I will be going back packing for 7 months out asia and wanting to buy a camera for shooting video purposes n also still shoots as well. At first I was looking at nx2000 cause its a mirrorless camera and has wifi so its easy for me to transfer to my phone and theres no need to find a pc and do those troublesome transfer thingy. Then I bump into gopro, its cool and light in weight and easy to bring around. And it has that ultra wide angle which I like too but I will be just walking around and not doing any extreme sports. So... I don't know which to choose. I have to travel light for 7 months and I would like to record down my journey. So can anyone please give me some advice and opinion regarding which to choose >. <

This post has been edited by pohchee: Feb 27 2014, 07:40 AM

My suggestion is to get any other camera, than the gopro.

Frankly speaking, for gopro casual users(first time) it probably won't do what you think it does. Especially if you're traveling alone.

It's a powerful camera only if you work on it in post production (color correction, sharpening & etc), so unless you have expertise in this. The pictures/videos would be lack luster.

Also depends on the accessories that you buy, if not you'd most likely get shaky video footage just because you'll end up using it hand held.

If you're traveling light and want to upload pics, for the gopro you also probably have to lug a laptop around, the later ones have wifi that can connect to an iOS device but I'm not sure if you can upload your pictures directly. (I've yet to test)

Also it's battery life is limited and short (<1 hour constant video shooting) AND unless you buy the LCD screen further reducing it's battery efficiency (or once again own and iOS device) you won't be able to view your pictures on the go.

tl;dr My advice is the first sentence

PS. gL with your backpacking trip! 7 months is awesome.

I'm a user of the gopro and I really love it. But you'll have problem taking pictures in the dark because of the auto shutter and without being able to preview it, you'd end out wasting alot of pictures without even knowing. However the video on this bugger is amazing and you can do underwater shots and makes most post videos look cool.

You could also get some mounts like the monopod mount which can help you take awesome selfies and pictures of big groups without having to stretch too far. Also you could opt for some mounts like the head or chest mounts where you could just leave it on record and get a POV video while monitoring on your mobile.

Gopro also somewhat overexposes the images and exaggerates some colors which makes day shots look massively cool up till sunset which you'd probably have to take out your phone to do the picture taking.

However the downside is you'd need to keep charging the gopro and transfering out the pictures which u can just get spare batteries and additional memory cards.

Another downside of the gopro is there is no zoom on this camera so everything will just be in wide angle.

I would say if you were planning some activities like snorkelling or hiking or such which might be difficult to hold a camera then the gopro with some mounts would come in handy. But if you were just doing your trip for the touristy stuff the nx2000 would be a good point and shoot camera Just my 2 cents hope it helps

Enjoy ur trip

I'm also a GoPro user and I find it really awesome for travel as a backup/for fun camera. I wouldn't use it for a main camera for travelling though, I have it cause I'm using it for my studies, and occasionally use it for other purposes.

I travelled in Paris, London, Portugal & Spain with my Canon 60D + some lenses and frankly I find it really troublesome when it comes to carrying it around. I ended up not really enjoying my trips as the weight of my bag really kills me at the end of the day.

Recently I sold all my gear and got myself a Fuji X camera, which I brought with me to Seoul and I really love it. It never goes into my bag and it's so light I don't even feel it there .

What I would recommend for a backpacker is the X-M1 kit. It comes with the 16-50mm and some sellers still have the promotional set that comes with a free 18mm lens. the X-M1 + 18mm is a really really compact and powerful combo, awesome performance in low light. Can get it for about RM2.5k or so, recommend you Mr.Oss from Garage Sales.

If you have the budget, go for the GoPro as well, I don't think you'll regret it if you go to places where you're gonna be going to the beach and doing stuff like parasailing/extreme sports. You'll definitely love the camera.

But as LordEnigma mentioned, GoPro videos straight out of the camera are just so-so. You have to do some touchup with exposure/contrast/temperature with the free GoPro software, but I don't regret getting my GoPro one bit. It's definitely more flexible to use than normal cameras (of coz, you have to spend a bit more to get accessories like the flex clamp/extra batteries/LCD backpack)..

Also, enjoy your trip! Would love to take a long trip away right now :/

thanks bros for all these advice, i have decided to get a gopro as i am more to editing videos and stuff and i am still in love with the wide angle cause getting a normal camera i will need to get wide angle lens and stuff plus i am on a strain budget, so a normal camera or go pro is either one. and since the locations that i am going arent cities, i'll be going to rural area and doing hardship stuff to exchange for stay i guess go pro would be a better camera to get cause it tahan lasak.

the next 7 months will be scary..and exciting. thanks for the wishes and i hope my journey will be interesting

Enjoy your trip Poh Chee