Just picked up a Hero 3 Black!

[RedStang]

Let the madness begin. I've used my Sony HDR-HC3 on previous dives in a cheap, no interaction, enclosure. It worked ok but not having any control meant I had to start recording, put it in the enclosure, seal it up, and hope for the best. That and I had to change out tapes every dive.

Plan on getting the SRP filter. No lights yet as I'm not sure the cost is warranted for our infrequent recreational diving. I ordered the Wasabi 2-pack battery and charger combo and a Sandisk 32GB class 10 card. I'm debating between ordering an extendible pole or trying my hand at fabricating a tray using a cutting board and jump rope handles. Might do both and see how they perform. Wonder if my wife would notice one of her cutting boards missing !

Going diving in Cozumel in April which will allow me to get some practice with it before our trip to the Turks in May/June.

Just want to say a word of thanks to the very active members here who answer questions and review products. The tips and information is invaluable when trying to determine which products are legit and what can be expected. So, thanks!

---------- Post added February 7th, 2013 at 06:28 PM ----------

Ok, so am I the first one to think that the little wrapper around the battery was supposed to be peeled off lol?! Thankfully no permanent harm done. But seriously, they need a warning insert or at least a "quick start" guide.

Updated the firmware with no issue. Gave it a little dip in my little 29 gallon slice of the ocean to test it out. Tried the 2.7k mode and I was WAY to jerky for it. Might need to stick with 1080p60. What I did like was that with protune on and in cam raw mode the colors were stupid easy to get correct. I had my blue led's blasting in the aquarium and it corrected very easily. Letting the battery charge the rest of the way now before playing some more.

 

[erickpl]

Redstang, I just got my GoPro Silver this week too and find myself in the same boat, pun intended, on the pole vs camera tray setup. I too plan on the SRP filter setup, but am debating the red alone or the red AND the shallow water filter. if they're easy to snap in and out, may be worth it.

There is a nice DIY setup in the DIY forums about a camera tray using jump rope handles and aluminum bar stock. Looks easy enough and inexpensive enough. After spending the $$ on the GoPro and accessories, trying to save a few $$ on a tray that isn't used as much as I'd like makes sense to my budget analyst wife (she works budget analysis and procurement for the .gov, so my purchases are just as tough as .gov procurement lol).

We're headed to Bonaire and Turks and Caicos in the next couple of months, so I need to pick up my memory (picking up a 64 Gb sandisk microsdxc class 10), the extendable pole (I'm looking at one from Uspot, Xspot, and one from makospearguns.com - the compact ones), and playing with my settings after installing the update.

I'd love to hear your findings as you figure out the GoPro. I'm fairly new to video shooting (I have been a still photographer for years), so any insights from a fellow new GoPro owner would be appreciated!

 

[ronscuba]

I'm fairly new to video shooting (I have been a still photographer for years), so any insights from a fellow new GoPro owner would be appreciated!

If you are a still photographer, do you have strobe arms ? You can use the arms as a pole/tray/handle. I used 2 existing ULCS arms, and bought a ULCS 3 way clamp. Works well and folds when not shooting.

 

[Marty Cerven]

Lol at unwrapping the battery, first I have heard of that one. I know the latch has caught out quite a few new users though. I have had more then one email and pm asking me how to open the hero 3 housing.

I think the shallow water filter is only for those that tend to do quite a bit of shallow water stuff, as many of our local shore dives are very shallow at around 6m max I get lots of use from it. I have never used it on deeper dives as the shallow part is generally just a safety stop and descent with most of the dives being beyond the ideal depth of the shallow water filter so there would rarely be any need to Change the filters on a regular dive. The part after your 5m stop back to the boat is generally quite uneventful and you can get away with the filter to within a couple meters and then take it off if you want to use the shot exiting the water. Though even on my last video I left the cy filter on and was able to colour correct the exit with cineform pretty easily.

I did get lots of use out of it on my latest trip though as my free diving pretty much sucks lol and so I stay well inside its depth limit of around 5m and though you can do OK with can raw in post most of the time colours come out quite a bit nicer with the swcy in use. But its much more of a limited use filter then the regular filter which you can generally do OK with from about 3m down to about 25m give or take 5mat the max depth depending on the current conditions.

 

[RedStang]

Redstang, I just got my GoPro Silver this week too and find myself in the same boat, pun intended, on the pole vs camera tray setup. I too plan on the SRP filter setup, but am debating the red alone or the red AND the shallow water filter. if they're easy to snap in and out, may be worth it.

There is a nice DIY setup in the DIY forums about a camera tray using jump rope handles and aluminum bar stock. Looks easy enough and inexpensive enough. After spending the $$ on the GoPro and accessories, trying to save a few $$ on a tray that isn't used as much as I'd like makes sense to my budget analyst wife (she works budget analysis and procurement for the .gov, so my purchases are just as tough as .gov procurement lol).

We're headed to Bonaire and Turks and Caicos in the next couple of months, so I need to pick up my memory (picking up a 64 Gb sandisk microsdxc class 10), the extendable pole (I'm looking at one from Uspot, Xspot, and one from makospearguns.com - the compact ones), and playing with my settings after installing the update.

