so im considering buying a gopro because ive seen it produce some really awesome vacation videos
im not sure if im falling for the hype and marketing but what exactly can a gopro do that an iphone cant?
The two can't really be compared. The iPhone 5 has an, IQ-wise, absolutely great but pretty narrow-FoV and mono-audio, non-stabilized, generic (
non-sports/action) camera, while the GoPro excels at wideangle
action shooting.
The GoPro 3rd Black Edition (I don't speak of cheaper versions) has
- FAR worse battery life when shooting video (unless you use my wideangle hack, see next bullet)
- FAR wider FoV (even if you use my wideangle hack (see
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1538193/ for more info) or a low-res 4:3 mode)
- FAR better high speed modes (1080p60 etc. - the iPhone 5 in no way can be made shoot with more than 30 fps)
- FAR better high-res modes (2700*somethingp30, 4Kp15 etc. - the iPhone 5 can't go over 1080p)
- FAR better accessories for body mounting
than the iPhone 5.
Generally, the iPhone 5 can't be used for (extreme) wideangle sports / action shooting without getting an enclosure with an (extreme) wideangle converter. They, however, vastly decrease the otherwise excellent image quality. They, currently, can't be reliably mounted on heads / chest either: I only know for GoPro mount-compatible (beta) enclosures for the Nokia Lumia 920. (Which is, BTW, far better for action shooting than the iPhone 5: 26mm wideangle and OIS out of the box. When paired with a possibly additional WA converter, it can become a decent action shooter, unlike the iPhone 5. Nokia has always been MUCH better at providing decent cameras than anyone else, including Apple.)