OP
JamesBon92007
Contributor
- Messages
- 3,213
- Reaction score
- 1,311
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
Imitation GoPro Cameras from China. Any Good?
- Thread starter JamesBon92007
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Took my odrvm go-pro clone on a dive last Sunday. Mostly long shots scootering... stuff only I am likely to ever watch. 
But I did put up a short (4min) video swimming on the deck of a submerged dry dock with lots of life on it. It's about 30ft... just on the edge of where it gets really dark. The water is very green. You can see my HID dive light, but I used no other lighting for this video. Taken as 720p 60fps in he camera, saved as 720p 24fps from Premier Elements 15.
But I did put up a short (4min) video swimming on the deck of a submerged dry dock with lots of life on it. It's about 30ft... just on the edge of where it gets really dark. The water is very green. You can see my HID dive light, but I used no other lighting for this video. Taken as 720p 60fps in he camera, saved as 720p 24fps from Premier Elements 15.
OP
JamesBon92007
Contributor
- Messages
- 3,213
- Reaction score
- 1,311
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
Took my odrvm go-pro clone on a dive last Sunday. Mostly long shots scootering... stuff only I am likely to ever watch.
But I did put up a short (4min) video swimming on the deck of a submerged dry dock with lots of life on it. It's about 30ft... just on the edge of where it gets really dark. The water is very green. You can see my HID dive light, but I used no other lighting for this video. Taken as 720p 60fps in he camera, saved as 720p 24fps from Premier Elements 15.
Very interesting video with things growing that I don't know if I've ever seen before. Have you ever tried a purple filter for green water? Not that I mind it the way it is, I just wonder what the effect is. I used a deep red filter at about 25-30 feet and purchased pink and orange filters as soon as I got home from that trip
I'm going to try them out in a couple of weeks. Hopefully it won't look too red like the other filter did. OTOH the colors looked good past about 35 feet.
The problem with filters is they are subtractive - they cut down on the light getting to the camera. In low light I find it's hard enough getting good resolution so adding a filter would just make the video worse, IMO.
I have not tried altering the color in editing, which Premier Elements can do. Neither have I tried (on this camera) taking my white card underwater to allow later adjustment of the white balance. Last time I checked (Elements 13) you couldn't change video white balance in edit. Maybe 15 allows this but I have not checked.
In the case of this video, the camera is mounted to my scooter, so it's more difficult to add a video light with the single go-pro mount. When I'm swimming I have a separate home made tray to hold a light (my Sola 1200) and the camera. I know that works well for true color at any depth because I do that all the time with my G16. I'm not even sure the Sola 1200 would illuminate the area well enough when scootering.
In order of preference I guess I'd want to adjust the white balance first, and if I could not do that then adjust the color; both done in editing. It would be nice to have a super video light on the scooter, but that won't happen any time soon.
I have not tried altering the color in editing, which Premier Elements can do. Neither have I tried (on this camera) taking my white card underwater to allow later adjustment of the white balance. Last time I checked (Elements 13) you couldn't change video white balance in edit. Maybe 15 allows this but I have not checked.
In the case of this video, the camera is mounted to my scooter, so it's more difficult to add a video light with the single go-pro mount. When I'm swimming I have a separate home made tray to hold a light (my Sola 1200) and the camera. I know that works well for true color at any depth because I do that all the time with my G16. I'm not even sure the Sola 1200 would illuminate the area well enough when scootering.
In order of preference I guess I'd want to adjust the white balance first, and if I could not do that then adjust the color; both done in editing. It would be nice to have a super video light on the scooter, but that won't happen any time soon.
Dnaber
Contributor
What software is everyone using to edit the videos?
I started using a video program my daughter got while working at London Drugs. I upgraded it a few times until it was bought out by Corel. As someone who got ripped off doing beta testing for them in the late '90s, I won't use anything they make. Ever.
So I went looking and found Adobe Premier. I qualify for the education version of Elements. I started with Premier Elements 12, upgraded to 13 and finally just got 15 this week. My video computer uses Windows 7 and a decent video card (two monitors). I find the software pretty easy to use for the way I make my videos (no music or narration). I must admit the audio tools are really hard to use - you can't just drop the volume on the whole video, you have to adjust each clip separately. It's a pain in the neck but I'm used to it now.
