GoPro HD Hero Dive housing- worth the money?

[promocop]

Backscatter makes a go pro UW housing with a GLASS port Wonderful!

 

[sullivan]

I have used the URPro filters with my GoPro's for quite a while using the Blurfix by SRP and have got great results with that setup, the results Ive seen from people using the magic filters and backscatter setups are the only other filter that gets comparable results. From what I have seen these dont hold up to deeper depths as the URPro range but in the shallower waters results are pretty good. I havent used them myself yet so I intend to do some comparison tests to see how they work as filters and general designs for ease of use underwater.

Marty, it looks like you really know what you are doing so I'm hoping you can clarify something for me. I have a new Gopro hero II that I purchased for diving and I know I need a better underwater housing. Based on some initial research, I had planned to get the new Bachscatter housing/red filter unit. Here's the question:

You said you have "used the URPro filters with my GoPro's for quite a while". I was under the impression that the Gopro dive specific housing was just recently released so I'm unclear on what exact setup you have. Can you post the exact specs/model of your housing and the URPro filter you use? I assume the filter easily and securely attaches to the housing but would appreciate confirmation.

Thanks

 

[PAFirefighter]

PAFireFighter, what was your depth, and what is the cheapo filter (link?)?

TIA

My max depth was down to 90-100' at the Hilma Hooker. 2 vids of that on the link above. The Tarpon & Bait Ball video was in around 20-30' of water. The cheapo filter worked great, but I want the Backscatter one for future dives - having the option for above water shots without the filter is worth the extra budget.

The filter I am using currently is here: Amazon.com: GoPro Dive Housing Red Filter for GoPro Hero 1 Hero 2 Cameras -Color correcting filter for New Dive housing: Camera & Photo

The ends are tapered (cut?) and you can kind of see it in the photos, but not enough to really annoy me. Again, though, just get the Backscatter one. I only went this route as I got the housing and filter within the 2 weeks prior to the Bonaire trip and didn't have any Backscatter ones available at that time.

 

[promocop]

BE VERY VERY CAREFUL! I drowned mine on the first dive in Hawaii! Watch the seals! Sent back to Gopro for warranty repair and either the genisus's at USPS lost it or Gopro did. Either way, i'm out a very wet camera. Not happy.

 

[616fun]

I've had the GP housing to 150' without issue several times.

 

[JesperS]

Only one dive with it so far, but I have no complaints with the new dive housing, underwater video is soooo much clearer.

 

[Marty Cerven]

Marty, it looks like you really know what you are doing so I'm hoping you can clarify something for me. I have a new Gopro hero II that I purchased for diving and I know I need a better underwater housing. Based on some initial research, I had planned to get the new Bachscatter housing/red filter unit. Here's the question:

You said you have "used the URPro filters with my GoPro's for quite a while". I was under the impression that the Gopro dive specific housing was just recently released so I'm unclear on what exact setup you have. Can you post the exact specs/model of your housing and the URPro filter you use? I assume the filter easily and securely attaches to the housing but would appreciate confirmation.

Thanks

I Have been using the GoPro underwater since October 2010, I bought it originally for a trip that I will be going back to very soon. Back then I used the Eye of mine housing which was the first commercial gopro housing that was vignette free in wide video modes.

I was real happy with how the footage turned out for a first effort but this flat port was made of plastic and doesn't take filters easily. They have since made a version with a red flat port but I havent tried it, its still all plastic and the red lens is permanent too. I do have their 3D housing still as its still the only one that does vignette free wide mode 3D in the GoPro, I don't use it as much as Id like due to not having a good filter option and I never got around to make my own. I suck at DIY and go for BIY (buy it yourself) Here was my first video which I have always wanted to go back with my current setup with filters and lights.



Thats a Hero1 with EOM clear plastic housing, great location shame about lack of colour but great light and vis will make a great location for a filter test I think.

