gopro cameras?

[kraigs]

Hey, anyone have any experience with the gopro cameras? I want to be able to shoot video while diving, without breaking the bank. I am going to borrow one from a friend to try out before I shell out any money. I appreciate any feedback.

[Magoi]

Check out this link - video from Muk with a GoPro

http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=17152

[Ranbal]

I've been using a GoPro Hero for about 6 months now. It works great. You do however need a housing with a flat port to fix the underwater focus issue. There are numerous housings on the market these days. Just google it for tons of info.
You will never get the exceptional quality video that you would with pro gear but you will be able to nicely record your dives in HD that you will have fun sharing with family and friends (read: No NatGeo contract anytime soon).
One problem I had was the lighting issue. Yes, you still need good lighting below twenty feet around here. My dive lights are too focus beamed for video and blew out all the color. I have since moved to a "video" light and it has made all the difference in video quality.
I went with bigblue vl1300 and love it. Add to that a tray, handle, arms and you can see how the little inexpensive GoPro just got pretty expensive. Oh well. It's really about the fun factor and I have plenty of it.
Hope this helps.


Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[Scubie Doo]

I mounted mine to my camera housing and really like the results. Also used it for surfing and my kids used it for air soft and long boarding. It is a great camera for the price. Here is a video I shot with it in Fiji last month.

http://vimeo.com/user7985858/videos

[Beefcake]

I have only used mine on 7 dives, but I like it so far. I made a mount to attach it to my mask, but I've seen other methods of carry. There is a thread on the "gear" page here about the flat lenses, and several threads on the "underwater imaging" page about the camera. Good luck with it.

I'm still having trouble with video editing, but that has nothing to do with the camera; it has to do with my age and lack of geekness.

[Ranbal]

I have only used mine on 7 dives, but I like it so far. I made a mount to attach it to my mask, but I've seen other methods of carry. There is a thread on the "gear" page here about the flat lenses, and several threads on the "underwater imaging" page about the camera. Good luck with it.

I'm still having trouble with video editing, but that has nothing to do with the camera; it has to do with my age and lack of geekness.

I doubt that your age or geekness level has much to do with it. At least for me, the editing side of the process can be somewhat of a chore if you are stuck using a relic of a computer without the necessary power to crunch the HD numbers. I have a bunch of video that needs editing but the task is aggravatingly (is that a word?) slow with my feeble laptop. A modern day workstation would make editing a breeze and I would actually be able to post some of our nicer dives.

[Beefcake]

Ok, true - I'm younger than you!

You hit it on the head; my 2-year-old PC laptop doesn't like to run the MP4 converter codecs with the free editing software. I think I need to either buy decent software or another new computer.

[Dusty2]

Laptops are just not made for that kind of workload. You need a desktop with lots of fast memory and a dedicated video card with a good load of memory too. No matter what they advertise laptops are not just small desktops. A really fast processor and good fast memory produce to much heat for a laptop to handle and most laptops share memory between the processor and the video processor which is never going to be as fast.

If your going to process video you need all the power and speed you can afford.

And who said a geek can't be old???

[SeanKylgod]

I've shot a few videos with my GoPro 2 that still has the domed housing on it and I have to say that even with the "blurry" housing, it still is a justifiable $280 buy. I am soon to order the flat lens housing, but until then, I will continue to look like a jacka$$ and wear this camera as-is on my head for every single dive =P I definitely give them my full recommendation.

[brownc9]

I've been considering mounting the camera on a short, lightweight pole, and lashing it to my tank to get the overhead, out in front of me view. Will take some practice, so I don't just have 45 min. of video of the inside of bubbles.
Pros: easy to dive with, just get buddy to start record at surface, probably neat perspective, sturdy
cons: can't get as up close and personal looking for an octo under some rocks, or similar, possible entanglement hazard.

The pole mount will be here next week, I'll post a video if I get it mounted up and it's worth seeing...

[Matt S.]

