I used a gopro 4 black before and have an Inon UWL-G140 for it. Just updated the age old camera with a gopro 13 I wonder what's the best option to fit the lens on the original gopro dive housing? Compatibility with my polarpro filters (basically gopro's stock diving & snorkeling orange/red filers) would be a fantastic plus.

Apparently I got two options: stock Inon SD front mask (haven't found a UK dealer yet): doesn't seem to be polarpro compatible nor has its on provisions for filter.

The Backscatter mount, here it says is compatible with Inon SD lenses (should be verified though). Maybe it doesn't work with the polarpro filters but at least I can buy the backscatter filter inserts.

I hope you can make that work. I haven’t looked into it in a while, but it seemed easiest to go for the Backscatter Flip filters, though there are likely better solutions out there.

Hi TomG,

The AOI adapter is fully compatible with the standard GoPro housing, from 5 to 13. I have one here.

In the box you have several mounts and ADRech states all the lens compatible with that quick release mount:

https://www.aditech-uw.com/en/shop/6750-aoi-qrs-02-mb1p-for-hero12111098765.html

IIRC latest Inon mount is not compatible (probably they changed it because AOI lens/mounts are cheaper 😉)

Old Inon mount a AOI works flawlessly in all 16:9 formats but they vignette on GoPro full sensor 8:7 format.

Backscatter mount is made by AOI and it's slightly modified to accommodate slide-in filters between the lens and the GoPro housing port. The lens is further away to leave enough space for the filter. I can't tell you if this increases the vignetting issue; I don't think so, but it's probably best to ask Backscatter about it.

Edited yesterday at 09:46 AM1 day by Davide DB
Typo

1 hour ago, Davide DB said:

The lens is further away to leave enough space for the filter. I can't tell you if this increases the vignetting issue

! That's a perfectly valid point! Will test that handheld with some makeshift spacers. Also, if the lens is further out than the original optical design suggests, correction might not be as good as intended. Planning to use 4:3 aspect ratio at the highest resolution available.

So the Backscatter and AOI mounts are all compatible with Inon's SD bayonet? That sounds great.

Edited yesterday at 12:00 PM1 day by GTom

3 hours ago, GTom said:

That's a perfectly valid point! Will test that handheld with some makeshift spacers. Also, if the lens is further out than the original optical design suggests, correction might not be as good as intended. Planning to use 4:3 aspect ratio at the highest resolution available.

Just send an email to BS and ask them.

3 hours ago, GTom said:

So the Backscatter and AOI mounts are all compatible with Inon's SD bayonet? That sounds great.

Never tried but according to all review and the ADTech website, yes.

@GTom AOI / Inon lens and adapters are backwards compatible on gopro (original case)

If you not in Rush, i would wait for the new AIO UH-ACT universal case for Action cameras with lens adapter built-in.

I expect the new AOI case to be more expensive than the lens adapters + gopro underwater case.

I would not go filters route.... Dive lights + gopro labs gives you much better results.

Check this account on instagram joe_chang41

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by Nando Diver

54 minutes ago, Nando Diver said:

I would not go filters route.... Dive lights + gopro labs gives you much better results.

Nando, let’s be fair: you don’t know the OP’s local environment or their specific diving habits, so please avoid being so categorical with your advice.

2 minutes ago, Davide DB said:

Nando, let’s be fair: you don’t know the OP’s local environment or their specific diving habits, so please avoid being so categorical with your advice.

ok

GTom, do you dive/snorkeling shallow? Tropics or temperate water?

For tropics and shallow dives a good filter is enough.

Snorkeling doesnt require any filter while deeper or temperate waters requires lights for sure.

1 hour ago, Nando Diver said:

If you not in Rush, i would wait for the new AIO UH-ACT universal case for Action cameras with lens adapter built-in.

That one looks interesting. Not super hurried but would like to get and test the gear before Summer.

37 minutes ago, Davide DB said:

OP’s local environment or their specific diving habits

Valid point, Lights are not ideal for some of my favorite targets: underwater landscapes & groups of people. Latter even in the pool might benefit from slight filtering if the subjects scatter 1 to 5 meters from me (subject to loads of testing though).

Edited 19 hours ago19 hr by GTom

12 hours ago, Nando Diver said:

I would not go filters route.... Dive lights + gopro labs gives you much better results.

11 hours ago, GTom said:

Valid point, Lights are not ideal for some of my favorite targets: underwater landscapes & groups of people. Latter even in the pool might benefit from slight filtering if the subjects scatter 1 to 5 meters from me (subject to loads of testing though).

Since we are being authoritative, for underwater landscapes and true wide angle subjects, and for shallow dives, I would actually forget lights.

I would also recommend going down the filter route for actual wide angle work on action cams at diving depths.

Reason is that the field of view on action cams is extremely wide, and your lights will be largely ineffective for anything more than about 2 m from the camera. And sunlight will overpower your lights in the shallows.

So I would save those lights for medium and close-up shots, deep and night dives, but forget about lights for wide-angle.

The key is to shoot in a flat profile (log), and to set your white balance point in post.
This approach is a tried and tested way which will give you much better results than any in-camera tweaking, including GoPro Labs customisations.

And yes, using a good filter does make sense for ambient light WA at diving depths, as it helps mitigate colour casts and achieve a more even colour balance in post in these shooting situations.
That is what filters are actually for, not for “bringing back the reds”, contrary to what many people seem to believe.

Using a filter gives better results than not using one when shooting ambient-light wide angle footage in a flat profile, as it helps manage the colour cast created by water’s filtration at diving depths when resetting white balance in post.
It avoids pushing WB to extremes when dealing with the colour cast (which distorts overall colour balance), preserves cleaner chroma information, and it also helps maintain consistency across shots/depth.

As a small reminder to the nay-sayers, filters are still commonly used on cine cameras such as REDs by professional, blue-chip camera operators shooting in specific wide angle situations.
Do you really think the capabilities of a cinecam shooting in REDCODE RAW are inferior to those of an action cam?
It's time to stop believing in miracles, shooting in RAW or in LOG does not suspend physics...
Neither do GoPro Labs hacks for that matter.

Back to actual action cams, check out this workflow for inspiration and more info on the subject:
https://waterpixels.net/articles/articles_technique/afterhours-magic-ambient-light-video-workflow-for-action-cameras-r161/

Regarding filters themselves, there are gel alternatives you can try (see above thread for links). They are inexpensive and will fit inside the newer GoPro dive housings, between the camera lens and housing port, allowing them to be used with any wide lens.

They will likely give better results than Polarpro filters, which were not really designed with an understanding of the effect filters should have on the ambient light spectrum, unlike more researched filters like the UR-Pro Cyan or Keldan Spectrum filters.

On white balancing in post, I will throw in a YouTube video of my own, since this seems to be a growing trend in action cam discussions. I am very much on the same page as what Mark is doing here with his GP12 log footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DRmzwaO7YU

No, he doesn't use filters but the logic is the same. And yes, I still believe a filter would still help for wide angle situations for the reasons mentioned above, even when shooting in log and using multiple gopro labs hacks, since log is just a flat profile, and not a miracle.

At the end of the day, a camera can only do so much underwater, and no, it's not just about boosting that red channel because reds are absorbed by water... It's not as simple as that, unfortunately.

cheers
ben

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by bghazzal