GoPro for night photography?

[travelingfenley]

I've never done a night dive before, and the only UW camera I have is the GoPro Hero 4. I have my first night dive planned for this weekend. Has anyone had any success with a GoPro on a night dive with a dive light? *crossing fingers*

 

[KeithG]

test it out for yourself...you do not have to be wet...

jump into the nearest closet,close the door and fire up your rig.

 

[3D diver]

A normal dive light will have too narrow a beam, but you might get something useful if you use a medium or narrow width setting on your GoPro and/or use the 4K or 2K setting. This will allow you to zoom in on the lit area with your video editor and still have some resolution. I.e. if you shoot in 4k or 2k zoom to 1920x1080 or 1280x720.

Another idea would be to diffuse your light...multiple diffused lights would be better.

 

[flareside]

Metering may also be a problem. If you are mounting the camera to the dive light were they are moving together and the light will always be centered in the view but by no means filling it, you might consider setting the metering to center spot. This should help keep the darkness from controlling and causing the lighted spots to be washed out.

 

[travelingfenley]

A normal dive light will have too narrow a beam, but you might get something useful if you use a medium or narrow width setting on your GoPro and/or use the 4K or 2K setting. This will allow you to zoom in on the lit area with your video editor and still have some resolution. I.e. if you shoot in 4k or 2k zoom to 1920x1080 or 1280x720.

Another idea would be to diffuse your light...multiple diffused lights would be better.

Thank you! I've got two dive lights.. so maybe if I grow an extra arm I'll be able to McGuiver it lol. I'm going to see if I can swing a strobe system before we go. Thanks a bunch for the info on the GoPro settings!

 

[3D diver]

It's not too hard to DIY a tray.

Here's a thread about my setup and some light diffuser tinkering:

My GoPro 3D setup

 

[lowviz]

... I have my first night dive planned for this weekend. Has anyone had any success with a GoPro on a night dive with a dive light? *crossing fingers*

Yes.

You don't have time to get it all together. Just do it. Spend your time familiarizing yourself the the GoPro. It is easy to make a few wrong button pushes and come home with nothing.

To the point: Here is an example of what to expect with a hand-held dive light. The quality sucks, but the memories don't...

 

[RJP]

I've never done a night dive before, and the only UW camera I have is the GoPro Hero 4. I have my first night dive planned for this weekend. Has anyone had any success with a GoPro on a night dive with a dive light? *crossing fingers*

First night dive + Camera = Ill-advised Task Loading.

Assuming that this will not be your LAST night dive, my advice (as a fanatic night diver, a GoPro user, and an instructor ) would be to take your light, leave your GoPro home, and enjoy your dive.

 

[lowviz]

... Assuming that this will not be your LAST night dive, ...

*sigh*

GoPros work because they just come along for the ride. Are you really gonna play the "you're gonna die" card here?

 

[3D diver]

Missed that...

GoPro has an hour or so of battery life. Turn it on and start filming when you turn on your light (red blinky light), ignore it while you're diving, turn it off when you're done. You'll probably survive. Editing will be a pain, though.

Oh, and tie everything to everything. Don't rely on the GoPro mounts alone. I use fishing line to tie cameras to my tray, FWIW. And make sure your name & contact info is on your camera (I use freebee address labels for this). Putting a text file on the SD card with your contact info is good too.