I used this for about 6 months until the guys from SRP came on this forum and mentioned they were planning to make another flat port using a glass lens that can use other screw in filter. I had spoke to Bill via a few posts here and via some PM's and bought one of the first one's they made, this was the Blurfix and they have been quite popular. Here is their site and a few of the guys post here every know and again Snake River Prototyping, LLC.

They always intended to be able to use uw filters and ended up going with URPro filters modified to minimize the vignette level caused if the filter extends out too far due to the high FOV of the gopro camera.

Here was one of my HD1 video's using the Blurfix and URPro cyan filter in Thailand. Footage was pretty shakey as I just held the cam in hand and this is all filtered video but with some adjusting of WB in post to give a more consistent result. The filter worked great here down to 30m but struggled around the wreck as it silted over and was also at a depth of 30m, all other dives there had great vis and turned out much better.



I have also ended up buying most other filter options along the way and have made a few tests between them on my yt and vimeo channels.

Here is one testing a few of the earlier flat lens options when the Blurfix first came out.



I have tried many mounting methods and since getting the SRP tray I have used this mostly especially when also using lights. I still prefer filters over lights for most daytime stuff but lights are great for night diving and in overhangs or inside wrecks where you are lacking natural light. Also if your deep and can get close enough lights are good in daytime but you need to be very close to make them effective.

The housing I do use atm is the SRP Blurfix along with their modified URPro filters, I held off on getting a gopro dive housing until good filters came out. Once I started using them I didn't really like the bland footage provided with a clear lens in daytime which is also why I haven't posted any deeper 3D footage yet.

Here is a test with some shallow water filters but there are a few others on my channel if your interested in seeing some others.



I do have some of the test filters sent to me by SRP for the GoPro dive housing along with a few other lucky users around the world, these from my initial tests are giving the same performance as the regular URPro filters with the Blurfix I have been using for quite some time. I have also been noticing the footage posted by Backscatter users which look great at shallower depths under 10m but tend to struggle much more then my past results with the Blurfix and URPro filters. So I went and bought the BS filter for the gopro dive housing along with another filter made by oculus hoping to test out how each perform at different depths as all I have seen from them is they dont seem to hold up as well for deeper diving.

Ive been struggling to find a day I can dive with weather good enough to actually get out and dive where I live, its middle of winter so cold, wet, miserable, with very strong winds and high seas. This gives bad vis and many times too dangerous to even get a boat out so I will be going somewhere warmer for a few days to do some diving.

The GoPro dive from my initial impressions is pretty decent and is the lowest vignette of all the housing being pretty much vignette free in all modes. I will be taking both Blurfix and GoPro dive housings for my dives and hopefully withing a few weeks I will have some fairly cool comparison videos to post. I havent used the backscatter housing and have only a few dives with the gopro dive so far so I havent made my mind up on the best option. The Blurfix is great with filter options and extra safety of the extra lens but it didnt have a wet filter option originally, it will have soon though and I do have a sample I will also test.

Its best to look around and see a few peoples video and I always put whatever equipment is used in my video descriptions as well as many other people I have noticed so its a god idea of what to expect. I bought my first GoPro after watching "into the sharks bite" with some cool shark footage all using gopro's in the eom housing. Im glad I did as ive had some great fun.

I also do help moderate the GoProUser.freeforums.org • Index page which is a forum dedicated to all types of gopro use with lots of usefull members. Giving tips, lots of DIY stuff and posting videos if you want to see more examples of other user videos but underwater isnt as large as this forum is.

 

[divebrasil]

I already have a regular hero 2 housing that I replaced with flat lens. I used a Pursuit red filter with it. The color results were good, but I still got a circle around the filter. So either the filter moved inside the housing or it was too small. I did use the correct hero2 settings for te flat lens.

My question is:Beside the GoPro dive housing already coming with flat lens, and a setup that is easier to apply a red filter, is there any other benefit of the dive housing? Does it seal better? Also, will it work with the LCD backpack and it's corresponding half housing?

Thanks