I want to capture my daughter's milestones

[raidbossreid]

I became a father in June and really want to capture our daughter's milestone moments.

I also don't want to have to scramble to grab my phone any time something comes up I want to capture.

The GoPro Hero10 seems lightweight and has a lot of accessories for mounting or wearing it on your person.

Other than that I'm lost.

Do you all have any suggestions on lightweight yet high quality cameras that could fill this need?

Spoiler

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Id really go phone here. You have one on you almost all the time, and the image quality is pretty good these days.

 

I don't see a gopro being super useful here. There nice for things like attaching to bikes, helmets, cars and simmilar. You could use something like the chesty to mount the camera on her, but that seems excessive.

 

For taking photos from a distance a mirrorless camera makes a lot more sense than a gopro, as you can zoom in, and they overall have much better image quality.

[An0maly_76]

I tried using a GoPro as a dash cam when I was driving semis over-the-road, and found that battery life and app connectivity were quite dismal. I was using Android, not iPhone. But I'm not sure I would trust such fleeting moments to a GoPro. You might consider Google glasses, especially if you already wear glasses anyway. Another thought would be a full-house full-color HD CCTV system with pan-zoom / smart-zoom. Or maybe a bunch of nanny-cams in the areas your little one will be in most often.

[raidbossreid]

17 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id really go phone here. You have one on you almost all the time, and the image quality is pretty good these days.

 

I don't see a gopro being super useful here. There nice for things like attaching to bikes, helmets, cars and simmilar. You could use something like the chesty to mount the camera on her, but that seems excessive.

 

For taking photos from a distance a mirrorless camera makes a lot more sense than a gopro, as you can zoom in, and they overall have much better image quality.

Thank you.

Maybe when she gets a little older we can use an action cam for hikes or days at park.

 

[raidbossreid]

12 minutes ago, An0maly_76 said:

I tried using a GoPro as a dash cam when I was driving semis over-the-road, and found that battery life and app connectivity were quite dismal. I was using Android, not iPhone. But I'm not sure I would trust such fleeting moments to a GoPro. You might consider Google glasses, especially if you already wear glasses anyway. Another thought would be a full-house full-color HD CCTV system with pan-zoom / smart-zoom. Or maybe a bunch of nanny-cams in the areas your little one will be in most often.

Sorry you had a poor experience with your GoPro.  I'm hoping for the next era of (insert tech giant) glasses to come out and actually be good.  We are currently looking to expand our home security cameras for more coverage but they are forever out of stock.

[shoutingsteve]

I am a father of a 2 year old and here is my advice:  Don't reach for your phone or any camera.  keep your eyes glued on your child and family.  Experience the moment; don't try and capture it.  I missed a few things because I was trying to get to my phone.  Even if you do manage to get your phone out in time, you are then staring at it through a screen.

Enjoy the moment as countless other parents have done before you.

[Birblover12]

Honestly I don't think it really makes sense to use a GoPro for just regular videos/photos. It's really meant for more intense situations (like dirt biking, skiing, etc.) where having a phone or a professional camera like a DSLR would be inappropriate or just completely out of the question to use.

 

Speaking of which, I agree with everyone else in this thread that a phone really makes the most sense, especially since you noted "lightweight" as a feature you wanted. On most mid-range phones, their camera is so good that unless you want to use something like a DSLR Camera, you'll be hard-pressed to find an alternative.

[raidbossreid]

6 minutes ago, shoutingsteve said:

I am a father of a 2 year old and here is my advice:  Don't reach for your phone or any camera.  keep your eyes glued on your child and family.  Experience the moment; don't try and capture it.  I missed a few things because I was trying to get to my phone.  Even if you do manage to get your phone out in time, you are then staring at it through a screen.

Enjoy the moment as countless other parents have done before you.

Thanks for this. This is the real answer right

[BobVonBob]

The way I see it unless you want to be recording every moment of your life for the next two decades you're going to be scrambling for something if you want to take a picture, and it may as well be your phone. Check to see if your phone has a quick shortcut to the camera, on many phones a double tap on the lock button will take you straight to the camera from anywhere, even locked. You might not expect it, but phones are usually faster on the draw than dedicated cameras or recording devices because they don't put as much emphasis on waking up from standby.

 

Just a word of caution, you are going to be in control of your child's privacy. Use discretion when taking pictures, and especially posting them to the internet. Every picture you post to the internet will stay with your child forever. People get excited or just don't realize what they're doing and do insane things like post pictures of their children bathing. Don't be the parent that causes a photo like that to show up when your kid is looking for a job. You probably don't need this reminder, but way too many people do.

[raidbossreid]

11 minutes ago, BobVonBob said:

The way I see it unless you want to be recording every moment of your life for the next two decades you're going to be scrambling for something if you want to take a picture, and it may as well be your phone. Check to see if your phone has a quick shortcut to the camera, on many phones a double tap on the lock button will take you straight to the camera from anywhere, even locked. You might not expect it, but phones are usually faster on the draw than dedicated cameras or recording devices because they don't put as much emphasis on waking up from standby.

 

Just a word of caution, you are going to be in control of your child's privacy. Use discretion when taking pictures, and especially posting them to the internet. Every picture you post to the internet will stay with your child forever. People get excited or just don't realize what they're doing and do insane things like post pictures of their children bathing. Don't be the parent that causes a photo like that to show up when your kid is looking for a job. You probably don't need this reminder, but way too many people do.

Wife and I agreed before she was born that we wouldn’t take pictures of or post pictures of her privates. You never know when your cloud provider will have a data breach.