Longtime H2 User, Upgraded to H3+ Black: A Few Questions

[krukster86]

Hey all! I have been using my Hero 2 for about 2-3 years now for a wide range of activities including SCUBA diving. I picked up a Hero 3+ Black Edition and I have a few questions regarding diving use if you don’t mind:

1. With the Hero 2 (aftermarket flat port housing), I had a dive where the backdoor was so compressed into the gasket that the top latch came loose and flew up. At depth, this wasn’t an issue since the pressure difference kept the door shut, but I made sure the latch was secured while ascending. From that point on, I always had a rubber band securing the latch, even with the official dive housing. I noticed the Hero 3+ housing has a different type of latch. Is it secure for diving without the need for my trusty rubber band?

2. I have messed with different video modes yesterday and I found that if I go to 2.7kx30 and up, my computer struggles to play back the footage. In Windows Media Player, I just get sound, without video. In VLC, I get choppy video. Is my computer not powerful enough to playback footage?

3. I saw from the specs that the Hero 3+ housing is rated to 130 feet. I am AOW certified and have been down to this depth for some wrecks. Any issues with housings for the Hero 3+ failing at around this depth? I have heard that some people actually buy a regular Hero 3 housing for deeper dives for peace of mind. Unfortunately I ordered the SRP filter for the H3+, so it won’t be compatible.

4. I was sad to see that batteries are different between the Hero 2 and Hero 3+. I did notice that anytime I swapped batteries during my surface interval, the housing would fog up in the middle of the dive. Is the Battery Pac (?) a worthy investment?

Thank you for looking!

 

[paulw]

Question 1, 3 and 4 answer - Make sure you have this housing HERO3 Replacement Housing | GoPro Accessories | and dont worry about securing the latch, its rated to 197' and it has the battery back cover and yes get the backpack, I have found the best way to prevent fog is to only open the camera in controlled environment like your house, hotel room, car with the A/C on or.. well you get the idea.

Question 2 - The files get so big you may have to convert them in GoPro Studio GoPro Studio Edit Software to view them.

I hope this helps.

Paul

 

[Hobby Mounts]

The Hero 3 Housing which is 60mtr rated has a locking mechanism on it, so is much safer in that respect. Both cameras will fit in either housing so you can choose which one you prefer. If you buy a LIMITED EDITION version of either the Battery BacPac or the LCD Touch BacPac you will get a FREE Hero 3 Housing included ;-)

If you can't play 2.7K video it could well be your computer isn't fast enough to playback. Which memory card are you using?

The Hero 3+ Housing will probably go deeper than the 40mtrs it's rated to but because the buttons are larger and have less spring in them, the deeper dives may result in the camera buttons being pushed in by the pressure of the dive.

The Battery BacPac is very good but you will need to use the Hero 3 Housing as there are no BacPac Backdoors available for the Hero 3+ just yet, although they are coming, just very slowly. See my earlier comment about getting a LIMITED EDITION version with FREE Hero 3 Housing.

Paul
Hobby Mounts

 

[krukster86]

OK thanks guys. Battery BackPac has been ordered (with the free Hero 3 housing included ). As far as the SRP filter is concerned, I impulse ordered the Hero 3+ filter from SRP last week (Which does NOT fit the Hero 3 housing). Is it possible to remove the 55mm filter from the 3+ unit and put it on a "naked" 55mm adapter for the Hero 3?
This filter+adapter for the Hero 3+ is coming in the mail in a day or two:
BlurFix3+ 55 with CYD

Can I remove the orange filter from the product above and place it on this product for use on the Hero 3 housing:
BlurFix3 SO Naked 55 mm Filter Adapter

?

EDIT: If it sounds like I am in a rush, it is because I have a diving vacation coming up this month!

 

[EL Pistoffo]

OK thanks guys. Battery BackPac has been ordered (with the free Hero 3 housing included ). As far as the SRP filter is concerned, I impulse ordered the Hero 3+ filter from SRP last week (Which does NOT fit the Hero 3 housing). Is it possible to remove the 55mm filter from the 3+ unit and put it on a "naked" 55mm adapter for the Hero 3?
This filter+adapter for the Hero 3+ is coming in the mail in a day or two:
BlurFix3+ 55 with CYD

Can I remove the orange filter from the product above and place it on this product for use on the Hero 3 housing:
BlurFix3 SO Naked 55 mm Filter Adapter

?

