GoPro Hero 3 Black or Canon Powershot S120

Doubts

“I`m really torn between the GoPro Hero 3 and the Canon Powershot S120. I absolutely cannot decide. I have about $300 that I could spend on either one.

What I like about both:

GoPro: Mountable, waterproof (w/ housing), durable, good camera for video, I love the time-laps

Canon S120: Better picture quality, video zoom at 60fps in 1080, touch screen

Canon S120 is a bit more pricy but I love the look of both. I`ll be using this camera for a trip to Disney World this summer. Which one do you prefer?

PS: ALSO, I've heard the sound quality of the GoPro is horrible. I know they have microphones, but are the misc cumbersome and in the way? Do they really produce better sound? Any Canon or Gopro Accessories recommended?”

Suggestions:

1:

Hey, the GoPro is a great action sports camera but is NOT a general purpose video camera, but neither is the Powershot S120, although the S120 comes a lot closer. Surely, the GoPro 3 Black has no actual zoom, has a fixed focus lens, practically, almost no manual controls, no rear LCD, and the audio is horrible without an external mic.

BTW, even though the S120 doesn't have time-lapse as a feature, you can always slow down or speed up the video in almost any editing program for the same effect, but more flexible. So it depends on what you want, a small mountable waterproof action camera, or a general purpose camera with zoom lens and plenty of useable modes with manual controls.

Smatree offers all kinds of Gopro Accessories to you, pole, case, battery, charger, mounts, screws and so on.

2:

I think the waterproof housing for the GoPro tends to muffle the sound. It might sound better without the housing, although the situations for which it is most often used tend to necessitate the case. That's why almost every demonstration of the GoPro has a musical score overlaid instead of real-time audio. In fact a regular camera in a waterproof housing will also have its sound muffled.

If you want a camera that can withstand exposure to water and also do real time audio in the video, the Nikon AW130 can do pretty well, except that it tends to pick up a lot of camera handling noise.

The GoPro housing's attachment clamp is specially designed to hold reliably to things that are in a lot of motion. A standard tripod socket is designed for nothing more than a light steady panning motion at most. Trying to adapt it to your helmet, jet-ski or whatever, it might last a few seconds before working loose and flying into oblivion.

3:

I suggest Canon S120. The GoPro is designed for recording video in situations where a standard camcorder would not fit, is too heavy or would get damaged. If this is what you need out of a video camera, and then go with the GoPro. If not, then avoid the GoPro and get a regular camcorder. The other problem with the GoPro is that the lens it uses is extremely wide which produces a huge amount of wide-angle distortion, making it unsuitable for general use.