Matthias Hoeller
Registered
Hi, we just finished a two week diving vacation in Komodo. We did a total of 17 dives in central and north Komodo. Here are some of our personal take aways from that trip:
GoPro 12 w/ original dive case, Backscatter red filter set & macro lens
This was really our go-to setup that provided the majority of usable video clips. We had the GoPro mounted on a cheap "selfie stick" from Amazon that allowed us to get close to macro subjects if necessary.
We started with the two red filters attached, but that setup didn't last very long. It's not really possible to secure both filters at the same time in a "closed" position; so upon jumping from the boat the very first dive, the "deep" filter flapped open, and got hit against my wife's chin, leading to a minor skin injury and a broken filter.
So from that on, we went with the remaining "shallow" red filter and the macro lens attached, and that worked much better. We like the macro lens a lot, that's definitely a useful upgrade!
I also had brought a small rig for video lights and such, but we never even assembled it because we were too happy with how compact and easy to handle the "selfie stick" setup was.
In summary, we had zero problems with the camera, video quality was very decent, will use again! The Backscatter filters however, could use a design improvement, allowing to secure two filters in a "shut" position for transport or jumping etc.
Insta360 X3 with invisible dive case
We had this mounted on a very long (3m) carbon selfie stick. While I also liked the videos from the Insta, I would consider this more of a special use case equipment.
Some things are really cool to capture in 360°, like geological features such as canyons, or filming ourselves while diving, or sometimes when it was possible to get the camera quite close to something big like a turtle. But everything that is either medium sized to small, or more than 1-2 meters away (i.e. the majority of marine wildlife) will just be too small in the 360° video, and image quality does not allow to zoom in much.
The camera never gave us any technical issues though, and I don't regret bringing it, but in the end it provided only like 10%-20% of the total number of videos we liked.
Sony A7iv with Seafrogs Housing, 90mm Macro lens, cheap rig and LED lights
So this was both the most expensive and most clumsy/heavy piece of equipment we brought.
I'm not too sure I'd bring it again. I did use it some times but somehow ended up to shoot only in photo mode (The image quality was excellent, of course), but never got to using it in video mode.
Partly because it would have taken a while to sort out all the settings, and partly really because the GoPro videos were so decent that I never really felt the need to use the Sony instead.
(That's of course on me, and others may have different experience with their expensive and sophisticated SLR setups!)
I even brought another zoom lens with a second port, which again I never even unpacked.
So in summary - the gear that was by far the most expensive, clumsy and heavy, got used the least. Had I left it at home, I would have missed out on some great photos, but video wise didn't feel it was worth the effort.
Happy to receive any comments
Red Sea vacation coming up in November, so if any good advice I'll be thankful for it!
Matt
GoPro 12 w/ original dive case, Backscatter red filter set & macro lens
This was really our go-to setup that provided the majority of usable video clips. We had the GoPro mounted on a cheap "selfie stick" from Amazon that allowed us to get close to macro subjects if necessary.
We started with the two red filters attached, but that setup didn't last very long. It's not really possible to secure both filters at the same time in a "closed" position; so upon jumping from the boat the very first dive, the "deep" filter flapped open, and got hit against my wife's chin, leading to a minor skin injury and a broken filter.
So from that on, we went with the remaining "shallow" red filter and the macro lens attached, and that worked much better. We like the macro lens a lot, that's definitely a useful upgrade!
I also had brought a small rig for video lights and such, but we never even assembled it because we were too happy with how compact and easy to handle the "selfie stick" setup was.
In summary, we had zero problems with the camera, video quality was very decent, will use again! The Backscatter filters however, could use a design improvement, allowing to secure two filters in a "shut" position for transport or jumping etc.
Insta360 X3 with invisible dive case
We had this mounted on a very long (3m) carbon selfie stick. While I also liked the videos from the Insta, I would consider this more of a special use case equipment.
Some things are really cool to capture in 360°, like geological features such as canyons, or filming ourselves while diving, or sometimes when it was possible to get the camera quite close to something big like a turtle. But everything that is either medium sized to small, or more than 1-2 meters away (i.e. the majority of marine wildlife) will just be too small in the 360° video, and image quality does not allow to zoom in much.
The camera never gave us any technical issues though, and I don't regret bringing it, but in the end it provided only like 10%-20% of the total number of videos we liked.
Sony A7iv with Seafrogs Housing, 90mm Macro lens, cheap rig and LED lights
So this was both the most expensive and most clumsy/heavy piece of equipment we brought.
I'm not too sure I'd bring it again. I did use it some times but somehow ended up to shoot only in photo mode (The image quality was excellent, of course), but never got to using it in video mode.
Partly because it would have taken a while to sort out all the settings, and partly really because the GoPro videos were so decent that I never really felt the need to use the Sony instead.
(That's of course on me, and others may have different experience with their expensive and sophisticated SLR setups!)
I even brought another zoom lens with a second port, which again I never even unpacked.
So in summary - the gear that was by far the most expensive, clumsy and heavy, got used the least. Had I left it at home, I would have missed out on some great photos, but video wise didn't feel it was worth the effort.
Happy to receive any comments
Red Sea vacation coming up in November, so if any good advice I'll be thankful for it!Matt
