GoPro

Brewjacks

Can anyone offer some advice on GoPro cams, mainly mounting kits? I’m looking at the Hero 10 or 11.

jacobsja

While I am also on the hunt for a good solution, have yet to find a GoPro solution that I really like as I try to keep things as simple as possible and the GoPro just seem like a fair amount of work to get a good final product. If this is for inside the cabin consider taking a look at the Insta360 cameras during the analysis as IIRC they have the same physical mounting base as the GoPro. For physically mounting inside the cabin, I am focusing on connecting a rod to the headrest and then a mount for the camera on the rod which puts it between the first row seats and at eye level.

Regarding focus on the GoPro, unless something changed recently, to me there are a couple weak links with the GoPro series as they need a completely separate device for capturing audio and only power themselves via batteries. In my common mission, the GoPro battery looks like it will exhaust mid-flight which is something I want to avoid. But not everybody does long legs.

There are some Insta360 units that natively handle audio via a physical line-in (read: directly from one of the audio panel jacks to the video recorder) and also allow for ship's power instead of burning batteries. This is a double bonus from my perspective as there is no need to mess with editing the final product so that the audio is in sync with video, and I gain confidence that the recording will last the entire flight. But, if there is no interest in recording audio, this is not a factor and the GoPro will work just fine (presuming the battery lasts).

Oh, and for about the same price as a GoPro, the Insta360 records in 360* where the GoPro needs to swivel around to change its viewpoint.

Only downside to the Insta360 is that I am not clear whether it is possible to apply a filter for the prop like the GoPro's physical filter.

And even if the mounting location is outside, the Insta360 will also work, but now it has to rely on battery power. Although, I simply do not remember whether the Insta360 is water tight.

Here is an example of the Insta360's capabilities toward recording flight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F2MkVSviB8

jacobsja

Finally found a solution which takes care of my GoPro nits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBwFmLp7mfk

This now leaves the only question of whether to record video with a fixed perspective, or 360.

Regarding mounting, I am still focusing on attaching a rod to the headrests so that the recorder sits between the first row seats. But do not want something that will add to injury in a worst case scenario. Might test some dowels made of balsa and create radial stress relief cuts every few inches so that the dowel is more likely to make a clean break at one (or more) of the stress relief locations rather than splinter.