Learning the GoPro

I had my first day of filming on Monday with the GoPro, and although I think it came out decently, there are definitely some struggles.  First off it is a fixed lens, so you cannot zoom, focus, adjust the white balance or anything you would expect to be able to do with a normal camera.  Secondly it has a very wide viewing angle, so things you may not want in the scene can end up in there especially because when you have it inside the case you cannot get close enough to an object to completely obscure the screen unless it is extremely wide.  I am now going to have an interesting time editing the film because some of the tricks I planned to use to transition from one shot to the next won’t work.  Also because we didn’t buy the touchscreen back for it, you have to control the camera with your phone.  This is really awkward because you usually end up looking in one direction to see your phone while the camera is pointed in another direction.  There is also about a 1 to 1.5 second delay between what the camera is filming and when it appears on your phone’s screen.  This makes it very tricky to know exactly what you’re filming since the camera doesn’t have a viewfinder of it’s own.