GoPro HD Hero Camera Scubadiving @ Brac and Little Cayman w/ Eye of Mine Flat Lens

[scottyscubbaa]

Here is my second scuba video, I hope everyone enjoys. This is from my trip to Little Cayman and Brac! It was shot at 720 @60 FPS with flat lens housing from eye of mine.

(MAKE SURE TO WATCH IN 720p)
GoPro HD Hero Camera Scubadiving @ Brac and Little Cayman w/ Eye of Mine - YouTube


I used THIS PVC mount.

Thanks!

 

[Interceptor121]

Looks sharp and good in the shallows
As you go down it turns pretty green
What is the buoyancy of that PVC mount? On full screen it really give you a headache as it looks really that the camera is moving far too quickly

 

[TSwain]

Scottyscubbaa, great video. Like Interceptor said it is a little shaky, but so was mine when I first started filming. It takes a while till you learn to move the camera very slow and hold it as still as you can. I also learned if you want to film to the right or left dont just turn the camera, use your fins and turn your whole body, it will slow the movement of the camera down. Keep filiming and you will get better every time.

 

[scottyscubbaa]

Looks sharp and good in the shallows
As you go down it turns pretty green
What is the buoyancy of that PVC mount? On full screen it really give you a headache as it looks really that the camera is moving far too quickly

Scottyscubbaa, great video. Like Interceptor said it is a little shaky, but so was mine when I first started filming. It takes a while till you learn to move the camera very slow and hold it as still as you can. I also learned if you want to film to the right or left dont just turn the camera, use your fins and turn your whole body, it will slow the movement of the camera down. Keep filiming and you will get better every time.

Thanks for the advice guys! I appreciate the feedback.

What would you recommend me to use for a mount? I'm going to Bonaire in about a week and would like to make a new mount. I will be filming with eye of mines 3D flat lens housing. I appreciate any advice.

Thanks

 

[Interceptor121]

My recommendation is to first check the buoyancy of the camera + housing and then check what you need to make the whole thing around 1/2-1 lb negative as a principle
You also need to make sure you have mix of shock adsorbition material for the grip (good quality thick rubber) otherwise you need some form of ball bearing
I use ultralight and I would suggest you look at the double tray for Go Pro. If you only have one handle and one hand is on the housing it will always be shaky

I would also encourage you to take footage outside the water and look at it as I believe some of the issues with your footage is that you pan too much and too quickly and I do not think this is only because of the rig you have

 

[fdarden]

So far the best results that I have had are from mounting the GoPro for diving have been on a long pole, and swimming it in front of me. Go SLOWLY. My biggest issues have been not focusing on a subject long enough. Also if you do decide to put your GoPro on a pole, be sure that when its not in use, that you do not tether the end of the pole to you with the camera hanging down, rather tether the camera side to your body. I almost lost my Gopro by allowing it to dangle haphazardly below me.

 

[TSwain]

scottyscubbaa, I think the mount you are using will be fine, but if you have extra cash buy a tray with a handle on both sides so you can hold it with both hands. Does it fill with water or is there air in it? Get practice in and out of the water. Slow every movement down and focus on a subject longer. If you think it is to long you probably need to stay on it more. I still have trouble doing this. Like Interceptor said try to get your rig just slightly negative. Mine is to negative as of now with the 2 lights i have on it.

Fdarden, I just bought a 3 foot retracable pole I am going to try and use on our up coming trip. Any other sugestions or pointers on using it?

Thanks
T.S.

 

[Interceptor121]

Good suggestions here
The reason why I suggested a double tray if to have in fact two handles that will allow you to swim with the camera in front of you so that you dont have to have your head in it to see what you are filming as with a wide lens it will be very similar.
Two good study handles with shock abortion material and a rig overall slighlty negative will allow you to be quite relaxed and ensure your footage is not shaking

Think that you need to be on a good subject at least 20 seconds without shake as you will probably cut 2-3 seconds at start and 2-3 at the end with dissolve or transitions so for example for 10 seconds you require minimum 14 non shaky seconds, considering the start stop introduces shake on mechanical rigs you are talking about 18-20

Hope this helps

 

[scottyscubbaa]

Thanks again for the advice!

One last question @Interceptor121. You mentioned my colors being green as I went down deeper. Do you think a red filter would help out at all?

thanks

 

[Interceptor121]

Scotty absolutely invest in a good filter for both tropical and green water
I have two Ikelites for my wide angle and make a huge difference, if you look at my youtube channel there is a video called Sharm Beach part 3, there are clownfish and a moray eel, believe it or not it was at 26 meters. Of course it was a sunny day and I have manual white balance but when I try a close up at same depth without the wide angle and hence no filter (my filter is on top of the WA lens) it all turns green even with manual white balance and I need to use a focus light.

If you look at most people that don't produce DVD but work on boats you will see that they never have lights they only use a filter. Down to max 25 you can get away without lights for wide angle using a good filter and manual white balance (I understand the go pro does not have that however there are tricks for the editing that can help). The other advantage is that you don't need lights. I am not saying you should not have them but lights will definitely make your set up very expensive and at that point you should think about getting a proper camera instead as an investment

Not sure what can go on your Go Pro but my advice is 100% to get a good filter as it will improve things dramatically. I recall that magic filters have a produce for cameras that do not have manual white balance maybe that is a starting point?

Let us know how you get on