Film Yourself Ripping – GoPro HD Surf HERO Camera

Good, non-pro surf cameras are hard to find.  The GoPro HD Surf HERO Camera is a nice surprise, however, and has become somewhat of a standard for board-mounted cameras. Aiding this is he company’s good efforts to date to create lots of useful accessories, like helmets, head mounts, chest mounts, board mounts, and other stuff that other companies haven’t. The camera also seems to be pretty rugged and is reasonably priced. See below for the specifics, but if it’s a gift you’re looking for, most surfers like to see how awesome they are when ripping.

Here’s the summary:

1.       Rated to 180 feet / 60m, in case you’re surfing Mavericks

2.       Includes an adhesive base that mounts to your board

3.       1080p HD video

4.       Wide angle, 170 degree lens

5.       Slow-motion capability

6.       Option to shoot a still photo every 2, 5, 10, 30, or 60 seconds (I wish I lived near a break where I could get multiple pics at 60 second intervals)

7.       9+ hours of recorded surf time, battery life of 2.5 hours or so

8.       No LCD screen on the back (optional add-on, however)

9.       A number of other accessories like helmets and vests that have camera mounts

Here’s what other reviewers say:

-          Picture color isn’t amazing, but is better than other cameras on the market

-          Resolution is great

-          Easy to use

-          Negative: HD mode ineffective underwater, there are some focus issues that cause objects to appear as fuzzy blobs, like if you were looking at them underwater with no goggles on.  The company says it is aware of the problem, but has not resolved it; if you’re buying it as a dive camera, you may want to reconsider.

-          Negative: apparently there are issues with the firmware that causes problems when you get to 9999 pictures on the camera.  The company hadn’t come out with a fix as of August 2010, which the reviewer found frustrating

Other accessories: