Action Cam for Bali

[hab1966]

Off on holiday to Bali in a few months, we'll be staying in three different locations which should give us a good experience of what Bali offers.

One of the experiences is swimming with Manta Rays and i would love to be able to film whilst in the water with the rays. I also expect my daughter will want to surf and do other water activities during the holiday.

I'm therefore looking for an Action Cam (AC) that is simple to use, as video shooting is all new to me and it must will work well in water.

I don't mind paying a premium for the likes of GoPro, Insta360 or DJI over the cheap Chinese AC's, as i don't want there to be any issues with reliability etc when in the water as I doubt we will do this holiday again!

I'm undecided whether to take my Canon 6D with us for normal photos, though if the Canon R5 mkii is released in time i might be tempted to upgrade but its a lot to lug around on the flights and then around Bali, but i know it takes good pics. But I'll still need something for shooting video in water. I presume people travel with DSLRs in hand luggage as opposed to putting them in the suitcase due to all the knocks they will take in the baggage system.

Any users of AC's care to chime in with advice on experiences of them in water? Ease of use?

[StevieBee]

Have a GoPro 5 and 8 and thought them both to be good. Then had a play with the 12 last week and is genuinely superb.

Really think that GoPro is your best bet. Loads of gubbins available to mount it as you like, none of which costs a fortune.

My daughter has the Osmo and the image quality isn't a patch on the GoPro (IMO).

As for the DSLR.... consider the bag you'll carry it around in before making a decision on the camera. A decent bag can make lugging round a bigger camera much more easy.

[hab1966]

Thanks StevieBee, I'll take a deeper look at the GoPro Hero 12 and the accessories.

If youre a regular user of AC's can i ask what software you use for video editing and what spec PC you use? At the moment my desktop PC is an old i7, with plenty of (slow) RAM and SSD/HDD but probably not up to editing 4k videos. My desktop monitor isnt 4k anyway, so i wonder whether its even possible to edit 4k videos using it, but view on a 4k monitor later?

[StevieBee]

hab1966 said:

Thanks StevieBee, I'll take a deeper look at the GoPro Hero 12 and the accessories.

If youre a regular user of AC's can i ask what software you use for video editing and what spec PC you use? At the moment my desktop PC is an old i7, with plenty of (slow) RAM and SSD/HDD but probably not up to editing 4k videos. My desktop monitor isnt 4k anyway, so i wonder whether its even possible to edit 4k videos using it, but view on a 4k monitor later?

Video is a big part of my professional life so I'm running a NASA-spec, dual screen Mac set up with bank of SSDs editing on Final Cut Pro and Davinci Resolve - great if you fancy getting into to properly! - but not cheap.

However, a newish MacBook or iMac comes with iMovie as a native app and is all you need. iMovie is very intuitive.

There's a free version of Davinci Resolve that you can get that runs on a PC.... but does require a steep learning curve to fully understand. The one advantage of Resolve over iMovie is that you can edit using proxy files - much lower resolution versions of the clips you shoot. This makes editing much more fluid and when you export, the files convert back to HD or 4K with all the effects and transitions applied.

Unless you have a full-beans set up, I wouldn't shoot in 4K. HD (1080) or 2k will be absolutely fine.

HTH

[Crudeoink]

I've an insta 360 X3 and honestly wouldn't go back to Go Pro. Had too many failures with Go Pro's I think mainly due to heat, but had issues with Sessions, 5 & 7. For action sports the Insta works well for me, being a 360 camera if the mount isn't 100% aligned it doesn't matter, if the camera gets knocked or moved on the mount it similarly doesn't matter. I've used mine for filming in cars, snorkeling, motorcycling etc and it's been flawless. The only downside is the file sizes get massive. I filmed a motorcycling adventure in the Himalayas over a few weeks and struggled with 256gb of storage!

[malks222]

I have a gopro 11 and use it quite a lot. really is nice and simple to use, links up quickly with smartphones and pretty easy to edit videos on a phone/ tablet too (using the gopro quik app).

I’ve also been really pleased with the quality of photographs you can take from a video (the app has a function to scroll frame by frame through a video and save a still at decent resolution). I also like the ‘hyper lapse’ video function and time lapse stuff the gopro can do very easily (other cameras prob do this too)

as someone else mentioned, one of the big problems with any action camera is the sheer volume of storage you can quickly burn through! video files capturing high frame rate/ 4k videos get big pretty quick, which takes up lots of space on memory cards and then storing/ backing up on a computer/ hard drive!

I would say for in depth reviews, go check out ‘DC Rainmaker’ he’s a tech/ sports tech review youtuber and puts together some great reviews/ videos etc….. of all different types of action cameras (as well as other tech)

[XJSJohn]

as someone that has spent a lot of time in indonesia including living there some suggestions.

its very humid, this can properly mess up cameras, especially SLR's. Most mates that are into photography keep all their kit in dehumidifiers (or wine fridges )

Also bear in mind on bali there are lots of pety theft (and its the other tourists more than the locals in some areas) so don't bring too much stuff along.

Action cam wise, a go-pro will work (edit to add, this is the one i seem to see people using the most)

Edited by XJSJohn on Wednesday 12th June 15:55

[dudleybloke]

hab1966 said:

Thanks StevieBee, I'll take a deeper look at the GoPro Hero 12 and the accessories.

If youre a regular user of AC's can i ask what software you use for video editing and what spec PC you use? At the moment my desktop PC is an old i7, with plenty of (slow) RAM and SSD/HDD but probably not up to editing 4k videos. My desktop monitor isnt 4k anyway, so i wonder whether its even possible to edit 4k videos using it, but view on a 4k monitor later?

I edit 4k video on my android phone using Powerdirector. Works perfectly and isnt too slow.

[Phil.]

I used a GoPro 9 in Bali earlier this year and it was fine, including underwater footage. Take at least 2 batteries though. One of mine go so hot it began to expand!

I also own an Insta360 which I’m not using because unless you are a semi-pro Adobe Premier operator with the correct 360 plug-in, the only other editor was the 360 App which only works on a phone. I found the 360 App editor to fiddly and difficult on a small screen.

If anyone knows of an alternative 360 editor for iPad or PC, I’d welcome their suggestions.

[andyb28]

Crudeoink said:

I've an insta 360 X3 and honestly wouldn't go back to Go Pro. Had too many failures with Go Pro's I think mainly due to heat, but had issues with Sessions, 5 & 7. For action sports the Insta works well for me, being a 360 camera if the mount isn't 100% aligned it doesn't matter, if the camera gets knocked or moved on the mount it similarly doesn't matter. I've used mine for filming in cars, snorkeling, motorcycling etc and it's been flawless. The only downside is the file sizes get massive. I filmed a motorcycling adventure in the Himalayas over a few weeks and struggled with 256gb of storage!

We have used Gopro's for years, but this year we also went with an Insta 360 for our ski trip. Absolutely amazing, the videos are so much more entertaining.

[satans worm]

i have a go pro 9 and the night shots are awful, i believe the insta360 is far better for night shots and most things, Gopro trading alot on its name, def do some youtunbe reviews before splashing out

I have a MAc book air with the M1 chip (so a few years old) and i use daVinci resolve (as its free!) both work well for me!

[Phil.]

satans worm said:

i have a go pro 9 and the night shots are awful, i believe the insta360 is far better for night shots and most things, Gopro trading alot on its name, def do some youtunbe reviews before splashing out

I have a MAc book air with the M1 chip (so a few years old) and i use daVinci resolve (as it’s free!) both work well for me!

Thanks for the recommendation I’ll give it a go on my iPad and Windows 11 PC.