Question for the GoPro Gurus.

[TheQuintessentialMan]

Have an ancient GoPro 3+ that I've taken renewed interest in lately. Mostly swamp diving around here but decided what the heck so got a mask mount and made first dive with it in quite some time (in my defense I kept forgetting it on my swamp dives.)

Apparently the GoPro has advanced a bit since I got this one but mine still takes good video. Still, I keep wondering is it worth it to keep putting money into it or just upgrade to the current model. I'm planning my first blue water trip since a few years this autumn hence the accelerated interest to reacquaint with it.

On a side note, what are some decent economical lights for this thing?

 

[cmrangel]

There was a fairly big jump in capabilities/performance round the GoPro Hero 7 timeframe. The color balancing (on auto) became much better for underwater use and 4K was around. They also improved the stability quite a bit as long as there enough light (the method they use seems to be sensitive to having crisp images with little motion blur, which requires a pretty relatively high shutter speed). I recently looked back at my older Hero 4 videos and the improvement with the newer ones is very very evident in the quality of the video. I think since then it is mostly incremental improvements but if you are going to upgrade, why not go to the latest .... at least to my thinking.

 

[klausi]

Yes, the 6/7 were a big jump forward, no use in keeping a 4 if you can afford an upgrade. What I love about the 6 is the 240 fps mode, which allows you to get footage which you can then slow down significantly, and it still looks smooth. Works great with boat bow waves, and with fast moving animals like jacks underwater.

It's hard to recommend a light which will illuminate such a wide area as the GoPro captures, these will usually be very pricey.

 

[TravisD]

Don't forget that they regularly give trade-ins on any old gopro - usually about $150.