Go Pro HD Reveiw and Skiing in Fernie

Here is my first impressions of the Go Pro HD, after a little skiing at Fernie Alpine Resort. The plan for Easter weekend was to head to Fernie for a little boating and a little skiing. Unfortunately with the recent cold snap the water levels were lower than ideal so I focused on the beer drinking and the skiing. I'd just received my Go Pro HD camera so a family ski day to try out the camera was just what I needed.

Go Pro Skiing in Fernie from Mikkel St.Jean-Duncan on Vimeo.

Pros:

Price - for 300 dollars this camera is a good deal no matter which way you look at it.

Ease of use - While it took a little fiddling to figure out how to navigate through the features with only two buttons, by the end of the first day I had it down. Once you have all the settings dialed it becomes really easy to turn on and film. Transferring files off the camera and onto the computer is also really simple.

Image Quality - I only had a 1GB card my first day so I set the resolution to 720p to get a little more filming time out of the card, yet the quality was still good despite crappy overcast lighting.

Weight - Very light and I hardly noticed it at all, plus it was easy to carry around in my pocket once the card was full.

Features - From the wide range of resolutions to the multiple photo options this little box is very versatile.


Cons:

Shape - The box-like shape is a little bulky and obtrusive.

Battery Life - Seems like the 2.5 hours will be a little short on the longer days but there is always the option of a second battery for only 20 dollars.


Overall impression:

My first impression is very good, even with my high expectations. I would definitely recommend buying this camera. While this is just my first impression the pros outweigh the cons by a big margin and I'm super excited about getting it out on the river this spring, I have a lot of rivers that will look really good from a head camera.

Here are a few pictures from the day. Considering how poor the lighting was, I'm impressed with how well the pictures turned out.