Gitup G3 Duo FOV 170° action camera - not exactly a review...

[VladTepes]

This isn't a review per se but rather a thread where I'll record my impressions of this camera in an ongoing way.

First Impressions

This is the camera concerned and I bought only the master camera (not interested in the secondary duo camera at this time.) as well as a charger and few spare batteries, an external mic, and the skeleton housing.
https://www.gitup.com/home/76-gitup-g3-duo-fov-170-pro-packing-action-camera.html

So far I've opened the package, set the batteries to charge and had just a brief play with it.

It'll take a while to get used to the camera settings (as to where they are in the menus etc) but that'd be the case with any camera.

Didn't have any real trouble hooking up the app, which will be handy for the live view function when I set the camera up on the helmet to be confident it's pointing in the right direction when worn.

Also allows some (but I don't think all) settings to be changed a bit easier than via camera menus.

There's a significant lag (around 1 second) between things actually occurring and them showing on the 'live view' in the app but that's not a problem at all - it's not really intended to be used as a live monitor, but primarily as set-up aid.

Changing settings on the screen isn't hard, but it did take me awhile to figure out that when the setting is orange that's the 'on' and white is 'off' . Given the white is brighter than the orange that seems counter-intuitive but now I know it it's not a problem. Just something to be aware of.

Resolution

If you were to run this system with a slave camera - then both cameras record at 1080p / 30fps.
When running the main camera only (as likely most owners would be doing) there are more resolution options available.

When making the purchase decision I THOUGHT this was 4K, and at least one review I read said so - however I should have read the site very carefully - max resolution is actually 2160p -> 2880*2160P ; 24 fps.
Other resolutions available are: 1440P HD video:2560*1440P ; 30 fps ; 1080P HD video: 1920*1080P 60/30 fps ; Dual FUll HD video : 1920*1080 ; 30 fps (with Slave camera) ; 720P HD video : 1280*720; 120/60 fps

So as far as I can see - for YouTube - there is no benefit to me in recording at higher than 1080p (but lower than 4K)

Therefore it makes sense for me to record in 1920*1080P @ 60 fps (rather than 30)

So I'm a bit peeved about that but the camera is significantly cheaper than a gopro 7 or 8 so I can't complain too much I don't reckon. Plus 1080p ought to be perfectly adequate for the time being.

The fact this camera features image stabilisation (as well as many other features) makes it a HUGE step up from my GoProHero2 !

Concerns
I purchased the external microphone (so I can fit it inside my helmet)
Looking at the instruction book there is one thing which concerns me.

When you enable and connect an external microphone, the camera records audio from both the external microphone and the built-in microphone.

Now this isn't an issue if it were to record to separate audio tracks but I rather fear it might mix them together - which would partly defeat the point of having a microphone screened from the breeze.

We'll see I guess.


(n.b. while posted today the above was written a couple of days ago)

[VladTepes]

I'd have thought that there should be a way with a firmware update for Gitup to provide the functionality to disable the internal mic (but not the external one if plugged in)

I contacted gitup via their website and asked the following:

Q re the use of external microphone. I bought the G3Duo camera.

In the manual it states "when you enable and connect an external microphone, the camera records audio from both the external microphone and built-in microphone"

Does it do this on separate audio tracks, for editing purposes, or does it mix both mics down to a single audio track? If it puts both together on a single track that rather defeats the purpose of avoiding wind noise by having an external microphone?

There is a setting in the camera menus for 'microphone sensitivity' - does that apply to a plugged in external mic as well or only to the internal microphone?

Thanks for your help.

The answer I received answered only one of the questions I asked.

Hi

Some users remove internal MIC to avoid this wind noise problem, if possible please have a try?
Attachment red circel is G3 MIC part, any other question please come back, thanks.

Best Regards,
Support Team


GitUp LTD
Phone: +86 755 8527 8089
Email: support@gitup.com
Website: www.gitup.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/gitup.ltd
Address: 201, Building 1, Guanghui Science and Technology Park, Minqing Road, Longhua, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

The file they attached was a photo of the camera circuit board highlighting the internal microphone.
They are implying that I should disassemble the camera and cut the microphone off !

I'm not keen to do this for a number of reasons - the potential for damage being one reason, and as per my subsequent response to Gitup:

I don't wish to disassemble the camera as I may wish to use the internal mic for other situations.
Surely you ought to be able to roll out a firmware update with an option to turn the internal microphone on and off ?
Thanks and kind regards,

I'll let you all know what response I receive to that.


Having read this: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/external-mic-massive-fail-by-git.33891/
I'm no confident. It seems perhaops they may have just tapped the external mic into the internal mic input so they are not distict and therefore possibly cannot be controlled independently.  An all or nothing situation....

NOT HAPPY JAN !


My mates call me a 'shit magnet' seems might be happening again...