GoPro Hero 3 :Black edition review

Personal review of the GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition

So i purchased a Hero 3 Black edition a while back,ordered it online via amazon. Granted this little camera is superbly expensive considering my tight budget and i had to sell one of my underused nikon camera lenses to fund this purchase, it was one of the better decisions i made with regard to camera gear! 

Some might not know that besides taking video, the GoPro cameras do take stills as well. For the Black edition, it takes 12 megapixel still images in addition to its HD video capabilities. Ill leave the specifications out in this review because you can easily google it , there are tons of websites reviewing it more in detail.

So this is mainly my personal opinion on the GoPro. To keep things simple, its fantastic. The lens on the GoPro is ultra wide  , which means its great for group shots and landscapes, getting almost everything in the frame easily without much effort. This helps because it doesnt come with a viewfinder and the additional lcd backpack requires you to purchase it separately. Besides ultra wide angle shots, you can select narrower options in the GoPro's menu system ,this will help if you do not want to capture all of the scene and just want to eliminate the "fisheye" effect the ultra wide angle gives ( which i kinda like btw).

Below are some shots taken using the GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition during one of my recent trekking trips to Mt Rinjani in Indonesia.

As you can see the camera performs extremely well despite the harsh environment. This is thanks to the waterproof casing that comes with the GoPro , protecting the expensive piece of hardware from the elements.

However as do most cameras, the GoPro suffers from poorer performance in low light conditions, but still usable to some extent. As the few examples are shown below.

I dont really have a proper video yet ( still processing them and editing) to upload and show you guys but i can say the quality is amazing in good lighting conditions. However , the GoPro is only a camera and i would like to set people's expectation straight that it takes some effort to edit and cut the raw videos from the camera and make it into some awesome like those videos you see on the GoPro website or on youtube. Do NOT expect your videos to come out straight from the camera looking like those you see on youtube. The RAW quality of the videos are amazing ,but it takes time to properly edit them into the masterpieces that they can become.

All in all the GoPro is a small, handy and tough camera that you should consider if you got the budget for it. You definitely will not regret purchasing it if you have the right expectations. =)