EDIT: If it sounds like I am in a rush, it is because I have a diving vacation coming up this month!

You should be able to. 55mm is 55mm. I actually mounted that red filter, which is acrylic btw, into an empty 55mm lens ring that I removed a cheap lens off of.

 

[krukster86]

OK so I updated my drivers and the 2.7k and Gopro Studio now works on my computer. Honestly, 2.7k didn't really impress me as much as I thought it would and I had a difficult time telling the difference between 2.7k and 1080p. I am quite content with 1080p x 30 (not superview).

Also, I have some photography background and I tried out the RAW and the Protune enabled (on land). It was cool to mess with white balance like you would with photographs in LightRoom. However, I am not sure what Protune is supposed to do. The picture looks less "flat", but adjusting the sharpness and contrast slider in a non-protune video can achieve the same result? It seemed like there were no significant gains with Protune on compared to RAW vs JPEG mode in photography. Am I missing something?

---------- Post added March 7th, 2014 at 09:12 AM ----------

Aha, did some internet snooping, I guess I didn't play around with the protune footage enough, I think I will try shooting my Cozumel trip in 1080px30, RAW, protune on. My wife can attest to how addicted I am to LightRoom so this post work should be up my alley.

---------- Post added March 7th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ----------

EDIT 2: It appears that my card may not be fast enough for 2.7k and protune. I was using a SanDisk Ultra 64GB microSD which doesn't have the optimal transfer rate required.
I found a good deal on a SanDisk Extreme Plus 64GB card which can transfer up to 80 MB/s.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

OK so I updated my drivers and the 2.7k and Gopro Studio now works on my computer. Honestly, 2.7k didn't really impress me as much as I thought it would and I had a difficult time telling the difference between 2.7k and 1080p. I am quite content with 1080p x 30 (not superview).

Also, I have some photography background and I tried out the RAW and the Protune enabled (on land). It was cool to mess with white balance like you would with photographs in LightRoom. However, I am not sure what Protune is supposed to do. The picture looks less "flat", but adjusting the sharpness and contrast slider in a non-protune video can achieve the same result? It seemed like there were no significant gains with Protune on compared to RAW vs JPEG mode in photography. Am I missing something?

---------- Post added March 7th, 2014 at 09:12 AM ----------

Aha, did some internet snooping, I guess I didn't play around with the protune footage enough, I think I will try shooting my Cozumel trip in 1080px30, RAW, protune on. My wife can attest to how addicted I am to LightRoom so this post work should be up my alley.

---------- Post added March 7th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ----------

EDIT 2: It appears that my card may not be fast enough for 2.7k and protune. I was using a SanDisk Ultra 64GB microSD which doesn't have the optimal transfer rate required.
I found a good deal on a SanDisk Extreme Plus 64GB card which can transfer up to 80 MB/s.

There was a big issue before with GoPros Protune write rate and Sandisk cards. The GoPro and the SanDisk cards were not jiving correctly thus the causing problems such as randomly stopping recording and cards bricking. What Protune mode effectively does is write at a very high bitrate, 45mb/sec, resulting in a lot of data/detail. That's why the image is somewhat washed out looking at first. Brightness and contrast have to be adjusted.

GoPros latest firmware addressed the Sandisk issue by limiting the data write rate on Sandisk cards to 35mb/sec, effectively neutering Protune. SanDisks new micro SD Extreme series should be able to handle the higher bitrate of Protune but I think it is still limited to 35mb/sec as well. A Samsung card such as this one ( Amazon.com: Samsung Electronics 64GB Pro microSDXC Extreme Speed (UHS-1) Class 10 Memory Card (MB-MGCGB/AM): Computers & Accessories ) can and will operate at Protunes full 45mb/sec rate. I use that card and the 64GB model is cheaper than the comparable SanDisk Extreme.

Here is a link to my thread from a while back addressing these issues if your interested: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/go...eme-micro-sd-hero-3-black-w-new-firmware.html

Hope that helped

 

[krukster86]

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