GoPro Hero 3 Silver Edition

I recently spent 20 glorious days in Jamaica. I highly recommend going if you can. I stayed at the Beaches Negril resort on the western tip of the island. Negril is famous for its 7 mile white sand beach.

 I scuba dive and snorkel, and had a number of trips planned that I wanted to photograph that a regular DSLR wouldn't be appropriate for. After looking at point and shoot cameras that were waterproof I decided instead to go in a different direction. I purchase a Go Pro Silver. The system is awesome.

The GoPro Hero 3 is a hi-definition camera (1080i). The Silver comes with a waterproof case and a case that is useful for rugged, but not wet environments. It also has a WiFi capability built in. There are a lot of options available for it for mounting, and it's easy to make your own mounts

What I brought

I bought the kit along with

• 2 additional batteries
• the chest mount
• the head mount (you look like a dork but it works really well)
• an extra 'bag of bits' from Amazon
• the humidity insert

If I had known that the attachments were so easy to forget once you stick them on something, I would have bought a second bag of bits (it was about $20). Remember that if you're out of the country. Buy 3. They're cheap. And bring heavy duty foam tape so you can reuse them after you pop them off (you'll need a knife or screwdriver).

I also picked up a monopod and an adaptor for that which allowed more flexibility with mounting direction. This could have been done with the bag of bits, but I went this way. The monopod allowed lifting it up, using it underwater, and more.

My Uses

Over the 20 days I used it for:

• Scuba diving, (wore chest mount)
• Snorkeling,  (wore chest mount)
• Cimbing the 600 ft Dunns River Falls waterfall. - (wore head mount)
• 2 zipline tours (mounted on the helmet. One on the side with the appropriate bits to point it forward, the second just straight on the front)
• 3 trips down the Mystic Mountain bobsled (head mount, but hold it!)
• I don't know how many trips down the waterside at the resort
• Chukka dune buggy tour (sticky attachment)
• Chukka ATV tour (sticky attachment on my helmet)

The quality of the images is great. make sure you turn on the ProTune mode and use their software to convert it to MP4. You get much better quality.

It performed well, although it did shut off on me a couple of times. I don't know if I pushed the button or what.

It'll take movies at various resolutions, still pictures, and continuous pictures at whatever interval you set. There are guides on when it is better to use continuous pictures rather than movie mode.

Support WiFi and iOS!

One very cool feature is that it supports WiFi. You can turn on WiFi with a password on the Camera. it then acts as a base that you can attach your iPhone or iPad to. You can preview the output, take pictures, change the picture mode and more. I don't know what battery life is like when WiFi is on, but without it I was getting easily 2 hours.

I had hoped to have my iPad on a Hobie Cat or Kayak and the camera in the water on a pole using the preview mode, never had the chance. The best movie I shot was when I returned to the boat to put it on when snorkeling and when I got back in there was a beautiful 5 or 6 foot stingray that was staying well away from all the splashing  snorkelers.

There is also a special case that you can use with two cameras to make 3-d movies. It's extra (as is the camera)

Downsides

Now the downsides.

• It did shut off on me twice. Both times I missed shots I wanted. There was no indication why, and the battery was fine. I also did encounter one error. but I couldn't read the display (no glasses). Pulling the battery fixed it temporarily. 
• The wrist mount doesn't fit the Hero 3. Didn't happen to me but someone else mentioned it at the resort.
• You will want the LCD back if you want to see what you are recording without a computerI
• It gets hot if it is in the sealed case. It also comes with a protective case that has openings in the back for better sound. Good if you don't plan on getting it wet.
• You have to charge the batteries in the camera. I find this a big issue.

I have great movies of my trip. I am upset that I missed the end of one zipline run, but nothing I can do about it.

I had looked at the first model for mounting on my Miata. I will consider another Sllver to use on my Miata.

Hints

• The box it comes in has a great base that displays the camera. Save it. It is an excellent custom mount.
• Consider making a clamp based attachment. I would have had 3 different views from the bobsled runs (mine, left side low, right side low) that would have been great for editing together. But I didn't have a way to attach it other than the scarce sticky mounts.
• Experiment before you leave. If I had, I'd have bought the LCD back. It's good just as a camera in wet terrain.
• Check Instructables - lots of cool ideas there and elsewhere.
• If you're going to go diving with it and not on a mount, definitely check the design out there to make a stable carrier for it underwater.

In short, definitely worth the money. Dunno if I'd need a GoPro Hero 3 Black. I was surprised that the Silver had the WiFi, as it wasn't clear that was the case.

Will I buy another? Yep.