go pros
Re: go pros
GoPros are possibly the best system for underwater videography for the average person. The quality of video is outstanding, and the small size is great. The GoPro 3 and 3+ are suited for underwater photography and video because they have a flat front lens on the housing, and are capable of depths beyond recreational limits.
When considering what someone had to spend for a underwater video camera 5+ years ago, the price for gopros is a steal.
When considering what someone had to spend for a underwater video camera 5+ years ago, the price for gopros is a steal.
Re: go pros
Agreed, my son has one and I will be borrowing it on my dives so he can see what is going on. He has no interest in diving.
Rena
Drink water, breathe air. Never get these mixed up.
Drink water, breathe air. Never get these mixed up.
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sitkadiver
- Submariner
- Posts: 505
- Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:33 pm
Re: go pros
I'm new to the Gopro world as well, but so far I really enjoy it. Some people have said the viewing screen is a good adition, but others have said they prefer to edit the finished product anyway, so why bother.
Mine is a 3+ and takes great photos/videos at a distance greater 2 ft. it doesn't like macro range stuff, which is to be expected. I took this video last Saturday. My next move is to decide on the editing software so I can add text and audio etc..
This is a raw video, sorry for that.
Good Luck and let us know what you learn. I'm still trying to figure it out so all the info I can gather is appreciated.
Mine is a 3+ and takes great photos/videos at a distance greater 2 ft. it doesn't like macro range stuff, which is to be expected. I took this video last Saturday. My next move is to decide on the editing software so I can add text and audio etc..
This is a raw video, sorry for that.
Good Luck and let us know what you learn. I'm still trying to figure it out so all the info I can gather is appreciated.
I do not believe in taking unnecesary risks, but a life without risk is not worth living.
-Charles Lindbergh
-Charles Lindbergh
Re: go pros
NWDC Rule #2 Pictures Or it didn't Happen
Re: go pros
Here is a video I shot about 5 weeks ago at Edmonds Underwater Park In Edmonds Washington. Sorry to the people of Edmonds...I mispelled Edmonds in the title.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtMTVSZRxlk
I use a tray type setup for my GoPro with the bicycle handle bar mount that is made out of PVC.
For video editing software I use Sony Vegas 11.0. It is a good program but expect to have to do some learning to use it. Vegas is a full on editor and you can do some incredible things with it if you put in the time to learn it.
The only thing that I want to add to my GoPro is a flip filter with a Magenta colored filter on it. Oh, one other thing, my GoPro is an early Hero so no 1080 HD video. The flat lens housing is a must have if you are using an older GoPro like I am. The owner of the LDS I dive with has the Hero Black which comes with the flat lens and is pretty much set right out of the box to shoot underwater video. He has the LCD screen for the back but he is thinking it is sucking his battery down to zero before have of his dive is complete.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtMTVSZRxlk
I use a tray type setup for my GoPro with the bicycle handle bar mount that is made out of PVC.
For video editing software I use Sony Vegas 11.0. It is a good program but expect to have to do some learning to use it. Vegas is a full on editor and you can do some incredible things with it if you put in the time to learn it.
The only thing that I want to add to my GoPro is a flip filter with a Magenta colored filter on it. Oh, one other thing, my GoPro is an early Hero so no 1080 HD video. The flat lens housing is a must have if you are using an older GoPro like I am. The owner of the LDS I dive with has the Hero Black which comes with the flat lens and is pretty much set right out of the box to shoot underwater video. He has the LCD screen for the back but he is thinking it is sucking his battery down to zero before have of his dive is complete.
Re: go pros
Loved the video Sitka! I like how smooth you shoot it. Nice work.
Re: go pros
That's pretty cool Doc...I may have to try that setup
Re: go pros
I've managed since decent video over the years with mine, the old Hero 960. The only modification I did was install an aftermarket lens, since there was no factory flat lens housing available at the time.
Re: go pros
well thank you for all the grea info and vids. One more question for you. Where is the best place to buy one...they want 400 bucks at underater sports.. thanks again cam
Re: go pros
All the 3+ are $399.00. You won't find them cheaper anywhere else.
Re: go pros
depends on which one you want ...? the 3 silver is 245.00 at sport authority.. the black 3 is around 325 to 350... theres a bunch on craigslist all the time and id try there for a good price on a used one
NWDC Rule #2 Pictures Or it didn't Happen
Re: go pros
One other thing to keep in mind. My setup was very floaty before I set it up to open one end cap to put water inside. After filling it with water it sinks like a rock. Before I made my handle I would use the head band for it. The only problem there is that if it falls off you might not know it so I started putting my hood over it.
Re: go pros
My solution for using the head band was to use a length of shock cord/elastic as a chinstrap. I picked mine up back in the day from REI simply because of their return policy, not to mention I had a decent member dividend to pay for a large chunk of it.LowDrag wrote:One other thing to keep in mind. My setup was very floaty before I set it up to open one end cap to put water inside. After filling it with water it sinks like a rock. Before I made my handle I would use the head band for it. The only problem there is that if it falls off you might not know it so I started putting my hood over it.
