Just mentioning it here in case some of you use them for recording live performances. I just pre-ordered a Hero8 Black (taking advantage of a $100 promotional discount). This will be my sixth, two GoPro's (Hero+ and Hero5 Black) and three high-end Chinese action cams. I still have all of them although I'll have to send one (the worst) in as a trade-in for the promotional. If you're into photography/videography (Steve ), in your opinion, are dedicated action cams worth it (assuming you're not a skier/surfer/mountain climber/trail bike rider/etc.). I have a rather large collection of video cameras ranging from minis to prosumers, but as with arrangers, once you get old, it gets harder and harder to remember the operation of each one. My attraction is that I want something slightly better than a smartphone but not as bulky and complicated as a prosumer level regular videocam. Just musing.

chas

Posted here by mistake but you can respond if you like.

chas

Chas, as you know, we make a living, in part by producing near broadcast quality video. I'm looking at two of the old Cannons used by sports networks ($17,500.00) just a few years ago. To use them, you had to dump content into an Avid Editing Suite ($100,000.00 plus). Next to them is an $80,000.00 Beta cam.

My $ million dollar investment into a combined recording studio
and video editing suite has been replaced by a less than $50,000.00 investment in 3 superior quality small Cannon cameras, a porta-studio and a drone (Used to pay $500.00 and hour up for a helicopter). Expensive editing suites and recording devices have been replaced by $30-50 monthly on-line software packages.

OH well! Can't imaging what you would do with more video equipment, but we can both KNOCK OURSELVES OUT and get whatever we want.

Who knows? Practice a little and you could be our 2nd unit camera man!

R.

Russ, if you remember, a while back I bought (on a whim) a dated (2007) but like-new Sony HVR V1U. You warned me about the 'annoyance' of dealing with tape (digital) as a recording media but I wouldn't listen . I soon learned that you were right. Although I'd used tape in the past, I guess I forgot what a PITA it was to work with. I had to retrofit my editing computer with a firewire interface (for starters). Luckily, you can find ANYthing on the internet . It soon went on the 'I'll try it later' shelf where it resided until I became aware of....wait for it....ATOMOS. In case you're not familiar with it, it's an HDMI digital recorder that fits onto the camera (optional-it doesn't really care where the HDMI signal comes from). I found a like-new Ninja 2 (Model #) for $190 on ebay, bought it, hooked it up, and it worked like a charm. Recording media is a 2.5 in. HD or SSD (no size limit) which fits into a little housing that slips right into the recorder. It pops out and connects to a USB 3.0 port for file transfer into the computer. I went down to the lake a couple of blocks from my house, and took about 2 hours worth of video (1080p/24 frame). Beautiful video. It records in .mov format which wouldn't work in my Power Directer until I loaded Apple's Quicktime. Apparently Quicktime provides some Codec that's needed for .mov files. Oh well, this is getting boring but I like the fact of bringing 'old' equipment into the 21st century. Man, that old stuff is SOOOO well built. Talk to you later.

chas