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View Full Version : GoPro / action cam experts: one touch recording a pre set time interval?


Wayne77
12-11-2018, 02:12 PM
Hello, I have a GoPro Hero5 Session. I'm wondering if there is any way (either with 3rd party support, programmable remote, etc) to set up my GoPro such that I can hit the record button where it will record video for a segment of time (for example 10 seconds) and it will automatically stop without me having to stop the recording myself.

If I'm on a 2 hour bike ride of course I'm not going to just leave the camera running. The problem is that its tough to keep track of when the camera is recording vs not recording when you are focused on riding, can't always hear the beep, not sure if you hit the button, etc. Even when everything is perfectly clear, there's a great use case for hitting a button in anticipation of a good moment knowing that it will stop recording for you. I can't count how many times I've approached a good scenic moment, reached down and hit record, then hitting the button again to stop and not hitting it all the way (r forgetting altogether) only to discover later the camera has been recording for 30 minutes, the battery is about to run out or the memory card is full. Grrrr.

Also it would make the video editing after the fact MUCH easier. Rather than having to go through a 5 minute segment looking for the highlights, splitting, trimming, etc, it becomes more a matter of combining all the 5 to 10 second clips in the way you want, amking it much easier to polish things up. I do a lot of Instagram 1 minute cycling clips (a few examples below). In that format if your takes are longer than 5 seconds it can get boring for others.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqIPEsQhpnN/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bin_UNIHkLn/

if there's a way to get the shorter 3-5 second takes for 1 min clips like the above examples, without having to trim down longer takes after the fact in editing software...either with this camera or some other 3rd party remote that lets you program in a recording segment time, I'd love to hear from you!!

thedvlsh1
12-11-2018, 04:43 PM
It looks like the Hero5 Session allows control by voice. See pages 23 & 24 for details --> https://gopro.com/content/dam/help/hero5-session/manuals/HERO5Session_UM_ENG_REVD_WEB.pdf

Wayne77
12-11-2018, 05:11 PM
It looks like the Hero5 Session allows control by voice. See pages 23 & 24 for details --> https://gopro.com/content/dam/help/hero5-session/manuals/HERO5Session_UM_ENG_REVD_WEB.pdf

That is a good feature and I’ve used it but I think the key here is a set it and forget it thing. I think the ability to initiate a quick take and not have to worry about telling the camera to stop would be a no brainer feature for an action cam. I don’t ski much, and I’m no ‘send it’ guy looking to get a clip of me throwing big air off a table top (for me it’s about a key moment coming up, ie I know there’s a pretty corner with a great view, etc) but I’ll use that as an example. I get go the approach of a cool run. Click record. Forget about it knowing it’ll get the next 30 seconds of awesomeness without having to tell the camera to stop....especially since I probably need to keep skiing, too excited about previous awesomeness, or too devastated by the previous epic fail to remember that I need to tell the camera to stop.

FWIW, the voice feature is cool but many action sports generate enough wind and other noise that it’s largely unusable. When it is quiet enough, the last thing I want people around hearing is me sayin “Go Pro, start recording”....”GoPro, stop recording”. :-)