GoPro 8

[flyfishingpastor]

Cathy and I just got a GoPro 8 to fool around with AND to tape sermons and what have you in this time of "Social Distancing."

I don't know that we've EVER purchased anything that's as frustrating to use. First, it doesn't come with any instruction book. You have to go online to find how to use it. OK. That's not that bad. BUT, if you actually want to send any videos to someone else or to post them, you have to purchase a subscription to a service that will let you do that. That was not mentioned anywhere before we bought it. NOW, that added nearly $100 and was, I thought, something that should have been mentioned before we bought it.

Also, it doesn't play pretty with our iPhones or our computer. Even with the subscription service it takes FOREVER to load even a couple minute video piece. And, every time you turn it off you have to take forever to get it to work correctly. It won't do portrait vs. landscape settings. It won't let you zoom in. You basically have to start from beginning every time we use it.

I am not a techie, but my wife is pretty good and it's making both of us crazy (crazier)! Does anyone else have these problems? Or, did we just hit the lottery and get the ONE GoPro 8 that sucks? We got the darned thing because it was supposed to be bullet proof. Well, if it doesn't smooth out, we'll just see how darned bullet proof it is. AND, I'm a pacificist! Grrrrrrrrrrr…

I hate doing new things for the first time (paraphrasing Dave Barry)!

Pat

[andre49]

Pat,
I have the Hero 7 black and don’t experience the problems you do. I use the Go Pro app (free from Apple store) and I can save to my IPad, post to Instagram etc. My 7 will take portrait by just turning the camera vertical and has a zoom button right on the screen. Not sure if hero model is different or not. I downloaded a how to book on my kindle for 15.00 and much better than downloaded manual. I think it will do hat you want once you’re more comfortable.

Andre

[Brooks]

You need to find a snow boarder that is wearing a Red Bull hat. He'll be the guy saying dude every sentence, and he won't understand social distancing. He'll fix that Go Pro in about 15 seconds.

[flyfishingpastor]

I have an 11 year old granddaughter that I'm about ready to turn loose on it. Andre, ours is supposed to switch from landscape to portrait if you turn it vertical, as well - but it won't. And, it won't zoom in at all. I'm guessing Brooks is right... Sigh...

Pat

[andre49]

Pat, you are pressing the zoom and sliding up correct? You may want to go into preferences and hit default features if you haven’t already. Once you get it straightened out I think you’ll like it.

Andre

[flyfishingpastor]

Andre, we've tried everything we could think of and will continue to do so. Thanks for the encouragement. I'm hoping you're correct. We were pretty pumped to get it. Not so much now, but we barely owned it before we were pressed into service, so to speak, for our at-a-distance Sunday morning worship so I'm sure when things slow down and we actually have time to do the research and punch for buttons, we'll get there. I have big plans for it!

Pat

[WiFlyFisher]

Pat,

I have an older GoPro that I use underwater on troutstreams so I can't help you with the 8. Doing a fast search I noticed there is a Jan. 23, 2020 update for the GoPro 8. Maybe that will help.

https://gopro.com/en/us/update/hero8-black

Good luck.

John

[CDCdun]

I bought a GoPro hero 8 and like you was really excited to use it. Took some video of a great day of fishing and tried to watch on our computer. Didn’t work. My wife said our computer wasn’t adequate so we went to Costco and told the tech guy what we needed. We bought a nice (read expensive) lap top that both the salesman and my wife (she’s quite techy) assured me would work fine. Brought it home and...same thing as our old computer. Won’t play the videos, won’t download to edit them, everything about it is slow and frustrating. The GoPro app doesn’t work well on my phone either. My wife keeps promising me she’s gonna work on it, but nothing yet. We had an old GoPro 3 that worked great.

Jake

[flyslinger]

My wife gave me the GP8 for my birthday. It is very confusing to use.
The worst part is that because I haven't had the opportunity to use it on a daily basis for an extended period (such as a weeklong fishing trip), I tend to forget how to operate it. Each time I pick the thing up I have to learn how to use it all over again. Swipe up for this. Swipe that way for that. It is a pain for sure.
Hopefully I'll eventually be able to get back to that cabin on a lake in Arkansas and spend time taking lots of videos and operating it will finally stick in my brain.
By the way, I have the phone and the computer app. The phone app seems to have more functionality.

[flyfishingpastor]

Thanks to all who have posted - you're encouraging us to keep on working with the blasted thing!

CDC;
Your experience is much like ours so far. We've even tried calling GoPro and they want to charge us for tech help. So, we'll try to figure it out like everyone else is doing. Being "non-techie" is a liability in so many ways nowadays.

Pat

[cutthroatkid]

This thread reminds me of a tongue-in-cheek answer to a question in a climbing magazine. Let me begin by pointing out, for those unfamiliar with climbing, that rappelling is regarded by climbers as an act requiring minimal skill and is just done as the easiest way to descend a route.

Question: How much does it cost to do rappelling?

Answer: About $10,000. About $300 for the harness, rope and rappell device. Then you need a GoPro helmet, a professional quality video drone and a computer to record your achievement and post it to social media.

[flyfishingpastor]

Sadly, there's more than a little truth to that.

Pat

[StalkerMike]

I have enough trouble with my digital camera never mind a go pro.
Press, click, swipe.
Technology over took me about 25 years ago. At 62 years of age I question if I really want/need this stuff.
I’m going to monopolise the low tech market now because it’s been left high and dry!
I’m going into my cave now to wrap some guides on a blank.