[jonnythan]

So it happens all the time? I have yet to see a single good-light picture that has "static rain." I've seen a few low-light pictures with this effect, but not a single good-light one.

And please stop calling it "static." It's sensor noise, or just noise.

You don't need to understand ISO, but you should understand that low-light pictures (or any pictures you take where you've set the ISO to 800 manually) will be noisy, just as they are with any other camera.

You claim that every picture you take has "static rain." OK, show it to me.

BTW, I brought up the iPhone because the iPhone has a better camera than the Hero and it still displays noise in low light conditions. Even high-end point and shoot cameras like the Canon G-series cameras have noise problems at ISO 800 and 1600. There's a lot more to camera quality than megapixels. More megapixels is often a bad thing, actually, since each individual pixel must be smaller and therefore gather less light and produce more noise.

Basically I'm telling you that noise in pictures is common and expected when taking pictures at high ISO settings. You claim that you get excessive noise in all lighting conditions and at all ISO settings. You need to demonstrate that, as you haven't yet.