Not a huge fan of my GoPro

[bvbellomo]

I'm a amateur photographer but knew nothing about underwater when I booked my first liveaboard. Everyone else going told me GoPro was the way to go, so I bought a GoPro HERO6 Black. I got a few nice videos, but I somewhat regret it, and am wonder if I just need to learn more about it or if I should move on to something very different.

1) It isn't easy to use, especially underwater with your concentration on other things.
2) One mistake will record a video large enough to fill the memory card and empty the battery.
3) Getting it to sync pictures to my phone to access files and video is tedious, it is slow, the software is unintuitive and the connection is always dropping.
4) It has 2 angles of view - wide and ridiculously wide.
5) It autofocuses, and it does that poorly. Almost all my pictures and videos are a little blurry.
6) The focus and field of makes it the opposite of macro photography, it is very difficult to capture a good composition much smaller than a shipwreck or a shark.
7) It seems built around video, I prefer still frames.

Don't get me wrong - this is leaps ahead of the $19.95 sealed single use Kodaks I took snorkeling 20 years ago. But I see so many wonderful underwater shots, in focus with great compositions and I have to wonder if some of those shots are possible with a camera that costs less than my car.

Should I spend more time and learn more before upgrading? Or are there basic, good still cameras that I should invest in instead?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

GoPros are great underwater video cameras. If you want to take better stills, go with a DSLR. You may be able to find a housing that works with your topside camera.

 

[bvbellomo]

I've thought about this nervously, although my Canon EOS 5D Mark II is no longer the expensive cutting edge camera it was when I bought it. Housings aren't cheap, especially the ones made by well known brands. Are they all reliable? Am I wrong to worry that I just going end up with a soaked or crushed SLR?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Canon 5D Mark II, Mark III Underwater Housing
These are all good housings. Because new versions come out all the time, you can probably find the same housings on Ebay. You will also need strobes, arms, ports, and a focus light.

 

[tursiops]

You don't need a DSLR for decent uw pictures. In fact, it is overkill for most folks.
Take a look at the waterproof point-and-shoot offerings from Olympus, Nikon, and Fuji.
If macro is your thing, look at the Olympus TG-6.
Best waterproof cameras in 2020

 

[ColoDale]

I love Go Pros. Especially on the bottom of the ocean attached to headstraps.

Seriously though, I have friends that use Sealife and TG6's that get good video IMO (I shoot stills) that are better than Go Pro videos. All of them use a video light.

 

[Darnold9999]

I find the go pro to be great for wide angle video and crap for everything else. Macro, stills etc. I attach it to the top of my DSLR when I have a macro lens. Let’s me capture stuff I would otherwise miss but it is very much secondary on most dives.

The better your light source the better the video. My lights cost considerably more than the go pro and even then can’t light up much beyond 10 feet or so. Best is video taken near the surface in ambient light.

 

[Chris Ross]

There's quite a bit of stuff on the internet about using go-pros UW, here's one quick example: A Guide to Using the GoPro Underwater
There will be others with a bit of searching.
If you are after stills, something like a TG-6 is a good option, it is macro oriented - not so good at wide angle. There are lots of accessories like wet wide lenses to expand the field of view, but ultimately you are a little limited by the auto exposure only mode. It does take very nice macro shots though. Next step up would be a housed 1"compact like a Canon G7X in something like a Fantasea housing. To take really vibrant UW shots you really need strobes - sure you can custom white balance UW but the photos are still often a little flat. With the TG-6 a bright dive torch with a reasonable beam can provide good macro lighting - this works only because you are very close and shooting at quite a wide aperture, strobes are several orders of magnitude brighter than even the brightest video lights.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Since the OP already owns a nice full frame camera and I assume lenses, it would make sense to get a housing for it. A 100mm macro lens and 16-36 wide angle is really all he would need.

 

[Barmaglot]

No offense, but the OP is a fairly new diver, and is having difficulties managing a GoPro underwater. Suggesting that they build a rig around a full-frame DSLR is setting them up for extreme frustration. Since the OP has expressed a preference for stills and macro, I am seconding the recommendation for a TG-6 - while limited in wide-angle (although manageable with a good pair of strobes), those little cameras are brilliant for macro, and you can set one up with a handle and a single small strobe and stay quite small and light.