It's a decent camera for the money except that I think the company really screwed early adopters with the underwater focus issue. I pre-ordered and was one of the first people to learn the hard way that underwater focus was impaired. (Sean, maybe the version 2 is improved but I felt that the version 1 UW focus was unusably poor.)

If you go in with your eyes open and factor in the cost of a flat port ahead of time, you should be fine.

I hope the V2 has fixed the V1's quirks though... they are picky about SD cards, and they can lock up requiring a battery pull to reboot.

[SeanKylgod]

@ Matt-

I guess the V1 early release had some serious flaws.. did you get reimbursed for it being so faulty? I've yet to have any notable problems with my Hero 2 other than the bit of UW fuzziness. Here is a (long and unedited) video of a recent dive at harper's ferry filmed using the GoPro 2 with the stock housing. Does it look different (video quality wise) than yours turned out?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MunLe10p ... re=related[/youtube]

It's a decent camera for the money except that I think the company really screwed early adopters with the underwater focus issue. I pre-ordered and was one of the first people to learn the hard way that underwater focus was impaired. (Sean, maybe the version 2 is improved but I felt that the version 1 UW focus was unusably poor.)

If you go in with your eyes open and factor in the cost of a flat port ahead of time, you should be fine.

I hope the V2 has fixed the V1's quirks though... they are picky about SD cards, and they can lock up requiring a battery pull to reboot.

[Matt S.]

That looks exactly like my V1 housing underwater. Glad it works for you, but I found it intolerably blurry for what's sold as a 1080p HD video camera.

I am probably full of sour grapes because I pre-ordered and the issue was unknown at that time, and it was a nasty surprise on my first use. In hindsight I should have been skeptical that they sold it with a housing yet never showed any underwater videos in the promotional materials...

Someday I'll get a flat lens for the housing and start using it but I doubt I'll ever buy another product from them.

[SeanKylgod]

I think the flat lens is mandatory for anything UW.. then again, in retrospect; what could you really expect from a $300 "HD" camera that boasts the ability to work underwater?

That looks exactly like my V1 housing underwater. Glad it works for you, but I found it intolerably blurry for what's sold as a 1080p HD video camera.

I am probably full of sour grapes because I pre-ordered and the issue was unknown at that time, and it was a nasty surprise on my first use. In hindsight I should have been skeptical that they sold it with a housing yet never showed any underwater videos in the promotional materials...

Someday I'll get a flat lens for the housing and start using it but I doubt I'll ever buy another product from them.

[Dashrynn]

That looks exactly like my V1 housing underwater. Glad it works for you, but I found it intolerably blurry for what's sold as a 1080p HD video camera.

I am probably full of sour grapes because I pre-ordered and the issue was unknown at that time, and it was a nasty surprise on my first use. In hindsight I should have been skeptical that they sold it with a housing yet never showed any underwater videos in the promotional materials...

Someday I'll get a flat lens for the housing and start using it but I doubt I'll ever buy another product from them.

Even the cheap plexi lens is better than nothing

[SeanKylgod]

I'm just tickled by the fact that I have the versatility to stick this thing to the tank/handlebars/front forks/my helmet when I'm cruising down the freeway and decide to do something stupid, I always have the comfort in knowing that if i dont kill myself and only severely maim myself, my video will definitely get lots of views on youtube =P

I think of my GoPro as my blurry little black-box. When all systems fail, there is a slight possibility that the carnage will be caught on tape

For diving.. I don't really see it as much more of a novelty item until you get into adding a base plate with a strobe and the flat lens housing, but as you said, it's certainly better than nothing

That looks exactly like my V1 housing underwater. Glad it works for you, but I found it intolerably blurry for what's sold as a 1080p HD video camera.

I am probably full of sour grapes because I pre-ordered and the issue was unknown at that time, and it was a nasty surprise on my first use. In hindsight I should have been skeptical that they sold it with a housing yet never showed any underwater videos in the promotional materials...

Someday I'll get a flat lens for the housing and start using it but I doubt I'll ever buy another product from them.

