Taking action cameras seriously - as a photographer

This is part of an intro for an action camera feature I wrote recently. Yes, I do use them and they are incredible, if used in the right way and situation…

Many serious photographers still cringe at the mere mention of using an action camera. Those dreaded shaky GoPro videos and terrible photos of a few years back often spring to mind, and yes there plenty of them out there tainting the internet and scuppering their allure.

Then again, give the average action camera user a Red video camera of a medium format Hasselblad and they’d no doubt return with equally sub-par results. This is where we, as more knowledgeable photographers, can use our experience to produce great things from these tiny little boxes of tricks.

Most will buy action cameras for making action-orientated videos, which is after all what they were designed for. However, there is huge potential for classic still image capture and timelapses also inbuilt. 

Even though their general photographic persuasion is fixed in focal length and aperture their robust nature and size enable us to use them in places and situations where a regular camera would be all but impossible to use. This allows us capture images that are very different to those we’d aim for in a regular SLR.

Action and sports situations is most definitely where they excel, as you can place them almost anywhere and capture wide angle/fisheye images on the fly without having to worry about dropping or damaging the cameras. 

POV shots are synonymous with action cams, although thanks to the infinite number of mounting options you can come up with all sorts of unusual shots, including under water and those amazing half in half out of the water shots, which you would require an expensive underwater housing if you wanted to use a regular camera – which is not viable for occasional use.

If used in the right way they can also make for great travel and street cameras, as they’re so unobtrusive. Mount an action camera on a long selfie stick and hold it high and you can grab drone like shots in a matter of seconds.