Camera or videocamera????

Hi guys and gals,

Having a bit of a dilemma. I have a Canon 5d mark ii. Im wanting to upgrade my Gopro hero 3 which i use underwater.

Now my question is ......... Do i buy the housing for the mark ii to get it into the water or buy a complete new video system for shooting video underwater!

I know a dedicated videocamera will be better over all but considering the costs involved and the fact i already have the Canon what would you personally do?

Thanks in advance.

I use a 5d mii. I think it's awesome. Can't beat the quality unless you spend big money. You check out some of my videos to see the quality.

You can probably find a used housing pretty cheap too.

Dustin

I would use your Canon. Unless you go with something extraordinary for a video set up you will get excellent results with the Canon and just as important not take a bath on resale that is typical for a dedicated video set up.

I think it will all depend on what your interest is. If it is wide angle only then housing the 5DII for video makes some sense, if you have interest in macro video then not so much in my opinion. The autofocus capabilities and macro capabilities of a relatively inexpensive video camera/housing are far better than what you can do easily with the 5DII. Of course if you are into tripods and manual focus you can get great stuff with the 5DII but the housing is expensive and big and bulky. Look in the classified for some systems and I am not at all sure that video stuff loses value more quickly than does camera gear.

In any case to see what a relatively simple system can do check out

http://www.blueviews.net/assets/videos/secretseaslugs13_640x360.mov

all was shot with a HD handy cam.

Bill

Bill is right with the macro. It is challenging, and in order to get get good footage you really need a tripod. But if you can' get subjects that will stay still. The footage can look really good.

I was in anilao filming a blue ring octopus that was 5 feet from the surface so there was surge, and hanging on the side of a large rock. Couldn't use my tripod, so the footage was total garbage. Handholding for the most part just doesn't work 95% of the time with macro.

Having said that I still prefer macro from a dslr. Another member Eunjae Im, has excellent footage that I admire. You might want to check his stuff out too.

Dustin

I have tested the Sony RX100 Mark I and II and the Panasonic LX7 as device to shoot video.

Both cameras are superb very flexible and allow you to take macro and wide on the same dive that for video is actually quite important as shooting just macro at fixed focal length does get boring in videos.

This video was shot in two dives in Algae Patch and gives you a good example of the range of critters you can shoot and the results you can achieve without tripods just hand holding the camera.

There are plenty of examples on my youtube channel there is no doubt that a DSLR camera does produce better footage however the incremental effort you need to throw in and the additional costs for me are not justified compared to a high end compact

Well.. I throw in another option for u

Keep that hero and buy an srp naked and a step up from 55mm to 67mm adapter. Then mount on watever close up lens u have... Even an 10x

Works like a charm to get those close up shots ... There are even 55mm Marco lens but I have not tested them uw...

It is true that you can put a close up lens in front of a gopro but that is at best close up

Things look tiny and shaky as there is no image stabilization or zoom on the gopro

A housing for the 5D with port system costs more than a Sony rx100 and housing you can do the maths pretty quickly as I did for the nikon d7100 I have and draw your conclusions

To be honest, when someone mention "upgrading from GoPro to a dSLR", the first question I would ask is: How much photography/video technical stuffs does this person know? I do agree to many people here that dSLR will yield great result, but it might not be suitable for this person!

I have encounter many people who start out crawling, and want to fly right away. It's the a very similar principle to on land photography, if you give someone who has been using Polaroid a dSLR, that person would just end up frustrated, and waste money.

One can always argue to get the best setup and with practice, the person would eventually get it, but when come to underwater, it's more than that, dive trip is not cheap, hence the opportunity of "practice" will cost you lots of money, not to mention the danger if the diver get distracted, as well as damage to reef if the person are not use to handle bulky setup like a dSLR.

To keep it short, if you're not experience with the technical aspect of shooting video (custom white balancing, shutter speed/aparture/iso etc.), consider getting a high end point and shoot and grow with it.

Last, if you spend $3000 for a housing for your 5dM2 now, you can use the same amount of money to get a 4K camera next year, bottom line, keep it simple for now, but not too simple like the goPro.

How often do you have the chances of underwater shooting?

Thanks for all your input guys.

Right a lot to think about there and some fantastic comments and opinions.

Im not new to photography or videography just never really been in a position to justify the high costs normally involved in underwater stuff esp diving in mucky english waters. Im also not new to the water. I have been a scuba instructor since 2008 in the Uk and recently moved to the GBR. I work 4 to 5 days a week, this is with mostly experienced divers and also my days off I'm able to jump on the boat, like tomorrow i have 12 instructors on board, easy day for me and a great opportunity to get some footage.

So the chance of hands on with the gear is higher than average I guess.

Also my plans which ever way i go is to mount the go pro to the housing as well altho I have the SRP 55mm naked frame i use this with a red filter so may look into a macro for that.

Thanks

Check out the Canon 7D.

With the new lens series for it, it has an AUTOFOCUS for video (it uses "dual pixel" techology). So, it give you the best of both worlds!!!

I used to shoot a 5D MkII, and liked the video (manual focus in video, only). Now have a Mk III, which is a low-light beast. But for stills/video, I'd consider the 7D if I were you.