Even the cheap plexi lens is better than nothing

[BillyD]

Go for it with the GoPro. It's a super easy, super fun, super powerful camera for the price. True that it starts to add up with lights and everything, but the key is just to make sure everything you buy will stay useful, even when you upgrade the camera itself. I use my GoPro mounted on a piece of PVC pipe, which is awesome because it's so light and easy, and can go into places you can't. I also have a 10' retractable pole I use when I don't want to get wet.
Right now I am trying to decide the lighting package I want, most likely some Light and Motion Solo lights, but am still open to suggestions. Take a look at some of my videos, I also included one with the stock GoPro housing (Spooky Octopus Dive). Pretty easy to see the necessity of getting a flat lens.
Thanks for watching More videos coming soon!
-Bill

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=298K8493 ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5sEHIFQ ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H48zyQtj ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg4KOUFk ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpYXwPCR ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW9D4xX2 ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[SeanKylgod]

@Billy: do you have a pic you can post of the mount you have your gopro on?

Go for it with the GoPro. It's a super easy, super fun, super powerful camera for the price. True that it starts to add up with lights and everything, but the key is just to make sure everything you buy will stay useful, even when you upgrade the camera itself. I use my GoPro mounted on a piece of PVC pipe, which is awesome because it's so light and easy, and can go into places you can't. I also have a 10' retractable pole I use when I don't want to get wet.
Right now I am trying to decide the lighting package I want, most likely some Light and Motion Solo lights, but am still open to suggestions. Take a look at some of my videos, I also included one with the stock GoPro housing (Spooky Octopus Dive). Pretty easy to see the necessity of getting a flat lens.
Thanks for watching More videos coming soon!
-Bill

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=298K8493 ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5sEHIFQ ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H48zyQtj ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg4KOUFk ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpYXwPCR ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW9D4xX2 ... ature=plcp[/youtube]

[nwscubamom]

I thought one of these little cameras would be the BEST.THING.EVER! So I got me one, and got the Eye of Mine flat port housing too. Here's what I found were the downsides to these little GoPro cameras:

I attached it to my head with the elastic band head mount, but found it slips off unless you attach it on both sides to your mask strap.
Extensive video editing required with special software
A LOT of video, using up a LOT of storage space
Going through that video takes up a lot of time
Difficult to see when red light is flashing - indicating that the camera is on
Setup isn't very intuitive, controls hard to use
Playback not possible on my little netbook - so I can never see the footage until I come home from traveling
Lighting is a problem - regular lights look terrible illuminating subject
Unable to focus clearly on close up shots < 8" or so.

YMMV!

- Janna

[Ranbal]

I thought one of these little cameras would be the BEST.THING.EVER! So I got me one, and got the Eye of Mine flat port housing too. Here's what I found were the downsides to these little GoPro cameras:

I attached it to my head with the elastic band head mount, but found it slips off unless you attach it on both sides to your mask strap.
Extensive video editing required with special software
A LOT of video, using up a LOT of storage space
Going through that video takes up a lot of time
Difficult to see when red light is flashing - indicating that the camera is on
Setup isn't very intuitive, controls hard to use
Playback not possible on my little netbook - so I can never see the footage until I come home from traveling
Lighting is a problem - regular lights look terrible illuminating subject
Unable to focus clearly on close up shots < 8" or so.

YMMV!

