Gopro hero black 7 or keep to my sony RX100MK2 for videos

[funscuba]

The goPro would only be used for filming, not taking pictures, for that I will only use the sony camera.

 

[The Chairman]

That would have been an operator issue not a gear fail.

Actually, the Supersuit o-ring can "roll", causing the issue. It's rare and hard to anticipate but I've seen it more than once. We kept the open lens "up" and in the bubble so the camera was still usable. There was also the incident where the camera was placed on the bench and a tank was slammed on it. That aluminum housing is awesome. I'm heading to Fiji for two weeks in May and I don't want to lose photo ops due to being too cheap on the housing.

FWIW, I don't recommend slamming a tank on the housing just to check it out.

The goPro would only be used for filming, not taking pictures, for that I will only use the sony camera.

You say that, but the stills from my 6 are awesome! I know of at least one big camera photographer who is going more and more with just a GoPro.

 

[ReefHound]

Actually, the Supersuit o-ring can "roll", causing the issue. It's rare and hard to anticipate but I've seen it more than once. We kept the open lens "up" and in the bubble so the camera was still usable. There was also the incident where the camera was placed on the bench and a tank was slammed on it. That aluminum housing is awesome. I'm heading to Fiji for two weeks in May and I don't want to lose photo ops due to being too cheap on the housing.

FWIW, I don't recommend slamming a tank on the housing just to check it out.

I'm having a hard time picturing how the 0-ring could roll. There isn't a surface sliding across it like a twist on light, the case simply compresses it. If one is going to be careless enough with their camera to allow a tank to be slammed down on it, *something* is going to do it in eventually.

Maybe we should all be wearing steel-toe booties?

 

[Vicko]

Only if the GoPro still has its lens cover on right? Do you have to remove it to get it in the Chinese knock off?

Nope, fits in with the cover still on.

Today was the first dive I was diving with the housing on my head mount and I could hear it cracking when freediving to 30m so I'm not sure about the longevity. I did 90 dives and it would crack on almost every one of them.

 

[The Chairman]

I'm having a hard time picturing how the 0-ring could roll.

Yeah, as I said: "hard to anticipate". We put the o-ring back in place and watched as the hinge caught it and flipped it up again. A new o-ring resolved the issue. I first noticed it on the 3 housings. GoPro sent me six to lend and every now and then one would come out twisted. On those, a single flood trashed them. I replaced all the o-rings and used the tiniest bit of lube every year after that. They are not a "quality" o-ring by any stretch of the imagination. It never happened with my GP4 or GP5, but I changed those o-rings yearly, or nearly so. When I saw the double o-ring of Isota case, I was sold, sold, sold. It's a harder o-ring and there's much more care in the construction of the case. Not everyone wants to pay for quality, but for me it's worth it. Even then, I hedge my bets and carry three GPs. I gave away my last GP5 and since I'm down to two GP6s, I'll be adding a GP7 Black today, with the Back Scatter flip filters and the Isota housing to boot. Back Scatter has been good to ScubaBoard, so I surely don't mind spending money with them.

If one is going to be careless enough with their camera to allow a tank to be slammed down on it, *something* is going to do it in eventually.

I'm glad to hear that you've never had an accident with any of your gear! You might be the only one, though. For those of us mere mortals, who are not so perfect, unforeseen things can and do happen, even to mostly careful people. Many people plan for every dive to go perfectly. Me? I like to plan for weird crap to happen, like it usually does. If not to me, then to someone else. That GP 5 I gave away was to someone who's GP4 had crapped out. They think some moisture had gotten in, though they couldn't really see any. I told them the superhousing gasket should be replaced soonly in any event.

As for the tank/camera incident, let me tell the whole story. I use a Snake River Prototyping tray. I have a securely tied bolt snap on one end and quite often, I'll clip it to my butt plate during the dive or just before I board. If I hand it up to the mate, they'll almost always put it into the camera tank, where I really don't want my GP6 to go. My SOP is to unclip it when on deck and put it away before I sit. Too many waves were rocking the boat that day, and I had to sit first. I was just getting out of my BC, when a wave hit, sending a diver staggering to my side and their tank landed on my camera. Yikes! My eyes went wide and I knew I just lost the housing. There wasn't even a dent. The trigger had been rotated on the shaft, so I had to adjust that when I got back to the hard, but I was as happy as I can be. The poor diver was all apologies, but the waves were the real culprit. My next dive was without the camera in it just to be sure. I used a spare superbody, for the GP6 (did I mention I always carry spares?) on that dive and flipped the trigger a good many times to try to get it to leak, but the Isota housing came up dry. I rarely open up my GP on the boat, especially since the front is off on the superbody, but I feel far safer with my GP in the Isota. Hey, I get that I was being "careless" diving with such big waves, but I still would do it again and I'm glad my gear was up to the task as well as the conditions at hand. Your mileage may certainly vary.

I did 90 dives and it would crack on almost every one of them.

That would be gut wrenching to hear, I bet.

 

[ReefHound]

I'm glad to hear that you've never had an accident with any of your gear! You might be the only one, though. For those of us mere mortals, who are not so perfect, unforeseen things can and do happen, even to mostly careful people. Many people plan for every dive to go perfectly. Me? I like to plan for weird crap to happen, like it usually does. If not to me, then to someone else...

Ok, maybe I earned a bit of snarkiness but in the case of tanks getting slammed around from big waves, consider it a blessing that it was a camera housing not someone's toes or fingers.

 

[The Chairman]

Ok, maybe I earned a bit of snarkiness but in the case of tanks getting slammed around from big waves, consider it a blessing that it was a camera housing not someone's toes or fingers.

Not a prob. I'm over it and in retrospect, I should have spelled out just how it happened. And yes, gear we can always replace. I had a waves incident this past January on a Tuesday in Curacao that took me out of diving for the rest of the week. I clip my reg off to my right chest d-ring so that it doesn't get tramped on or hurt. I had just sat down, was just bending over to unclip my BC while looking up as we hit a big wave. The reg swung around and popped me in my eye socket. Yeouch! Everyone wanted to know who I fought, but when you've been diving as many times and as long as I have, I guess you're bound to get popped in the eye once or twice. No, I'm not looking forward to the "second" time. I tried to dive after a day's rest, and ended that dive with a reverse block as I tried as ascend. Caca occurs. I played deck hand for the rest of the trip. First time in fifty years of diving I was ever hit in the eye on a dive and also the first time I have ever 'enjoyed' a reverse block. I'll still be clipping my reg to my right chest d-ring as I've seen others break under tanks and feet. Not mine, but others. I try to be careful.

 

[ReefHound]

Sometimes you can do everything right and it still goes wrong. At least a black eye will heal and you can go back someday and conquer Curacao.

 

[The Chairman]

Sometimes you can do everything right and it still goes wrong. At least a black eye will heal and you can go back someday and conquer Curacao.

We invaded Curacao effectively. It was my fourth time and regardless of my eye, -I- had a great time! I can't wait to invade Fiji.

 

[Vicko]

That would be gut wrenching to hear, I bet.

The first 2 times made me turn around to the surface, the next 10 were bad. The rest were... annoying.
The truly gut wrenching part is that I spent 5 hours spearfishing without catching any dinner