I've purchased the GoPro HD Hero 2 some time back. I wanted to use it for diving, on the boat and with my airplane. It's a wide angle HD video camera with a watertight case and mounting options that allow you to attach it to almost any surface.
The camera does not have a screen so you cannot directly see what you are going to film. I absolutely hated that because it meant I have to bring a laptop and USB cable, take some samples, connect the camera, check the view, change its position, try again, etc.
Also it was not possible to remotely control the camera so on a 3h flight I would exhaust its battery and end up with a huge movie that is 99% uninteresting. Basically the camera ended up on my shelf. Filming from the inside is not interesting, I can do that with my cell phone but having a HD camera mounted on your fuselage is awesome.
Then GoPro released its Wi-Fi backpack. This included a remote control allowing you to turn the camera on and off. They also promised applications for Android and iOS to remotely control the camera and -- most importantly -- stream the picture. Well, I invested more money in their product and ended up waiting for months until they finally made their iOS application available.
Now the GoPro App is there and it does everything I need. It helps me position the camera and I can switch modes, start and stop the recording. I felt a bit ripped off by buying an immature product with only a fraction of the functionality promised but now I have to say that it's a mighty fine product.
Of course the GoPro HERO 3 is underway which includes the Wi-Fi module and looks a lot more capable from the specs.
Hi achimba,
Sounds great. I have a Muvi mini-cam and want to use it to take outside movies strapped (maybe taped) to a wing or the belly of my aircraft. How do you get around the 'airframe modification' issues of strapping a camera to your a/c? It has a sound activated 'start recording' feature that should work.
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How do you get around the 'airframe modification' issues of strapping a camera to your a/c?
It's an adhesive that can be removed. Nothing I am concerned about.
Strapping a camera to the undercarriage is not a permanent fixture so I would not have thought it was a mod. I still prefer the NFlight cameras though - in my experience they have been more reliable.
Got the Hero 2 too, and have been licking my fingers off reading the specs on the Hero 3 Black Edition.
So far I have bought the Hero 2 battery backpack and the tripod adapter. But the wifi backpack and the dive housing is high on my wish list. (OTOH it might be cheaper to get the Hero 3 Black or Silver edition instead, as they have wifi and a flat lens, so are suitable for diving out of the box.)
I probably should not publicly admit this, but we have used the suction cup mount on gliders and on powered aircraft (DR400 wing tip) so far, and they've held in all cases. (We did use duct tape and tethering lines for extra security in case the suction cup would come off. The tethering lines were obviously of a length that would prevent the camera from banging into the hull or other surface, if the suction cup were to let go.)
I also got some great footage on a recent Iceland vacation.
Here are a few movies that were (partially or wholly) shot with my GoPro.
http://www.stichtinghoogvliegers.nl/index.php/Website/Hoogvliegers-TV/Rotterdam-8-september-2012
(made from a timelapse)
Strapping anything externally without approval is illegal.
The "removable" concession applies only to stuff inside the cockpit - you cannot permanently install anything in an aircraft with an ICAO CofA unless it is supported by Approved Data.
If you imagine an extreme case: a huge camera strapped to a wing with velcro, affecting the airflow severely, etc... Also one would not want a camera to come off, accelerate to some great speed in the airflow, and damage the elevator (£xxxx).
Obviously this is not enforced, Youtube is full of such movies, and anyway most people remove them pretty quick after landing anyway 
And if I had a prang with an externally fixed camera, I would probably not put the movie on Youtube
But you will certainly get the best image quality with an external camera. No window to distort or reduce contrast.
Some of the small cameras are now excellent in terms of raw image quality, but they continue to suffer from prop effects, due to having a way too fast shutter. One can sometimes alleviate this with a neutral density filter (which slows down the shutter) but really the only way to get a great result is to use a high-end camcorder which has a manual shutter speed mode. And few of those are waterproof...
I did various experiments with cameras, starting with the then-£150 Sony HQ bullet cams (crap quality, crap prop effects, bad distortion) and eventually building a decent anti-vib mount for a Canon G10 camera. At a 1/120 shutter this wipes out prop effects (at cruise RPM). The battery outlasts most flights so the whole thing can run unattended and then one edits the boring stuff out and/or speeds it up (I use Vegas). This
is the last thing I tried. When I get time I will try to find a way to insert data (lat/long, TAS, GS, OAT, FOB, etc) into a window, but that is quite complicated unless you know how.
Details help e.g. putting a matt black rag over cockpit items which cause reflections.
BTW I have just updated the Posting Tips with stuff on Youtube and Vimeo videos.
Basically, you just drop the URL into your posting. No Image or Link buttons are needed and you do not need to include any "embed" code.
The text processor automatically identifies Youtube and Vimeo videos and does them "right".
Videos stored on other sites can be inserted as a normal hyperlink, but won't appear as a video within the thread.
As I like filming over the nose, I never got into the GoPro etc. stuff. I hate those prop effects.
I have used the GoPro cameras during testing, and approved them on aircraft. I have not seen the "latest and greatest", the wifi functions do sound like they would solve some shortcomings.
Of course, a responsible pilot will be flying the plane for safety, not flying the camera for the exciting drama shot, so put the camera on, then forget it's there, until you land!
As for the installation of a GoPro camera being a major modification... well... In Canada - probably not. There is a major vs minor modification line, and if the modification remains below that line, approved data is not required, only "specified" data (AC34.13 being the most common example). Now admittedly, AC34.13 is probably slim on data for the installation of GoPro cameras, but a mechanic can use his imagination with that AC.
I would be surprised that an inspector would take issue with a plane because a small camera was screwed to it somewhere, unless there was an obvious danger. But, by the letter of the law, it does require a maintenance entry. Now that's for Canada, and perhaps EASA rules are different. In any case, it is a maintenance activity, so it would be very unwise to do it to an aircraft that you do not own - if there were an accident, and insurance "issues", you could be left holding the bag.
The NFlight aviator lens removes the prop distortion very nicely
