GoPros: Capturing Life’s Most Intense Moments

If you’ve been on the Internet, you’ve doubtlessly seen video from a GoPro. A laughing girl jumps down a steep waterslide. A group of friends kick up dirt and rocks as they race down a mountain trail on dirt bikes. A man in a wing suit flies low over a wooded valley, a raging river seemingly inches beneath him. All of these videos are seen from a high quality, first-person perceptive. This is what GoPro has become known for, and in the marketplace known as "actiona cameria," they dominate. 

GoPro, like so many well-known brands, rose to prominence in the early 2000s as resources from the Internet were really coming into their own. The idea for the company came to founder Nick Woodman in 2002 after a surfing trip to Australia. He'd wanted to get high-quality action shots of the surfers on the waves, but could not because of two reasons: the cameras he would need were incredibly expensive at the time, and the cameras he did own had a high risk of breaking in the rough waters of Australia. Disappointed by the lack of high-performance, durable cameras on the market, Woodman set out to fix this by founding GoPro.

It would not be until 2004 that the company would release its fist camera, however. It was with this 2004 launch of the 35mm Hero camera line that the company would begin the transition from an obscure little niche product that focused mainly on surfing to a billion-dollar behemoth.

But what exactly are GoPros and what makes them so special? In short, GoPros are very durable, high-quality cameras made to record cool or exciting events. They are often used by people who race mountain bikes or other similar extreme sports. They are easily attached to a helmet, although various other kinds of mounts and harnesses can be purchased from the GoPro website. The GoPro tagline is "Be a Hero" and the cameras are all a part of the "Hero" line. The idea behind a GoPro is that they allow anyone to go out, do what they love, and have some amazingly cool footage of whatever that is: be it racing cars, jumping out of airplanes, or shredding on a snowboard.

The classic problems with cameras is that they can be damaged very easily, thus limiting what the videographer can actually film. GoPro tries to solve this by essentially making a new "type" of camera: the action cam. While the entry level GoPro isn’t going to give you top-of-the-line quality or a ton of options like a fancier camera might, the cameras are more than durable enough to survive you and your buddies surfing or storming up a hill during a particularly rough game of paintball. There should be no question as to these cameras’ staying power; videos exist of GoPros recording through falls from moving cars, from 100 feet up onto concrete, and even out of a plane traveling down 13,000 feet. Short of deliberate sabotage, the camera is going to last.

Now, maybe after reading this, you’re interested in picking up an action cam. Maybe you have an exciting hobby you'd like to record, or maybe you just want to have some fun with a camera that’s better than the one on your phone. Either way, what are your options?

Well, the first and most obvious choice would be the GoPro HERO4 Session. This is the entry-level camera for GoPro and a solid camera all around. For the $200 price tag, the camera comes in a rugged, waterproof case, records at 1080p and 60 frames per second (true HD), and has around 2 hours of battery life while recording, which is pretty standard for a camera this size.

If the $200 price tag is a little steep just to get your foot in the door, on the other end of the spectrum is the Polaroid Cube which goes for half the price, $100. The camera itself is much smaller than the entry level GoPro and has all the same recording options in terms of fidelity of the captured image: 1080p and 60 frames per second at the max. The Cube also has the advantage of having the base magnetized so no additional clip needs to be purchased to attach it to things. The only real downside is that, while the GoPro is water resistant up to 40m, the Cube will suffer damage after a mere 6 feet of water. The Cube is certainly a good alternative, but perhaps not if you want to record yourself swimming or surfing.

There are plenty of action cams out there. Older GoPros are still very usable and have that undeniable GoPro durability that the brand is known for. Whichever you choose however, get on out there and live life to the fullest. Just be sure to record it for the rest of us.