but seems every time I look down at the GoPro its already powered off due to a low battery. Seems to be less than an hour compared to the VIRB which was getting three. Now I review my video and find I missed most everything.
Hi Ray, Couple years ago, there was some fuss around GOPRO Lab and the possibility of controlling the cameras using for example a garmin device (iq app). That would be great , specially with the MINI. Do you have any ideas of that will ever come to life. Cheers
Hi, Ray, thanks, my default go to for gear updates!
Horizon lock:
1. Is the lens cover still replaceable? ……have gone through a few Max mods from scratches…
2. Does the new 11 have Horizon Lock for all FPS, Res and Lens view modes…ie Max Mod has this but videos max out at 2.7k 60fps, SV….will 11 go all the way to 5.3K…or just 4K 120fps…
1) Yup!
2) Not all lens views, just Linear only. So basically, it’s not as wide as the Max Lens mod.
OK great so full horizon lock for all resolutions and frame rates just limited to Linear lens…that’s quite something and puts this way out front of competition…will still use the Max Mod for that wide angle shot though….
Thanks for your review on the GoPro Hero 11.
Can you please stop recording content in 24/25 fps? The stuttering where the smartphone / computer is trying to align this low quality content to 60/120 fps is extremely eye tiring.
Hey Ray,
Great video as usual! Question: sounds like you already have the 11 Mini in your hands. Can we expect a review before Oct.25th launch or does the GoPro NDA restrict that? Thanks!
Very helpful, thanks Ray!
Probably a little late to ask, since my Hero11 is being delivered today, but what are your thoughts on mounting the Hero11 on an upside-down Garmin Out Front-style mount? I currently use a Cycliq Fly12 mounted under my Garmin as a dashcam, but I wanted the GoPro for other reasons and figured it would give me much better footage and be more flexible than the Cycliq. Since it will be mounted upside down, I’m not sure what the best settings to use…I think my ideal output would be stabilized 4k/60 (60 just in case there’s stuff I want to slow down).
Ray, I’m trying to figure out the right gear for rider safety, i.e. recoding drivers during close calls or worse. The mini seems like a really big hammer for this nail and doesn’t appear to have enough battery. There doesn’t seem to be anything that will last into a few hours or more of a ride. Do you have any recommendations (i’d love a video on our options and your thoughts on the current state of tech to solve this).
I’d be curious as to the resolution differences (if any) between the previous GoPro 9/10 models and the new 11/Mini for video capture. As you point out, most of us use vid caps for still photos taken with our GoPro and I’d like to know if vid caps from the 11 and 11 mini are any better than my current 9. (Improved vid caps would be a reason I would upgrade from the 9 – as this is a feature I use frequently.)
Apparently another improvement in the Hero 11 is the GPS module.
“The new HERO11 uses a lower frequency for the GPS module: just 10Hz (10 samples every second). That allows the included U-Blox MAX-M10S module to read data from up to 3 constellations at the same time.
[…] last year’s model sports a different GPS module (UBX-M8030-CT) that can do two concurrent constellations at 10Hz. Interestingly, the supply chain restrictions seem to have forced GoPro to include the newer module from the HERO11 in some HERO10 units, so some users could see the full benefit when updating.”
link to goprotelemetryextractor.com
Huh – that’s pretty cool!
Ray,
If I was using the Hero11 mini with the remote to trigger photos / videos, how long would the battery last? That is, could I leave the camera “on” during a 4 – 5 hour ride and just use the remote to trigger video / photos? Or would I need to turn the camera on / off?
I would be mounting the Hero11 mini on the bottom of my computer mount, so I don’t want to have to reach over and fiddle with turning it on / off
Yeah, it basically goes to sleep each time it’s not recording (Note: there is no photo mode). So basically, you tap the record button using remote, do your thing, and then back to sleep it goes.
That said, the more I use it (hopefully review finally later this week), I’m just lacking excitement for it. The main problem is that once you get used to not just one, but two screens, going to no screens is tough. I was using it this weekend out ice skating on the rowing basin. I had both with me. And my desire to use the Mini was super limited – only focused on the specific dual shots I needed for the review. Beyond that, it went back into my pocket and took out the regular Hero 11 Black.
The thing is, it just doesn’t save a meaningful amount of space. So you save $100, sure, but you lose so much more in terms of usability. Silly-easy things like changing settings become cumbersome.
To me, I had really hoped it’d basically be more akin to DJI’s Action 2 (or a beefier Insta360 Go 2). And while I know the goal was to provide a Session 5-like experience with all the power of a Hero 11, I feel like action cameras have kinda moved on from the Session 5 no-frills model. I’d have been OK with such a model, if it was indeed really small (again, like the Insta360 Go series). Then that’s a fine trade-off. But with the size being only marginally smaller…kinda shrug.
Don’t get me wrong – I want GoPro to keep going down this path, but if they can’t quite make the thermals work in a small package, then I honestly think they need to cut features for size, rather than just make it clunkier. Right now it sorta landed in no-mans-land.
Thanks for the additional commentary. My use is where an improved session5 would have been perfect: just for biking mounted under the computer mount out front for taking “picture” / short videos while out riding. Oh well
Yo DC! Did you ever post the video on the Hero 11 Mini?Can’t seem to find your in-depth review on that! Thanks!
What’s the best bang for your buck right now for a Hero 11? I’m happy to buy a bundle if it’s reasonable.
I’d say the best bang for buck is the just-dropped price by $100. ;)
Thanks for being a DCR Supporter, sorry I missed this earlier!
I’m puzzled by the “Changing Digital Lenses” function in the Quik mobile and (for pay!?) the desktop app. From quick eyeballing some footage I shot it seems to simply change cropping, so recording at 8:7 and cropping later would be equivalent?
Playing around on some footage, it also removes some of the fisheye effect (if going to linear).
But yeah, the general idea though is that you can record in a bigger frame and then easily crop accordingly later.