The GoPro Looks amazing

[Braceface]

I came across this vimeo channel and I'm very impressed. Who can tell me whats going on with this camera. Does it have vignetting, and a really strange look to all of its footage, or was this stuff all heavily graded. The footage looks killer, and has a really unique quality, but I don't know anything about the camera, so I'm wondering if there is something I'm missing about how the images looks so good. Anybody have any experience with them?
Here is the vimeo link to the creative uses of gopro.

http://vimeo.com/channels/goprocreative#24741201

[Daniel Rutter]

Definitely heavy grading on that footage, as well as a lot of other digital stuff (blurring to appear as if the camera has shallow depth of field).

The footage looks pretty good, but I've personally worked with this footage for one of my jobs filming mountain biking... and the footage breaks up bad with high amounts of motion and camera shake. But, this camera is pretty cheap. If you have the cash, buy one... it's a cheap-as crash cam, and it saves you dropping your main camera in water/dust/strapping it onto an actor and risking it for a shot.

[dop16mm]

The camera itself is a basic pinhole device, and a plastic fish-eye lens is built into the enclosure, it will have a lot of distortion on close-ups, but can get very cool shots that you wouldn't dare trying with any other camera. I'd love to have one, but am not very sporty, so it probably wouldn't get used much. I know where I can borrow one if I ever need one. It is basically the same sensor as the kodak playsport. So if you don't need fish-eye or complete indestructibility you can get a fairly rugged cam with a screen for less than half the price.

[Shaunp007]

it's a cheap-as crash cam, and it saves you dropping your main camera in water/dust/strapping it onto an actor and risking it for a shot.

I have to vouch for the GoPro Hero HD. My brother mounts it on his flight helmet (Test Pilot Engineer) and it returns awesome footage, and I use it for scuba diving down to about 100 feet or so...between both of us, we put it through its paces. It is quite a cam for 250 bucks.

[Aaron Shirley]

I have been using a GoPro for about a year now for the risky stuff and underwater shooting, but I completely stopped using it now because I don't like it. It has heavy distortion and the files all need to be converted (very lengthy proceedure) to be able to use it in Adobe Premiere Pro 4. I have heard the files do not work in several NLE's and need to be converted, but all I can say is that the files do not work in PP4. I don't even use the GoPro anymore for these reasons. I have 2 Kodak PlaySport cameras that I use now, although they only go up to 10-feet deep. They have wide angle or fish eye lens attachments as an accessory if you want a wider shot, but like the GoPro, distortion with the fish eye attachment. Extra batteries are also only $6.30 shipped to my door for PlaySport, so I got 16 of them now with 2 rapid chargers.

I am looking at a Contour+ right now, they look amazing and they make the GoPro look like a children's toy. The Contour has an external mic jack and is capable of displaying GPS location, altitude, SOG (speed over ground) and can also go deep underwater with the case. It has Bluetooth to be able to display your live video to your cell phone or pPad etc, or it has HDMI for a monitor. The case also has 1/4 20 threading which is nice. The Contour+ also has capabilities to shoot live events. And the nice thing is the files will work in any NLE. I am seriously looking at getting one for the spring.