- Janna

"Best Thing Ever" hmmm, I think not. I have had mine for several months now and yes, I have had a great time with it and have learned a lot about taking video underwater.
I keep my GoPro out in front of me where I can view the lcd display and have better control of what I record and when I record it. My first few outings with the GoPro rendered a ton of video that was for the most part useless. I have since kept my recordings to a max of a couple minutes per clip. I only start the recording when there is subject matter that matters. I have to ask myself several times a dive "would anyone else really want to see this?" and if not then I move on.
Playback is a bitch for sure. My little laptop begs me to stop the madness every time I dump more video into it for editing. I feel your pain here in a big way. I'm currently building a new desktop just for editing purposes.
I agree that the controls could be more user friendly but they do cram a lot of stuff in a couple of buttons.
On to lighting. Wow, what can I say that hasn't been said a hundred times. Yep, lighting is huge with video. I tried it with my dive lights but it was fail due to beam being too focused and blowing out all the color. I have since picked up a video light with a wide even beam and it has made a tremendous difference. Of course, here come the costs. Tray, handles, clamps, arms, light all adding up for me as an additional $900 to the cost of the little GoPro. Though I will be able to use all of this gear when I step up to a better camera and housing.
It certainly isn't the little do it all low cost camera that everyone should be proud to own. It is however for me a great little low cost camera stepping stone to better quality video gear.
I agree whole heartedly, YMMV!

[BillyD]

I went with bigblue vl1300 and love it. Add to that a tray, handle, arms and you can see how the little inexpensive GoPro just got pretty expensive. Oh well. It's really about the fun factor and I have plenty of it.
Hope this helps.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Hi Ranbal,
So would you recommend the Big Blue VL1300? Do you have one or two? How is the light temperature, evenness and spread of light, and how does it do cutting through Puget Sound murkiness? Do you have any videos posted using the light that I could check out? Sorry for so many questions! I'm gearing up to purchase lighting and certainly don't want to do it twice
-Bill

[Ranbal]

I went with bigblue vl1300 and love it. Add to that a tray, handle, arms and you can see how the little inexpensive GoPro just got pretty expensive. Oh well. It's really about the fun factor and I have plenty of it.
Hope this helps.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Hi Ranbal,
So would you recommend the Big Blue VL1300? Do you have one or two? How is the light temperature, evenness and spread of light, and how does it do cutting through Puget Sound murkiness? Do you have any videos posted using the light that I could check out? Sorry for so many questions! I'm gearing up to purchase lighting and certainly don't want to do it twice
-Bill

Hi BillyD,
I'm still working out my setup but so far the results have been promising. What I need is a tutorial on how to post videos and pictures in this forum. I would be happy to show you the latest results. I will do some research tonight and get some videos and a picture of my kit.
As far as the temperature of the light, I am really ignorant of such things but I can tell you that it looks natural to me. Not overly blue or overly yellow. The beam spread is 80 degrees and for me that isn't quite enough for close work. These GoPro's shoot some pretty wide angle. I have had to increase arm length in order to get the light far enough away to spread the beam out. A work in progress.
Currently running just the one VL1300. I appears to be enough light and I often use it on the low or mid settings. Battery life has been awesome. I have been getting 4 to 5 dives out of a charge, though I do turn it off when not actually recording. It does cut through the murk but I have also been lucky to get some great vis dives as of late.
When I get home tonight I will figure out how to post some visuals. So far I am happy with my choices.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7rzsUfleRk[/youtube]

[defied]

FYI, I've got the Hero2 with the Snake River Prototypes "BlurFix" housing, and have had no vignetting issues.
There are red lights on all sides of the camera now, so telling what it is doing is easier (Allthough I bought the LCD pack, so I can just look at the screen).

The format that the video is captured is not "Non-standard", it's just a raw MP4 encapsulated codec. In the linux world, transcoding it is not difficult, but in the windows world, you'd have to look around for the codec, install it, and then mix away. You don't need to use Cineform Studio for your editing after that. Nothing wrong with using cineform for transcoding though. Get it transcoded, and then bring it in to your editor of choice.

D

[BillyD]

Hey Ranbal,
Thanks so much for sharing that! I subscribed to your Youtube channel as well What setting do you have the light on for this clip? Is this on full power? Looks really sweet, and the battery life sounds awesome. Thanks for the help!
-Bill

[BillyD]

New GoPro video...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJYaGMx5-dc[/youtube]
Thanks for watching! Working on a quick write up about my experiences with the GoPro thus far. Will share it here when finished.
-Bill