04 Jun 2014 GOPRO TRIAL

After being without my camera for 3 months during our Summer, I wanted to find out if a Gopro camera might provide suitable back-up equipment. Having borrowed a Gopro Hero 2 camera from a friend at the weekend, I dashed down to the highway the next day, bought a 16GB card and started to trial the camera in Driscoll Lane. I filmed insects on railings and tiny white flowers in a hedge, holding the camera a couple of inches or less away from my subject, then a bit further away, all the while unable to see what I was filming.  Then I went to MacDonald National Park where I filmed some fungi, a strange dragonfly close to the ground, an ant and several walkthroughs, particularly featuring 2 huge adjacent Strangler Figs. The following day I filmed a couple of moths at the garage in Central Avenue and bought a cable so that I could view the clips on my computer. Gopros are ingenious miniature wide angle video cameras designed for people who want to film the world around them while they are on the move, on land, in the air or on and in water. I quickly discovered that they are not suitable for the kind of auto focus close ups that I was after. It remained for me to trial the camera at night, which I did this evening in the Knoll with Robyn. Viewing the clips, there do seem to be some good possibilities, especially if I film outside the main beam as exposure was an issue. I filmed a small fungus, spiders on webs, 2 dangling caterpillars, a pair of Giant Panda Snails, a strange bug and two ants nests.