Gopro Hero3 vs Hero2

121,

The key is to have many toys , each can do a specific job better than the other under the right circumstances.

You keep forgetting that GoPro is small so very small, it has its use.....not a single choice for sure, but as a B, C or even D camera.

Get a HD3 black, play with it and you will learn more of its potential based on its size or foot print , ready to dive at US$400 with decent wide angle IQ.

Underwater within 20 meters in the tropics in good viz, is plenty of light, no issue for low light.

Open your horizon, there are many fun toys out there.

All my cameras are considered toys, because I don't generate income from them. I waste money on them. So it has to be of all sizes from baby small to compact to mirrorless to FF DLSR, at least I get fun out of them after abandoning Sony TR950 camcorder.

Macro for GoPro is just an extension of fun, since I have Inon 165, Subsee +5 and +10 might as well test some.

Inon even sell macro wide angle for those seeking creative touch. I tried it but I don't like it, but some people like it.

Now a simple question.

Let say I want to do video reef work at 3-5 meters, great reef colors, good light , very nice visibility.

I have a budget of US$550 only for something ready to use and dive, housing must be rated 55 meters.

I want the video to be 1080p 50/60p, forget 2.7k. I don't want 24 or 25p because I will pan and swim along the reef.

I want wide angle capability at no extra cost and must be at least 100 degrees FOV underwater.

What video camera is best to choose ?

.

For those that have a GoPro mounted on top of their camera housing, do you video the entire dive or just use it for clips when the moment calls for it. I would be interested in one as a kind of "black box" to record the entire dive. I often find critters on pictures that I never consciously saw during the dive and imagine it could be the same with video, plus being able to study behavior. Another advantage could be having a WA picture of the habitat the critters live in, which is often lost on the macro images.

So I have a few questions:

- Can you record an entire 1+ hour dive on a 64GB card and one battery charge (I can live with lower frame rates and/or resolution)

- What is the closest distance underwater that is still in focus

- Would a video light like a sola 1200 make a difference for deeper dives, or is it a natural-light only setup

Bart

I recently used my Hero3 Black mounted on my Aquatica housing on a cave dive and just let it run while I shot stills. I got right around 55-58 minutes if I remember correctly (shooting 1080 wide at 60fps). I was not generally shooting closeups, but did note on one series getting diver shots that I have to angle the gopro down a bit (versus shooting straight ahead) to avoid cutting off on closer in subjects. I used twin SOLA 1200s (mostly on low just to help with autofocus in the cave) and it performed well, but obviously suffered in quality due to low light. When I cranked them on high, the footage looked pretty nice. Again, I did not have the lights optimized for the gopro but the housed camera, so the fall-off and lack of coverage in the middle was noticeable as I did not have things aligned for the gopro.

I think in openwater it would work reasonably well to get "filler shots". If you shoot a lot of stills, the firing of the strobes obviously impacts the footage and is annoying, plus you can really hear the shutter tripping. But as a "set it and forget it" type of camera, it works ok...

Cheers,

Mike

for those of you that have a GoPro, do you use the LCD back or just the GoPro without it? If without it, how do you know you are getting the shot?

Blinking light on the GoPro ( recording - I think you know) and with baked in FE wide angle it is hard to miss anything unless the camera is facing your good self.....

cheers

David

Thanks Mike that was very helpful. For me it is more about documenting the dive and being able to "survey" for critters after the dive, getting pretty footage would just be a bonus. So strobes flashing or light fall-off are not that serious. Did you reach the 55-58 min cut-off due to battery or memory depletion? and will I need to lug a 4TB hard disk around or are the files manageable with 500GB free on my laptop. I could easily run up 50hrs of footage on one trip if I took it on every dive.

The plan is to mount the GoPro in a semi-fixed position right above and in-line with the camera lens. Since all my lenses will have significantly narrower FOV, just framing with the camera viewfinder/lcd should be sufficient to make sure the gopro covers the area of interest.

Bart

I was shooting in 1080 60fps mode, and approximately 45 minutes of footage is about 11GB. So, yes, you will eat up some memory in a hurry, especially if you use any of the higher-resolution modes.

I am including a link to some footage from my first dive with the mounted GoPro to give you an idea of how it worked out. It was on a ball mount on top of my camera housing connected to another ball mount threaded into a tripod mount on the GoPro to clear the sync cords and also allows me to lay it flat when I have the strobe arms folded and stowed. The FOV of the GoPro is less than the FOV of the 15mm FE I was shooting with on this particular dive. I just need to angle it down a few degrees, particularly when shooting things up close. The constant moving as I check the LCD screen, adjust strobe arms, and strobe power settings while shooting stills is pretty obvious, not to mention all the strobes going off...but I think it definitely can come in handy on some dives...

Cheers,

Mike

Thanks for sharing that footage Mike. I like the way you included the final still images at various locations throughout the video.

Thanks Mike, looks very promising and memory needs are bad but doable.

Bart