GoPro HERO3 Camera Resolution Advice?

[Col. Derontchi]

Alright so I've been using my GoPro a lot more and I can't remember what the different resolutions are good for. I.E., which is best for slow motion, which is best for wide picture, which is best for picture quality, etc. I can't find much of anything of use. Any help is greatly appreciated as to what the different resolutions are good for.

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[Foxscotch]

well lower resolutions are gonna be best for slow motion, that's for sure
higher ones would probably be better for wide shots. and idk about "picture quality" because that's pretty vague, but probably the highest one

[Col. Derontchi]

well lower resolutions are gonna be best for slow motion, that's for sure
higher ones would probably be better for wide shots. and idk about "picture quality" because that's pretty vague, but probably the highest one

For instance, in paintball, being able to see what you are shooting at from a distance. I guess clarity is the word.

[Foxscotch]

For instance, in paintball, being able to see what you are shooting at from a distance. I guess clarity is the word.

idk. lower resolutions might be less grainy? but everything would seem bigger with higher resolutions. I don't know a whole lot about this stuff
just play with it and see what seems best

[Col. Derontchi]

idk. lower resolutions might be less grainy? but everything would seem bigger with higher resolutions. I don't know a whole lot about this stuff
just play with it and see what seems best

Alright many thanks amigo

[Jubel]

For instance, in paintball, being able to see what you are shooting at from a distance. I guess clarity is the word.

this is a bit of a funky situation because of the GoPro's high FOV compared to your standard camera.

I'm pretty sure there is an FOV setting but I could be wrong, but set it to the narrowest as possible, and run it at as high of a resolution as possible for 'clarity'.

which is best for slow motion, which is best for wide picture, which is best for picture quality, etc. I can't find much of anything of use. Any help is greatly appreciated as to what the different resolutions are good for.

for slow mo, you can run it at 720p at 120fps but it can really effect the quality of the image, running at 60 should be fine since most videos are played back at 30 regardless, allowing you to slow things down by half
set the FOV as wide as possible and max out the resolution for wide pictures,
picture quality, max resolution, but narrow FOV

in poorer shooting conditions you can reduce the image resolution to 720p or downscale the footage in editing to reduce noisiness and grain.

[Ipquarx]

It's a fundamental property of cameras that if you want to record at higher FPS you have to lower the resolution. I don't know why that's the case, maybe just because of data bandwidth limits, but it just is, it even happens in the high-end 100,000fps high-speed cameras. If you want to record at the highest speed they have your resolution is incredibly limited.

[Jubel]

It's a fundamental property of cameras that if you want to record at higher FPS you have to lower the resolution. I don't know why that's the case, maybe just because of data bandwidth limits, but it just is, it even happens in the high-end 100,000fps high-speed cameras. If you want to record at the highest speed they have your resolution is incredibly limited.

it allows more light to be taken in by the sensors, which is extremely important at high framerates.

[Ipquarx]

it allows more light to be taken in by the sensors, which is extremely important at high framerates.

Ah yes, that makes much more sense. Lower shutter speed = less light on sensors per frame!

[Jubel]

Ah yes, that makes much more sense. Lower shutter speed = less light on sensors per frame!

When you lower the resolution it allows more of the sensors to be dedicated to a single pixel. Along with reducing noise due to magnetic interference.

Say you're taking a video at the maximum resolution. That would be the space on this sensor dedicated to a pixel.
Once you lower the resolution by several factors, it increases the surface area of the sensor dedicated to the pixel, allowing the light entering the camera to stay constant. (aka, no forgeted up exposure)


This matters a lot in video camera that also run at an extremely small aperture, such as phone cameras, camcorders, gopros, and the like. When you lower the resolution of pictures so much more of the sensor can be dedicated to taking in light for single pixels, which helps vastly improve the problem of noise and lack of light when taking video at higher framerates.

Cut resolution in half, get double the frames. easy.

EDIT: Shutter speed is irrelevant for taking video. The shutter stays wide open while filming.

[Headcrab Zombie]

A higher resolution will kind of allow you to zoom in more, because it lets you crop the image more without getting too small. But other than that, resolution is irrelevant to field of view, it's a property of the lens, if you want a wider or narrower field of view than what the lens allows, you need a different lens

[Headcrab Zombie]

This matters a lot in video camera that also run at an extremely small aperture, such as phone cameras, camcorders, gopros, and the like.

Idk about the other ones, but most modern phone cameras have a pretty good sized aperture, around f2.x, some even have f1.8. The problem is the tiny sensor size

When you lower the resolution of pictures so much more of the sensor can be dedicated to taking in light for single pixels, which helps vastly improve the problem of noise and lack of light when taking video at higher framerates.

A note to everyone else: this is why cramming as many megapixels as you can onto a tiny phone sensor is not good. Each pixel ends up getting less light, so you have to amplify the signal, which leads to noise (graininess). It ends up being a balance for the manufacturer, balancing a high megapixel count that looks good to unknowing consumers, with a count low enough to actually perform well

Whoops double post lol

[K3k0m@n]

I have a gopro3+ yet I never use it
anyway, do you still have the box? it tells all the resolutions and fps on there
I'd say that for general use, 1080p-60fps is perfect.