the prop effect seems better on the VIRB, it is there but somewhat less distracting.
(There is a special filter for the GoPro to eliminate that ugly prop effect, but it’s expensive)
I like the GoPro pretty much (have a Hero Silver), but had problems with vibration too when i mounted it to the window.
What about prop effect with the VIRB? Is it as bad as with the GoPro?
Been running my new x-mas present VIRB side by side with my GoPro Hero 3 Black for in-cockpit videos of scenic flying and I keep being surprised by how much better my VIRB videos are than my GoPro – something about the way the VIRB (which is recording at slightly lower resolution) is somehow dealing with the light/dark contrasts of the mix of dark in cockpit view and bright outside sunlight and also the wider field of view on the VIRB (which is more letter boxed). I have never been able to get great dramatic videos with my gopro, despite dramatic reality of views during flying. Anybody else have similar results or am i the only early adopter here with the VIRB?
Yes – vibration plays havoc with the image stabilisation in cameras. That’s why I mounted the G10 cam in that fancy anti-vib mount. Before I used those fancy silicone rubber pillars (about £15 each, from a specialist vibration mount supplier) I had the same mount with different rubber pillars but they were no good, and the pic was badly out of focus the whole time.
I think you get nothing for nothing in this business 
I use a Panasonic Lumix FT2 compact digital in movie mode – it does about 10 minutes then has to be restarted. It’s cold resistant. The Fuji I previously used would not work in a cold cockpit. I tried a Canon HG10 cine camera – it didn’t have the scicle effect, but shut down due to vibration, and produced weird effects at times – I think the image stabilation settled on the prop at some steady rev value.
I know a couple of people who have modified the casing to accept a standard camera filter – but then of course the case is no longer waterproof
Has anybody used PolarPro’s glass filter instead of the NFlight’s plastic one?
The NFlight filters work very well with GoPro cameras. For my JVC video camera I use a shutter speed of 1/100.
Declared interest – I sell the Nflight filters so I would say they work, wouldn’t I
The only way to modulate the shutter speed on a GoPro is via an ND filter. There is no hard and fast rule as to which one to use – it obviously depends on the ambient light. You can also use a polarizer, possibly even in combo with an ND. The best is to experiment a little while on the ground and see what gives you best results. Unfortunately there is no variable ND for the GoPro (you’d need a dedicated housing for it). I recently did some air-to-air work (but with pro cine cameras) and found to get a good prop movement (IOW create a prop disk that moves, w/o freezing the prop blades) I needed to shoot at about 1/125th – 1/160th.