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ratfishlvr
- Avid Diver
- Posts: 69
- Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:24 am
Re: go pros
So I am new to the go pro world and really the whole world of UW video in general. I am in the process of designing a mount and light setup for the Hero 3+ Black edition. I have some questions. I did a video in 1080 yesterday that was about 10 mins long and it took forever to transfer to the computer. So is it necessary to shoot in 1080 or can I get away with say 720? Also how about fps? It seems to me that 30fps would be sufficiently fast for filming divers. Do you guys have any other tips for me to make better videos? I don't get to dive as much as I would like so I would like to not waste valuable dive time making crummy videos.
Re: go pros
yes you need a fast computer for video ... quad core or better...ratfishlvr wrote:So I am new to the go pro world and really the whole world of UW video in general. I am in the process of designing a mount and light setup for the Hero 3+ Black edition. I have some questions. I did a video in 1080 yesterday that was about 10 mins long and it took forever to transfer to the computer. So is it necessary to shoot in 1080 or can I get away with say 720? Also how about fps? It seems to me that 30fps would be sufficiently fast for filming divers. Do you guys have any other tips for me to make better videos? I don't get to dive as much as I would like so I would like to not waste valuable dive time making crummy videos.
Next you need a video editing software... sony Vegas, Adobe premire, gopro cinaform, etc..etc..
I shoot in gopro Raw with my black 3.. any other setting the white balance screws up the underwater video and turns it orange..
I shoot in 1080 24 fps wide... you can shoot in higher frames if you like ? i dont see a difference
the only way to learn how to make better videos is start shooting, film what you like , and experiment , its your film and show people what you like to see underwater.. the more you film the better you will get
NWDC Rule #2 Pictures Or it didn't Happen
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ratfishlvr
- Avid Diver
- Posts: 69
- Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:24 am
Re: go pros
Awesome. And thanks for telling me about the white balance thing too. Can't wait to get out and try it!
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jeffgerritsen
- Dive-aholic
- Posts: 276
- Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:03 am
Re: go pros
I use a wasp mini video light (3,000 lumen's), two handle camera tray so I have steady shots, 30 fps 1080p, and medium wide field. 30 fps gives me the option to select or frame grab fairly good still images from the video, but I'm considering stepping up to 60 fps so I get sharper stills from frame grabs.
As far as PC's go, I have a six core processor with 8GB memory and 4TB of disk running on a Fedora distro linux system. The video software is Kdenlive, compiled into it's own environment so I avoid "dependency hell" issues from repository installs. Kdenlive is opensource (therefore no cost) and has a look and feel similar to Sony Vegas. I've been using this for about two years now and it works great for me.
The transfer will be pretty slow as an hour of 1080p video usually is about 10GB. On a usb2 interface it's going to take time. I hope GoPro comes out with the usb3 interface soon. USB3 transfer speeds are fantastic to say the least, as seen on my USB3 SSD external drive - upto 130mb a sec rather than the 10-20mb sec for USB2.
HTH,
Jeff
As far as PC's go, I have a six core processor with 8GB memory and 4TB of disk running on a Fedora distro linux system. The video software is Kdenlive, compiled into it's own environment so I avoid "dependency hell" issues from repository installs. Kdenlive is opensource (therefore no cost) and has a look and feel similar to Sony Vegas. I've been using this for about two years now and it works great for me.
The transfer will be pretty slow as an hour of 1080p video usually is about 10GB. On a usb2 interface it's going to take time. I hope GoPro comes out with the usb3 interface soon. USB3 transfer speeds are fantastic to say the least, as seen on my USB3 SSD external drive - upto 130mb a sec rather than the 10-20mb sec for USB2.
HTH,
Jeff
H20doctor wrote:yes you need a fast computer for video ... quad core or better...ratfishlvr wrote:So I am new to the go pro world and really the whole world of UW video in general. I am in the process of designing a mount and light setup for the Hero 3+ Black edition. I have some questions. I did a video in 1080 yesterday that was about 10 mins long and it took forever to transfer to the computer. So is it necessary to shoot in 1080 or can I get away with say 720? Also how about fps? It seems to me that 30fps would be sufficiently fast for filming divers. Do you guys have any other tips for me to make better videos? I don't get to dive as much as I would like so I would like to not waste valuable dive time making crummy videos.
Next you need a video editing software... sony Vegas, Adobe premire, gopro cinaform, etc..etc..
I shoot in gopro Raw with my black 3.. any other setting the white balance screws up the underwater video and turns it orange..
I shoot in 1080 24 fps wide... you can shoot in higher frames if you like ? i dont see a difference
the only way to learn how to make better videos is start shooting, film what you like , and experiment , its your film and show people what you like to see underwater.. the more you film the better you will get
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ratfishlvr
- Avid Diver
- Posts: 69
- Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:24 am
Re: go pros
Ok, so it seems like most people like the 1080, so Ill try that, and start with 30 fps. Then I can play with editing. I was thinking of using the go pro program for editing. I have the Windows Movie Maker but I have heard from a number of people who dislike that program, so I figure why learn to use that if I will end up not liking it and then have to learn another program. There is a whole lot to this video stuff and the more I learn the more I realize how much there is to it. One step at a time I guess. Hopefully this weekend Ill get to shoot some video and see what I can do with it. Any other tips you guys may have are greatly appreciated.