Nikolausz

I'm not talking about macro videography, but a normal scene, or fish videos hugely benefit from a better close focus ability of an action camera. For real macro videography I use a Sony A6400 with appropriate macro lenses (but it's still lots of fiddling around).

Matthias Lebo made a quite extensive comparison of the recent action cameras: I made the following comment: "DJI has really bad corners (otherwise colours look good), iPhone is the most versatile and it has a bit more background separation, Insta clips straight out of the camera are the best, but GoPro is surprisingly good, when there is enough light (but I would use a default -0.5 correction)" My opinion hasn't changed. I can still spot the bad corners of the DJI videos. Another overlooked feature is the close focus ability (or lack of it). Yes, they are fixed focus cameras; therefore, the way the focus is set is very important. Many youtubers complained that even from an arm length their face is not sharp. Underwater, it's very important to move very close to the subject, so actually the smaller sensor of the GoPro is an advantage due to the larger DOF and better close focus ability (especially if we used video lights and marginally better noise is not an issue). This close focus feature can be improved with add on lenses (Inon or AOI). Now, you can use those lenses on Insta360 and DJI cameras, but they were originally designed to GoPros, so I guess they work better with GoPro. I used many action cameras including Yi 4K+, Firefly 8SE, various Insta360 and GoPro cameras (also tried DJI). Currently I use GoPro Hero 12. In my opinion, the difference in video quality among those cameras are not that big and the quality of the light, camera positioning and movement, quality of the water (visibility) have much bigger effects on the final quality. So those are all very capable cameras. My next camera will also be a GoPro, or an action camera with AF or some basic focusing change option.

I considered smart focus, because of the additional blue light and the optical condensor (kind of snoot) you can attache (screw) to the lamp. Honestly, I haven't used that much those functions, so for video I would also suggest solar flare over the smart focus version.

I use 2 WeeFine Smart Focus 7000, which is practically the same with some extras. I also use it for my Sony A6400, but often with GoPro 12. They're good but don't expect them to lit big reef scenes. However, if you around or closer than 1m they will do the job.

I usually use my action camera on the top of my mirrorless housing, but time to time I use action camera alone. As soon as you add lights it's recommended to use a tray and floating arms. It makes the handling and moving the camera without small handshakes, which results better footage. Here, you can see my maxed out GoPro set up.

Thanks everybody for the recommendations. We booked the Turtle dive centre-homestay. I will write a short trip report next year when we're back. Best Marcell

Thanks for the input. We have narrowed down our selection to Yenkoranu, Warahnus and Turtle dive centre-homestays. Has anybody experience with those?

We have an upcoming boat trip in 2026 January to Raja Ampat north area (From Sorong). We would like to spend a week before this trip on KRi island. Do you have any recommendations for dive base and accommodation? We would prefer relaxed diving with many photo/video options, so a good house reef is preferred. Thanks in advance for the suggestions Marcell

In Europe the electrical frequency is 50 Hz and the broadcast frame rate is adjusted to 25 fps to avoid interference. So 25 fps is still somehow relevant if you want to contribute to a TV production. However, if you produce YT content it's irrelevant in my opinion.

As an alternative, you may check the T-housing (with adapter, you can also use AOI lens with it) https://panoceanphoto.com/t-housing-insta360-acepro-1-2-unterwassergehaeuse It's cheaper than the Isotta.

Very interesting topic with great discussion. However, the most important message from the OP was the following: "After all those dives and countless shots from this weekend, it really comes down to being in the right place at the right time. No matter which camera you choose, if you’re closer, steady, and nail your angle and exposure, you’ll walk away with an amazing image. It’s recommended to prioritize positioning, timing, and stability—these elements often contribute more to a standout underwater image than the choice of camera, especially when viewing on a 4K display." So the environmental conditions and better technique are more important than spending huge amount of money for minor quality improvement, which might be difficult to observe in real life situation.

I'm sure that it will have two 1" sensor. By the way INSTA360 has also a 1 inch edition version but it has not became too popular and there is no affordable underwater housing available for it. The image quality of the X5 is similar, if not better, so there are not so many underwater videos with the one inch version. It will be most probably a fixed focus camera, so I suspect not so good close focus abilities. Price will be interesting. Competition is good.

Sony should upgrade the 50mm macro first including IF and faster AF mechanism.

I liked it a lot!

Yes