I will probably be doing 80% stills, 20% video, and am looking at what choices to go for. I want to keep it to either the GoPro13, DGI Action 5, or TG7 because I am going to be selling Weefine lights as a small part of a larger business and those three cameras are the ones that Weefine currently have housings for. All three cameras are in a similar price range, and there isn't a massive difference in the housing price either - not enough to sway me anyway.

So for someone shooting 80% stills, 20% video what would you suggest/recommend of those three?

Go-Pro and DGI are basically video machines they can take photos but they aren't fantastic. More importantly they don't focus close as they are setup for wide angle work. The TG-7 on the other hand is a macro camera- it's not that wide at its widest but can focus very close and is great at capturing smaller critters and filling the frame with them. As I understand things the TG-7 does video but it's not its forte. To some extent it depends on what you are shooting.

The GoPro/DJI require an accessory closeup lens to shoot anything small, while the TG-7 requires an accessory wide lens to shoot larger things like reefs etc. The lens on the GoPro/DJI is fixed focus no zoom, while you have full focus range from a few mm to infinity with the TG7 and it zoom from a 25mm equivalent lens to a 100mm lens.

To some extent it depends on what you are shooting and where, if you are mostly in Tassie, I would guess a lot of macro work?

16 minutes ago, Chris Ross said:

Go-Pro and DGI are basically video machines they can take photos but they aren't fantastic. More importantly they don't focus close as they are setup for wide angle work. The TG-7 on the other hand is a macro camera- it's not that wide at its widest but can focus very close and is great at capturing smaller critters and filling the frame with them. As I understand things the TG-7 does video but it's not its forte. To some extent it depends on what you are shooting.

The GoPro/DJI require an accessory closeup lens to shoot anything small, while the TG-7 requires an accessory wide lens to shoot larger things like reefs etc. The lens on the GoPro/DJI is fixed focus no zoom, while you have full focus range from a few mm to infinity with the TG7 and it zoom from a 25mm equivalent lens to a 100mm lens.

To some extent it depends on what you are shooting and where, if you are mostly in Tassie, I would guess a lot of macro work?

Cheers! I would say mostly macro, with some wider angle stuff at Bicheno etc.

One thing that I really like about the Weefine housings is being able to easily add a monitor - that will be very nice instead of having to get my head in the right place to see a small screen on the back of the housing or peer through an eyepiece - I'm really looking forward to that. Weefine have a new 5" monitor out very shortly which is something like 3000 nits - so very sunlight readable.

10 minutes ago, Brain Fade said:

Cheers! I would say mostly macro, with some wider angle stuff at Bicheno etc.

One thing that I really like about the Weefine housings is being able to easily add a monitor - that will be very nice instead of having to get my head in the right place to see a small screen on the back of the housing or peer through an eyepiece - I'm really looking forward to that. Weefine have a new 5" monitor out very shortly which is something like 3000 nits - so very sunlight readable.

If it's mostly macro , the TG7 is the only game in town really, it's wide enough for a weedy sea dragon, but probably want a wide angle lenses for big schools of fish etc. I hear the weefine housing allow you to use an 18650 battery to charge the camera up and get much more dive time before needing to change out.

7 minutes ago, Chris Ross said:

If it's mostly macro , the TG7 is the only game in town really, it's wide enough for a weedy sea dragon, but probably want a wide angle lenses for big schools of fish etc. I hear the weefine housing allow you to use an 18650 battery to charge the camera up and get much more dive time before needing to change out.

Can confirm that the Weefine housings do have an 18650 battery in them that recharges the camera battery - which is a nice thing to have. I think that Weefine also make a wide angle lens for their TG7 housing as well.

6 hours ago, Brain Fade said:

So for someone shooting 80% stills, 20% video what would you suggest/recommend of those three?

Ad Chris explained in great detail, 100% TG7

BTW is there any news of a TG8 maybe coming sometime soon? (hopefully)

On 5/6/2025 at 5:28 PM, Brain Fade said:

BTW is there any news of a TG8 maybe coming sometime soon? (hopefully)

TG7 Just came out, and with minor improvement in confront with the TG6 after years from the TG6 release, so I don't think you should wait a model that is either coming in a long way, or coming soon with no improvement

Hi @Brain Fade

Just to add in a couple of things as Chris and the others have pretty much covered it all in great detail :)

I would definitely agree to the TG7 for both macro and wide angle capabilities. It does produce cracking video too, but bear in mind that the battery life is shorter than the TG6 for video. If you are going to get a wide angle lens, go as wide as you can if you are capturing big schools of fish, caves and wrecks. The WFL02 is ideal and you have the advantage that you can zoom through it too.

I shoot with my Go Pro too and have produced some great quality images which I print, sell and have been used for articles in magazines. The DJI offers better battery life, low light performance and for still images offers a whopping 40 MP compared to Go Pro's 27 MP.

At the end of the day, all of them will produce great images, it all depends on the kind of images that you like to take as to which will be more suitable. I'm not sure how much the TG7 can be improved on, I was out with a guest practicing yesterday and was blown away by the incredible macro images she captured just with the camera, no housing and just a small torch.

Have a great time Brian and look forward to seeing your images :)

Maria

Ocean Visions Photography

www.oceanvisionsphotography.co.uk

"Living Life on the Smaller Side :) with a Go Pro Hero 12 with Backscatter Add-Ons and MARES EOS 10lrw Video Lights, iPhone 13 Pro Max with DiveVolk/Sealife Housings and an Olympus TG6/7 with an INON W/A Lens and a Backscatter Mini-Flash to keep me properly out of mischief :)"