I'd love to hear your findings as you figure out the GoPro. I'm fairly new to video shooting (I have been a still photographer for years), so any insights from a fellow new GoPro owner would be appreciated!

Bonaire is on our list once the kids are old enough to go with us. I'll probably just go with the red filter alone even though the Turks tend to have very good visibility. Of course, the shallow filter for the 2nd dive might be handy lol! My wife won't be happy. She's about as tight with $ as your wife sounds to be. I'll be getting the Xspot. Just from reviews it sounds sturdier than the Uspot. I saw the DIY with aluminum and jump rope handles. I may look at aluminum vs the cutting board.

For the $ you might want to go with 2 32GB cards vs 1 64GB. If you lose the one card you've lost everything. I'll be sticking to 32's and a 16 or two. Good luck!

 

[erickpl]

Good point on the 2 32's.... may consider that. Thanks!

As for the shallow filter, when we do our 5m safety stops, in Bonaire, there is a LOT you can swim around and look at while at that depth and often see great things. Seen rays and turtles while on that safety stop and the shallow, especially on the southwest side of the island, go out for a ways, so you can literally sit on the bottom for the safety stop if you follow the bottom as it comes up. So that could be a good use for it. But it is good to know cineform can do the color correction in post. Thanks for that tidbit of info, Marty!

Bonaire is a not going to be a whole lot of fun for younger kids unless they're diving with you. There really aren't any beaches to keep them busy. Feel free to PM me if you have questions. I'm up in Huntsville, AL, so we're not too far apart. I'll give the XSpot another look. I just want something that collapses to a small length so that I'm not messing with a long pole getting in/out of the water from shore or boat.

 

[RedStang]

Good point on the 2 32's.... may consider that. Thanks!

As for the shallow filter, when we do our 5m safety stops, in Bonaire, there is a LOT you can swim around and look at while at that depth and often see great things. Seen rays and turtles while on that safety stop and the shallow, especially on the southwest side of the island, go out for a ways, so you can literally sit on the bottom for the safety stop if you follow the bottom as it comes up. So that could be a good use for it. But it is good to know cineform can do the color correction in post. Thanks for that tidbit of info, Marty!

Bonaire is a not going to be a whole lot of fun for younger kids unless they're diving with you. There really aren't any beaches to keep them busy. Feel free to PM me if you have questions. I'm up in Huntsville, AL, so we're not too far apart. I'll give the XSpot another look. I just want something that collapses to a small length so that I'm not messing with a long pole getting in/out of the water from shore or boat.

Yeah, Bonaire is for us ALL to go diving . That's what we're waiting on. Son turns 8 this year so we still have about 4 years left. We've heard nothing but great things about it so we will go some day. We just got some friends into diving, maybe we can go with them at some point to check it out first.

Just got my 32GB in the mail so I dropped the camera into the aquarium and am copying the footage over now.

 

[Mike Boswell]

I also just bought a Hero3 Black, and I'm not a photographer, so this is all new stuff to me.

I plan on taking the camera on a dive vacation in March, so I have 3 weeks to learn how to use it. I bought a 32 GB Sandisk microSDHC card with adapter, and a hand held mount with a flexible arm and one UK video light.

I've managed to download and install the software update, and print out the 66-page users manual, and take a few pictures.

Reading through the thread, it sounds like I might need another 32MB card, and a second battery with a charger, and a SRP or other "filter" of some sort.

Question: I did not get the viewing LCD because my vendor didn't have them in stock: Do I need one? How can you take a picture of a Nudie without a viewfinder or a LCD screen?

Is one light enough or do you really need two?

Any help you guys can give me would be deeply appreciated.

 

[flareside]

Reading through the thread, it sounds like I might need another 32MB card, and a second battery with a charger, and a SRP or other "filter" of some sort.

Question: I did not get the viewing LCD because my vendor didn't have them in stock: Do I need one? How can you take a picture of a Nudie without a viewfinder or a LCD screen?

Is one light enough or do you really need two?

Any help you guys can give me would be deeply appreciated.

Wow, brand new Hero3 and all you can think about is Nudie pics.

Yes to extra batteries and charger, SD cards, and a filter. LCD screen should be readily available at Best Buy. It is a good idea to have just to get familiar with the camera and what is in view but you will probably want to keep it turned off most of the time underwater as it shortens already limited battery life. Also consider getting some anti-fog inserts.

As far as nudie pics, that is a whole nother ball game. GoPros don't focus that close. More info and remedies here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gopro-video/440427-hero3-black-blurfix3-so-macro-filters.html

 

[caribean-ted]

Bought the hero3 black, extra battery, almost pulled the tab off but decided it was to remove battery LOL
waiting for sola 2000 lights twin with brackets. Taking it all to roataan on the 25th of feb.
No filter, I wanted to get one, was a good one cheap for 45.00 somewhere that just snapped on. Not sure where to get it or if I need it. Gonna dive from 20ft to 150ft. Depends what I see down there.
I think a red filter would be a good idea.
Whats a good recomendation?

---------- Post added February 9th, 2013 at 01:19 PM ----------

Also have 64gb kingston 10hd. I heard its the best for hd video