My wife shoots video with a Canon Vixia G50 in a Gates housing and loves it. But......we are planning a Dominica sperm whale trip. She has used the Canon/Gates combo in Tonga with the humpback whales but just feels it's getting too big for free diving, not her strength. She is not a "camera" person just wants to point and shoot. I do have the GoPro Max wide angle lens with a budget housing in hand for the GoPro10. Trying to keep costs down as it might be a one time use situation.

Thoughts on GoPro 10 vs iPhone 15 Pro for natural light shooting of whales?

Preferred housing and I assume some form of WA lens for the housing?

Filters?

Any settings I can use to set up either to improve image quality?

Thanks!

Hi @aquabluedreams

That's amazing that you are going to photograph the sperm whales, you'll have an incredible time.

With regards to shooting with your iPhone 15 Pro Max -v- Go Pro 10, it's a tough one as I love using them both.

For a subject as large as a sperm whale you will need a good quality wide angle lens.

If you were using your iPhone 15 Pro Max, I would steer towards a Weefine housing onto which you could add a Mounting Bracket to attach one of their wide-angle lenses. Yes, it's a more expensive option but the optics of their lenses are superb.

The more economical option would be to add a Backscatter Go Pro Action Cam Sharp Wide Lens Pro onto your existing Go Pro Housing. I used this set-up last summer with my Go Pro 12 and loved the quality of the lens and the sharpness that it delivered throughout the image, even in the corners.

As you'll be shooting at the surface, there wouldn't be any need for filters, but I would shoot in RAW mode and if there is a lot of sunlight at the surface, then preset your Exposure to -0.7 to reduce burnout at the surface.

There are a lot of housings available for your Go Pro to which you can add on a wide-angle lens which will all deliver excellent results. It all depends on your budget.

Hope that this helps and feel free to ask away if you need any more advice.

Maria

Thanks! I think I lean somewhat to the iPhone because you do have their typical ".5 1x 2" feature vs. the GoPro where you have to zoom with your fins, lol, little more flexibility for someone who may not be a strong free diver.

2 hours ago, aquabluedreams said:

Thanks! I think I lean somewhat to the iPhone because you do have their typical ".5 1x 2" feature vs. the GoPro where you have to zoom with your fins, lol, little more flexibility for someone who may not be a strong free diver.

I would have thought the same. The sensor has nearly 3x the surface area and you can pick between a 24mm and a 13mm equivalent lens.

Sorry Chris but I'm a little confused, lol, what system has the larger sensor?

1 hour ago, aquabluedreams said:

Sorry Chris but I'm a little confused, lol, what system has the larger sensor?

Sorry, the Iphone does - if your interested in the numbers it's 24.6 mm2 for the GoPro and 71.5 mm2 for the Iphone 15 Pro. This means it gathers 3x the light for the image compared to the go-pro, means the signal to noise is better on the iphone.

Remember that you have to move a lot after jumping into the water. Gopro hat a smaller body but certainly less IQ,. If your wife is fast at point and shoot even in the water with the iphone, then this schould be the best option. If she is more in filming an just wants to start the camera before jumping in, the GoPro should do it.

In the end both are 20% the size and weight of her camcorder + Gates housing rig.

Edited May 8, 2025May 8 by aquabluedreams