GoPro HD HERO2 - Outdoor Edition Review

Manufactured by GoPro, the GoPro HD HERO2: Outdoor Edition can quickly turn even a casual weekend shooter into a serious photographer with a set of electronic and optical devices contained in a box that, for all the world, looks like a very standard point-and-shoot consumer-grade camera.

Actually to some extent, the Hero2 is a point-and-shoot camera because, once you have your settings, all you do is frame your shot in the 1.2 cm LCD viewfinder and you are all set. The rest is handled by the electronics.

It's true we are all spoiled by digital single lens reflex cameras and compact digital cameras that offer resolutions up to and over 20 MP, but, the reality of any video situation is that the top resolution you are likely to need - unless you need to count the freckles of a couple kids in a freckle-counting contest - is in the 11 to 14 MP range. In fact, believe it or not, when you upload a photo file to any of the editors or web pages out there, you're likely to find that 3.2MP is all you'll need because most consumer screens aren't set up for HDTV specs.

The Hero2 is a very versatile instrument. You can set it up in a particularly hair-raising corner of a road race, with cars whizzing by within 20 feet, and you can capture the entire scene as the Hero2 offers nearly lay-flat technology as the camera captures 170 degrees of a scene at 120 fps. If you are taking it a little further back, the Hero2 lets you capture 127 degrees of a scene at 60 fps or more than enough video to keep any director or editor happy. You can narrow things out to 90 degrees at 48 fps and you shoot through narrower spaces at 30 fps.

In other words, the Hero2 won't let you down. It is especially good in low-light situations (IS0 100 or so), a situation that isn't uncommon at a dusk wedding, where the bride, groom and clergyman are the center of attention, but are lit by only two or three tapers. Because it handles low-light so well, the Hero2 will faithfully record the wedding vows as the camera was ready-made for this work.

In a sense it is made for this work because it is a steady camcorder that will record up to 2.5 hours of video - depending on how much video memory you have installed. At 2.5 hours, though, you will have to change batteries.

That the Hero2 is quite conventional-looking is easy to see from its 3.9 by 3.9 by 9.6-inch size that weighs only 1.7 pound so it is really much lighter to carry around than a heavy dSLR that may weigh four or five times its heft.

Interestingly, Hero2 is not only made for high-speed, but can also take a shot every 0.5 seconds so that you can set it up in the morning as a flower begins to open, opens up, all the while following the sun and when it is ready to close, you can stop the image. It makes for some interesting images.

The Hero2 is ready-made for instantly capturing your video to your PC through the inclusion of HDTV-ready images through an HDMI port in the camera body and it will let you record Dolby-like sound through a standard 3.5 mm jack.

Another feature worth noting is that the LCD viewer has been updated for sharper imagery. Another feature of the professional model is its 2X optics upgrade. Power is supplied by a lithium-ion rechargeable battery.