Warning: Elements 12 & 13 allowed you to work 100% offline. Now with 15, I *must* be logged on to adobe full-time to use Elements (either Photoshop or Premier). Log out and you lose the registration on that computer and have to re-enter the registration key & log in again to use it. What a royal pain!
It's all because Adobe really hates "buy and own", wanting the whole world to adopt the subscription model. However, even with edu-discount, Adobe CS (monthly or annual subscription) is far too much money for my budget.
I have other stuff on my mac, but have never spent the time to master it. I know a dive video pro who used Final Cut Pro on the mac for 100% of his video work... some even seen on well known documentaries. But Apple kind of pulled the plug on video pros with the later versions of Final Cut (so I read), so I really don't know what folks on Apples use now.
I worry that there is a general "dumbing down" of all things photo and video today. I hear the market is starting to fall for DLSR because "phones are just as good" (give me a break!). Likewise professional video camera have given way to the ubiquitous go-pro... even the TV news uses more go-pro footage than ever before. It seems the expensive media video gear is now just used to film the reporter's narration of the event. Now you are an old fogie if you don't have drone footage of everything.
I know that the go-pro clone I have only creates Apple quicktime MOV files. Premier Elements (any version) cannot import the video from those MOV files directly because Adobe didn't license the codec. You have two options - transcode the video; i.e.. use a program like Handbrake to convert the MOV to MP4 which will load into Premier. Alternately, you can install the latest Apple Quicktime and then Premier will load the MOV video perfectly. Of course, an Apple computer probably has Quicktime included so this is not an issue if using a Mac, only on a PC.
So I went looking and found Adobe Premier. I qualify for the education version of Elements. I started with Premier Elements 12, upgraded to 13 and finally just got 15 this week. My video computer uses Windows 7 and a decent video card (two monitors). I find the software pretty easy to use for the way I make my videos (no music or narration). I must admit the audio tools are really hard to use - you can't just drop the volume on the whole video, you have to adjust each clip separately. It's a pain in the neck but I'm used to it now.
Warning: Elements 12 & 13 allowed you to work 100% offline. Now with 15, I *must* be logged on to adobe full-time to use Elements (either Photoshop or Premier). Log out and you lose the registration on that computer and have to re-enter the registration key & log in again to use it. What a royal pain!
It's all because Adobe really hates "buy and own", wanting the whole world to adopt the subscription model. However, even with edu-discount, Adobe CS (monthly or annual subscription) is far too much money for my budget.
I have other stuff on my mac, but have never spent the time to master it. I know a dive video pro who used Final Cut Pro on the mac for 100% of his video work... some even seen on well known documentaries. But Apple kind of pulled the plug on video pros with the later versions of Final Cut (so I read), so I really don't know what folks on Apples use now.
I worry that there is a general "dumbing down" of all things photo and video today. I hear the market is starting to fall for DLSR because "phones are just as good" (give me a break!). Likewise professional video camera have given way to the ubiquitous go-pro... even the TV news uses more go-pro footage than ever before. It seems the expensive media video gear is now just used to film the reporter's narration of the event. Now you are an old fogie if you don't have drone footage of everything.
I know that the go-pro clone I have only creates Apple quicktime MOV files. Premier Elements (any version) cannot import the video from those MOV files directly because Adobe didn't license the codec. You have two options - transcode the video; i.e.. use a program like Handbrake to convert the MOV to MP4 which will load into Premier. Alternately, you can install the latest Apple Quicktime and then Premier will load the MOV video perfectly. Of course, an Apple computer probably has Quicktime included so this is not an issue if using a Mac, only on a PC.
CT-Rich
Contributor
I bought an older version of Corel video studio pro. I got the pro version because it came with image stabilization. It's not overly complicated to use and only cost $25.
Yea, I think it was Pinnacle Studio before Corel bought them out. It was not complicated and did produce nice videos. It had a decent link to free music clips for background as well.
Chip Elliott
Connecticut Yankee
H20doctor
Contributor
vegas Pro HD .. i guess the benefits for me using clones are that , when i flood one , its not a big deal, i can afford 60.00 to 80.00 for a clone... Vrs flooding or loosing a 300.00 gopro , or the New Xiaomi Yi ... I mainly use the clones for wide angle stuff anyway... the camera is to show the site in wide open views .
Similar threads
