GoPro HD Hero 2 Surf edition
 

Just ordered one last night. Should arrive tomorrow. Does anyone have any tips or advice before I take it out for the first time this weekend?

Duct tape a bit of cork or wood to the back of the waterproof case. It doesn't float otherwise, and I've seen loads get lost this way. Also if you can get a 6-10ft pole and stick it on top you can get awesome shots from a tube in front or behind the rider.

Sounds good Brian thanks. Waiting on a delivery of 16 wakeboarding movies from Robin. Thanks agaon for the heads up.

You could also grab one of these to float it.

http://gopro.com/camera-accessories/floaty-backdoor/

However, in my experience if you have a larger mount (such as the suction cup) connected to the camera, this float will not float it. I would recommend a float such as this when using heavy mounts attached to the camera.

http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-Foam-F.../ref=pd_cp_p_1

Or you could go with "The Bobber"

http://www.gopole.com/product/the-bo...FWJrtgodjAL9tw

I ordered the floaty backpac a few days ago. I don't use any heavy mounts so it will be perfect for me.

I also suggest, if you will be using the chest mount, to adjest the mount high on your chest. Otherwise your video will have a lot of arm in it, and make the video not as nice.

I recommend shooting in 3 of the 5 different settings at all times:

Setting #3 - shoot most often, especially for wakeboaring and other high speed stuff. The 720p is excellent quality, hardly much different from the 1080, but with the #3 setting get 60 frames per second, allowing for better, clearer slow motion when you go to edit your footage.

Setting #4 - I recommend using this setting when you have the camera mounted very close to you, head mount point of view, chest, board mount, really anything where the camera is very close to the subject. It's the worst setting for shooting things far away because its very wide angle, like fisheye. Also note, it is a 4 by 3 frame rather than 16 by 9.

Setting #5 - 1080p produces the largest, best quality picture that the camera is capable of producing. The only downside is it isn't quite as good as setting #3 for slow motion because it is 30 frames per second rather than 60. I use this setting to shoot a lot of the scenic shots, shots that have less movement, footage of the boat, the lake, lifestyle stuff, ect... If your shooting any kind actual riding, i recommend using setting #3 instead.

The Surf hero actually comes with the orange floating back door, and it will ONLY float the camera, if you have an LCD backpack, battery backpack, or suction cup on it they will sink.

Enjoy your new camera!

Well that's nice! When I bought both of mine a while back they didn't come with them..


A class 10 SD card is a great investment if you're going to be shooting in HD

Don't trust the float back at all... Mine ripped off the first session and just a normal wreck. Thank god I also attached a leash to my board, the mount broke on the second set. You going to love that camera!

Best float

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Go-Float-It-...item2a156e9479

Thanks guys. Some great advice. I will make sure I have a float other than the floaty back door it comes with. I have also ordered a Speed Class 10 SDHC card to go with it. Really hoping it arrives tomorrow so I can use it this weekend

Has anyone tried this?

http://www.gopole.com/product/the-bobber

Today on http://www.woot.com/ they have a similar item for $150... might be worth a look to anyone who thought about buying a GoPro

After a stupid mistake at a cable park, I took a red sharpie to my non waterproof back. that way I can easily spot if I have the wrong back on the camera.

Here's another tip, if you do something silly like go wakeboarding without the water proof back, and get your go pro wet.
- Pull out the battery asap.
- place the camera (without it's battery or battery cover) in a bag of rice for a week

:D works like a charm

Some good advice here! Here is another tip... I recommend getting yourself a tackle box to store your go pro and accessories. A good tackle box with a lot of small compartments helps a lot once you start accumulating a bunch of different mounts and extra parts.

I have the surf edition. It comes with the floaty back door. I have not had any issues with it sinking. The pucks that come in the set for the "surf mount" are a little small. If you plan on sticking it to your board I would pick up the accessory surf mount from Best Buy or where ever sells them near you. The pad is much bigger on the one that you buy separate. I'm not sure that the pads that comes in the surf edition would be strong enough to stand up to a wakeboard digger.

Thanks. I didn't manage to get it before the weekend but it's getting delivered on monday

The mounts the surf hero comes with will be plenty strong to mount onto a wakeboard! I have had just the normal flat mounts on my boards, and the go pro case snapped off before the mount even thought about coming off.

That's good to know. My wife gave it to me for Christmas and I ended up getting a new board for my birthday. I did not want to stiick anything on my board so I have not tried it. What is a cool shot with a Gopro is using the seat post / handle bar mount and mounting it to the center of your handle. You will make all kinds of faces while riding that you are not aware of.

I don't know if I would like to see the faces I am pulling :D

Just bought mine before the weekend. This thing is straight ridiculous out of the box! Here's some rough footage from one of my first sets out with it. Summer's here!

Better in HD - hit the link
https://vimeo.com/41273980

:D

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/41273980" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>

I got the motorsports edition, although I wish I had bought the surf edition or outdoor edition. I ended up buying the floaty and front helmet mount seperately.

Looks awesome. It arrived today. SDHC card coming tomorrow :)

I use my gopro and shoot from the head with the helmet mount all the time. If you use the helmet mount make sure you zip tie it to your helmet! it will pop off your helmet if you don't. Lol here's some of my raw footage from setting #3, the 720p 60fps. My favorite setting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARVVYG09HYY

There are more videos on my channel and more to come!

What do you guys use for editing? I'll be using windows

I use windows too now! what was wierd is that before this past month, windows live movie maker didn't accept my gopro videos. I tried tried and tried to get it to accept them but it never did. But It must have gotten an update because now it does. lol so ive gone from having a buncha random half assed raw videos on my channel to some actual edits. Idk why the change but it sure was welcome.

How is WLMM? And does anyone else recommend any other good editing programmes?

I don't have it, because i rock a PC. But i used IMovie for a school project once and i found it much easier to use and that the finished product came out better than my Wlmm vids. Wish i had the mac. If you don't have a mac. You can try adobe's movie making software with their free trial.