NOOB GoPro Video Questions

[Mike126]

I just purchased a 3+ Silver for a trip planned to Turks and Caicos at the end of June. Along with it I bought an Ikelite red filter and the Aquapod mini pole. When diving I was going to use the red filter and for snorkeling I was going to leave it off. I know the colors will probably pop better using a light but I don't have a wide angle light. Is shooting without a light and red filter going to work out? Depths will likely be between 60' - 80'.

Thanks

 

[ScubaND]

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[ericjespersen]

I used a Hero 3 silver in Bonaire last year with only a red filter and most stuff came out very good. We went from 30 to 100 feet. I also shot the best images by taking stills out of video. I also use Lightroom from Adobe for color correction on some images (mostly from the year previous - before I had the red filter).. 100' was really pushing it's limits with no light. I still dont have night dive filming figured out although I now have some lights. There is also a program that came free on my laptop, called Photos, which actually does a pretty good job for photo corrections. I now have Hero3+ black hopefully it's even better.

 

[Mike126]

Eric - thanks for the feedback. I think I'll hold off on the lights for now. I did get a pole and a GoPole bobber handle. I'll probably use the bobber for diving and sailing and use the pole for snorkeling and some dives. I was thinking about a tray but I might hold off until I get use to filming.


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[Key Lime Diver]

I just purchased a 3+ Silver for a trip planned to Turks and Caicos at the end of June. Along with it I bought an Ikelite red filter and the Aquapod mini pole. When diving I was going to use the red filter and for snorkeling I was going to leave it off. I know the colors will probably pop better using a light but I don't have a wide angle light. Is shooting without a light and red filter going to work out? Depths will likely be between 60' - 80'.

Thanks

Hi Mike,

After years of producing and shooting broadcast video, I just recently started shooting video underwater using a GoPro 4 Silver Edition. I got an Ikelite two handled dive tray and the Flip Filters 3.1 from Backscatter.

Underwater Camera Articles: Best GoPro Underwater Filter and Macro Lens - Filter Solutions for Hero4, Hero3+, & Hero3

I also had a super bright dive light on an arm to supplement the lighting inside the wreck.

I was shooting the Vandenberg in Key West. I used a pretty heavy orange filter since I was shooting at a dept between 90 and 100 feet. When I looked at the footage later that evening I discovered a couple of interesting things.

First, I realized that I had the white balance set to auto. While the filter did a nice job of correcting the color balance, the fact that the camera was set to auto made the color wander and change depending on what I was shooting. I realized I should have gone into the settings and forced the color balance to daylight. That way the color is MUCH easier to fix later on if you want to.

Next, using the on-camera light with the orange filter was really weird. Every time I got close to something and you could see the light, it was bright orange! The fix is to flip the orange filter out of the way when penetrating the wreck. The interiors were surprisingly good. When I would exit the wreck, I turned off the light and flipped the filter back down.

Lastly, get familiar with GoPro's Protune feature. if you turn Protune on you'll get a file that will give you much better color correction when you get into post production using the GoPro studio software. YouTube had a ton of videos on the subject.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

 

[diversteve]

I'd go with a tray over the Bobber handle also. The reason is it's always going to be trying to do what it does well - float your camera at the surface. So at depth everytime you relax your hand/wrist even slightly you're going to see it in your footage as a small jump up. If you don't have a Bacpac you may not notice you're doing it while u/w.

A tray gives you optimally two hands on the camera. Even if you only use one, the added mass/length of the tray helps control the camera - very useful in slow pans. If you're worried about losing it, get one of these: Coil Lanyards - your local shop probably sells them or similar. I think LeisurePro.com does also.

If you have a choice of dive sites - two words - French Cay. Dayboats from Provo do it on all day trips, the liveaboards spend a couple days out there. It's almost the best diving I've done in the Caribbean and I've done a lot of the "best" dive locations.

 

[Mike126]

Steve - thanks for the feedback on the bobber handle. I guess the other issue with them is if you hold it wrong the camera may not be pointed correctly.

For dive sites I am captive. We are staying at Beaches (I'm the only diver and we have teenage twin boys that can eat![emoji3]). Last year when we went the boats were running to the north west corner and Grace Bay.

KLD- thanks for the settings advice. I'll check that out.


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[Mike126]

So I got the Backscatter two handle tray and coil leash. The tray is pretty basic which is perfect for me.

I'm now thinking if I should get a light. If I do it would be the Archon 890 lumen. Mako Spearguns have them so shipping should not be an issue. I was looking at my logs and the dives I did at TCI last year were in the 60-70' range. I guess 1 light is only going to be good for close ups. Thoughts?


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