GoPro - Camera - Questions

[jonglob]

Hello,
Me and my team are thinking of using the GoPro Hero 5 Session cameras.
I have some concerns about using it.
For backup we will just attach additional external battery - so that shouldn't be an issue,

I am more worried for the memory space, as I plan of using high quality (4K) video for the shoot.
I am worried that space will run out prior to retrieval, has anybody has experience with Go pro and sooting 4K video, what happens if space runs out of the card, is there a way to start and stop video somehow using time internal or remotely.

One more thing, I read some people kep the Gopro Inside the Styrofoam Case, and Some had it outside, any expirience with that also ?

Many Thanks,
Jonathan

[tim]

Hello Jonathan,

I actually have the same question regarding the "inside Styrofoam case" vs "outside the Styrofoam case" with the GoPro. I was wondering if you had discovered anything since your post? Thanks.

Tim

[dmiller7115]

Hey Tim/Jon,

We always mounted the camera inside the Styrofoam box. There are two main pro's to mounting inside. First, the camera stays reasonably well insulated inside of the box (we also applied sticky heat pads everywhere). If the camera gets too cold, it could fail (though I haven't seen it happen). Second, if it's inside the box, it's less likely to get knocked out. We often mounted some object out in front of our camera (outside the box) for fun and sometimes when the payload landed in a tree, the object would get knocked off and lost forever in the woods.

If you do mount it inside the box, make sure to carve out a big enough window for the lens so that the Styrofoam doesn't get in the picture. We'd always do a few practice tests and replay the video to make sure. A few times, we had the camera case permanently glued to the box (sacrificing the case) but were able to pop out the camera at will. Depending on the design, there are a few different ways to skin the cat.

-Duncan

[bgoczan]

Different cameras need different insulation. It is recommened to test it prior flight.

Particularly the GoPros are tend to overheat, at least the previous generations (GoPro 2, 3, 4), it could be used to heat the instrumentation capsule if it is placed inside the insulation.

I definitely recommend to test the components with the insulation. During the preparation for our first flight, we used a barebone digital camera placed inside the insulation. The camera and the other electronic components heated up the capsule to 40-50°C (100-120°F) during a bench test.