GOPRo Close up lens... Nikonos

[dumpsterDiver]

I have in my possession and incredibly expensive (and probably worthless) collection of Nikonos V bodies, lenses etc.

I also have some close up lenses that I believe were used in conjunction with the stnadard 35 mm lense on the Nikonos.

Would it be possible (optically I guess would be the term) to use one of these lenses with the GP-3 UW housing to shoot macro video? If it would work,i imagine I could cobble together some kind of plate and strap the camera down and the lens in front...

Is that possible?

 

[ronscuba]

Not exactly sure how the Nikonos close up lenses work. But other close up lens/diopters don't really magnify. They are used to allow your camera to focus closer to the lens. The GoPro lens field of view is very wide. I don't think adding a close up lens/diopter is going to help much in shooting macro video. In addition, most animal life will not let you get much closer than 1-2 feet away.

To shoot macro video, you need a zoom lens on the camera itself, or a 100mm equivalent (GoPro is 14mm equivalent). Then add a close up lens/diopter to let the camera focus at close distances to the port. My old FX-7 camcorder had a 20x zoom lens. Meaning, at full zoom, subjects looked 20x bigger. Full zoom focus w/o the diopter was 3 feet. With the diopter I could get 8-12 inches away.

The GoPro is fantastic for super wide angle. Unfortunately, it cannot do macro.

 

[Interceptor121]

Ronscuba is correct. If you think of a +10 diopter this corresponds to a 3.5x zoom, so the gopro would go from 14mm to 49mm
For macro you need 100 mm which is +24 diopter to have the same effect and as you don't have a zoom you would be on top of the fish....

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Thanks for answers!

 

[RockyHeap]

You CAN get the camera very close to fish, on the end of a 3' long pole cam mount.


Something to try with some of my + Diopters next time out.

I still want to do some testing in my 135 gallon salt water reef tank full of corals.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

If I had a video back for the camera, it would be so easy to test...

 

[flareside]

Previous discussion on macro lenses here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gopro-video/440427-hero3-black-blurfix3-so-macro-filters.html

 

[Interceptor121]

I think there is some confusion one thing is getting closer the other is having something of a size you can actually watch
As the gopro has no zoom you end up literally touching the fish whilst you should always leave some space
May be good to get a bit closer to a larger fish but not for a small species those will just look minuscule

 

[ronscuba]

Marty's macro filter test thread that Flareside posted is a good read for people to understand how they work. He has a very informative video using a tape measure so everyone can see the filters are not used for magnifying.

There is also a good possibility peoples definition of macro is different. For me, macro is subjects 3 inches or smaller.

Maybe the GoPro Hero 4 will offer zoom or have different models with narrower fields of view. With the Hero 3 Black at $400, they have already done what most would consider impossible a few years ago.

 

[RockyHeap]

Having shot still photos of macro work, I mean critter stuff smaller than your pinky fingernail..............everything is a compromise. Post processing and zooming in/cropping with the Go Pro may also comes into play at the higher resolutions, but no, a go pro isn't going to capture a 1/2" nudibrach worth crap for image quality to fill your 60" big screen tv.


Some people seem to keep forcing the GoPro into an extreme environment that it's not built for.....low light depths......cave diving....... or macro...........I shrug.........Meanwhile I spend hundreds of dollars on wet mount wide angle and fisheye INON lenses to turn a point and shoot still photo camera into something that it's not...........a wide angle almost a 165 field of view camera. <see my sig line of hiding $1000's of dollars from my wifes visa bill?>


Ain't no one magic bullet people.


heh heh, lets get back to simple topics like $20 filters and the best $49.95 lighting rig? <groan> <grins>