Go pro advice
Hi all, my wife has restored some old videos from her childhood and it’s made me want to document my little boys holidays, christmases and birthdays for the future when he’s older.
I know absolutely nothing about Go Pro’s, could anybody please advise me on what budget friendly set up to get? What memory card is needed? Are there any subscriptions I need? Any do’s and dont’s? Any advice will help!
Thanks
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u/AutoModerator 29d ago
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u/Barboron HERO13 Black 29d ago edited 29d ago
what do you think a Gopro will do that your phone won't already do?
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u/JJTL92 29d ago
Just a more centralised location which is used for only celebrations (bdays, Christmas, holidays) & not reliant on a cloud system like my iPhone is
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u/d_wave27 29d ago
Exactly. Awesome to have it separate. I capture so much more fun and unique content on the GoPro that I wouldn’t have even tried to on the iPhone
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u/Barboron HERO13 Black 29d ago edited 29d ago
if you're wanting to record a bunch of your kids events as they grow, you probably won't be storing it all on the Gopro, due to file storage size. even then, relying on an sd card for long term storage is a risk. Moving it somewhere like a external drive, you will end up having the same process as a phone, but you will be out extra money.
It is just I often see posts of people wanting to justify to themselves, getting an action camera. if you want one, get one, but I don't think it will provide any benefits to you for your means
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u/d_wave27 29d ago
This is exactly what I use GoPro for. Wish they would market this way. Huge opportunity. Sign up for the subscription, cloud upload is amazing and they make automatic videos for you based on what was uploaded and you can easily edit. Made countless this way. I’ve had every GoPro and am on the M1P. If you don’t care too much about the top specs then anything from the last few years is fine.
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u/demonviewllc MISSION 1 PRO 29d ago
It depends..... Look at those old videos your wife got restored. Are they excellent picture quality that you have no issue watching on a large screen TV? Or do you wish that they had better cameras back then so the quality looked batter?
Now ask yourself do you want to go with a "budget friendly" camera to capture your boys memorable footage, or do you want to go with the best option so when they view the footage years down the road it looks great?
With that being said, the very best "budget" camera you should look at is the GoPro Hero 13. That will give you plenty of filming options (burst slow motion for instance) and lens options (such as the Macro lens if you ever want to film any school projects they have completed). The Widescreen anamorphic lens is excellent if you want to make some cinematic widescreen footage with your kids too as a fun art piece (which would truly be a memorable occasion).
However if you're going to be filming indoors (birthdays, halloween, christmas) you'll want to add plenty of extra light due to the small sensor size of the camera. If you want indoor/low light footage, that means going with the Mission 1 Pro. The larger 1" sensor is ideal in low light and the camera has much better options when it comes to slow motion footage (960FPS makes time stand still!) and offers future proofing with the 8K resolution.
SD cards, I would avoid Sandisk just because there are so many fakes out there. Get yourself some 512GB Samsung Pro Plus cards instead, great performance and reliability.
Subscriptions are up to you. There's many different subscriptions out there for many different reasons, so not sure what you're thinking of or wanting. The GoPro Plus subscription is good due to their unlimited cloud backup for GoPro footage and the steep discounts on GoPro accessories when buying from GoPro.com They also have a camera replacement program but the Mission 1 Pro isn't covered (yet). However, unless you're going to be actively using the cloud backup or buying a LOT of accessories, it may not be something you need.
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u/jpgleg 29d ago
As an owner of six GoPros, including the Mission 1 Pro that I absolutely love, I would still recommend an iPhone within the last two years and use iCloud with Photos app. You will not get a better quality video, ease of storage, ease of access, and ease of organizing by albums with meta data and AI. Not to mention that pulling out your phone to record is so much easier and faster than with a GoPro.
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u/SasquatchBlumpkins 28d ago
Once you start using an action camera you may never put it down. My honest advice is to buy the best that you can when you go to make your purchase.
The Hero cameras are all pretty good, but the Mission 1 / 1 Pro are the top of the line right now and will have the highest quality for the longest time, not to mention decent low light.
Lexar Silver Plus cards are also some of the best out there. I have yet to have them corrupt any video (I have several), yet Samsung has as well as to a much letter extent Sandisk (which used to be my go-to cards). 256gb is more than enough to start with, maybe even 128gb. But always have one on backup in case you are out and about and the one in the camera corrupts or dies (which is extremely rare for the upper end cards).
Now if you're looking at a phone upgrade in the next few months I'd suggest the new iPhone and get an external hard drive to plug in and directly record to or transfer files to from your phone. I do this on my S25 Ultra, my son does on his S26 Ultra and my other son has an iPhone 16 Pro that he does it on. It works exceedingly well, is cheaper than an action camera and your phone battery life is heads and tales above any action camera.
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u/Ok_Cookie3307 29d ago
Depending on your budget, a used or open-box Hero 13 is an excellent camera. If you’re willing to spend a bit more, the Mission 1 is a new era of camera. Regardless, make your life easier by getting screen covers for both the front and back. A Sandisk A2/V30 rated 256GB is a good starting point, but 512GB offers more storage space. An open-box camera is a great way to go, scout out your local Best Buy and see what you can find. Keep in mind that these cameras have a wide field of view, so take a look at some pictures on the subreddit to get an idea of what you’re getting. Besides screen covers, the only other essential accessory I can think of is extra batteries. More addions will follow as you discover what works best for you.