Rounded vs. Flattened Hero2 video?

[stanw]

With a Hero2, my video was very rounded, and I just realized that there is a setting to change how wide it shoots video under the FOC menu. Just curious, when would you want the video to appear more rounded vs. being flattened out? I would think I would want it to always be flattened...?

Thanks.

 

[billwil]

It's a matter of field of view, not round vs. flat. If you want to be very close to an object (and underwater you generally do), wider can be much better. Most use medium or wide for underwater use...depends on what you're shooting. Also, the bit of "fish eye" effect (that's way it's actually called) is much harder to see underwater. It is sometimes a good tradeoff for getting that wide view (like wanting to get the whole shipwreck in view but don't want to be more than 15 feet from it because of visibility...as one of many examples).

Hope that helps. Underwater, the closer you are, generally the better the footage will be.
Sent from my Lumia 900 Windows Phone using Board Express

 

[Marty Cerven]

Like billwil says its just fov difference but as the gopro has a fisheye lens the wider the Field Of View the more the outside of the frame will look rounded. If you have the new GoPro dive housing you will also notice more fisheye effect compared to the stock housing with the round lens, this is because the stock housing lens magnifies the image a little which shows more of the central image to avoid the extreme fisheye effect on the edges.

Here is a little video I put together comparing all modes of the Hero1 and Hero2 to show how they get the various Field Of View options. The way its done is that all modes are either full frame, wide photo or 960p mode and all the other modes are a central crop of this. Its a type of digital zoom but not exactly as it isnt blowing up pixels when the full frame has more then enough pixels for 1920x1080p which is the highest res video mode. HD1 is 5mpx 2592x1944 and HD2 is 11mpx 3840x2880. This video was all shot with a stock housing so the GoPro dive housing without the round lens will show more rounding or fisheye effect.

[video=youtube;veBVyFhElY0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veBVyFhElY0[/video]

Water will also do the same but it has a much stronger magnification effect which is the reason that taking a regular lens camera underwater will give a very narrow field of view and most underwater videographers and photographers prefer wide angle or fisheye lenses.

• Behavior of Light
  • Light rays travel in straight lines. When they strike an opaque surface, the rays bounce, and light is reflected back to your eye so that you see an image. When light strikes a transparent object, some of the light passes through. If that light strikes the object straight on, it continues to travel in a straight line. If the light enters the transparent object at an angle, though, it changes direction, bending.
  Light Refraction
  
  
  • This bending of light is called refraction. Refraction occurs because light entering an object slows down. When it enters at an angle, one side of the light ray enters before the other, slowing down first. You can imagine this by picturing a speeding car that suddenly has the brakes applied to one side only--the car would spin in the direction of the side that suddenly slows down.
  Light in Water
  
  
  • Looking from above, an object under water appears larger than it does in air. It's not that the image the light gave our eyes is bigger. It's that the image is actually closer to our eyes, since the light is not passing straight down, but is instead bending relative to the water's surface. Light passing straight down would be perpendicular to the water's surface, like the vertical line on the letter T. A closer image looks bigger--the underwater object is magnified.

Read more: How Does Water Magnify Things? | eHow.com How Does Water Magnify Things? | eHow.com
​

 

[stanw]

Thanks Marty for that explanation.

I am using the Hero2 and the new Dive Housing. I'm going to do a dive with turtles next week, and I may get close to them though I do not anticipate getting too close. I'm also going to go into an aquarium with sharks, and again, I do not think I'm going to be very close to them. In these cases, does it make sense to keep the setting on the Hero2 at the widest?

Thanks!

 

[Marty Cerven]

I tend to prefer the widest setting for uw use but I also use the LCD bacpac for all my handheld shots which will let you know if your not getting close enough and the medium mode may be a better option.

Diving with turtles and sharks you don't really make the decision about how close you want to get they tend to have more of a say in the matter

When I dived with a big turtle I had to push it away as it was trying to take a bite out of my head lol, the turtles head was the same size as mine too so it was a little intimidating. When I dived with lots of sharks quite a few brushed up against me, this wasn't in an aquarium though just wild grey nurse and wobbegong sharks so the widest settings work best for these still.

If you are too far away from your subject using the widest mode things will appear quite small so using the LCD I find is pretty useful to show you how the FOV is effecting your shots.