Suggestions for GoPro Setup?

[RickyF]

Look at the GR-15 mount at makospearguns.com

 

[Z Gear]

Here's something that actually works if you care about the stability of the video. I can almost always tell when someone is using a pole because it's not as stable. Anything body/head mounted is worse also. A gopro is no different than any other video setup except that it's more sensitive to motion due to the wide angle of the lens - and I believe they lack any sort of image stabilization.

So you want a solid platform for it. I suspect the body mount is better although it still suffers from side to side motion sway while finning.

What really surprises me is that no one has come out with any sort of mechanism to take advantage of water resistance - those beautiful flat pans you see on TV? Part of that is the resistance of the housing moving thru water. Most GoPro video I watch is too jerky to be useful for anything but the owner's YouTube account.

Dive Trays, Dive Lights, and Accessories for GoPro | Snake River Prototyping

I did notice on this video the sway motion on fining but this motion is still seen on any mount regardless. Because fining can not be avoided unless you focus on slowing down you kick or switch to a frog kick. I was trying to keep up with my dive buddy as quickly as possible, this is still a good video considering recently we have had poor visibility in our area for a while now. Learning to slow down is an essential part of filming it does not necessarily
mean that the mount will exaggerate a fining effect on your video. Why don't you try kicking hard while you filming with your tray I'm sure your going to get some fining/swaying motion on your video.

---------- Post added November 3rd, 2014 at 07:17 AM ----------

Sorry Z Gear, I watched the video and it's not as stable as I thought it would be. As you kick, your torso moves along and you can see the camera wobbling from side to side.

It is almost as shaky as my video below, shot only using a short grip - which is the same as basically holding on to the camera itself. Note that there was current on most shots, specially the one with the clown triggerfish struggling against it towards the end.

[video=youtube;Dev7ldxcBoI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dev7ldxcBoI[/video]

(It was edited on a tablet sitting on a beach having a few beers, so there's no background music or fancy editing.)

I stated in the above response I was kicking hard to catch up with a dive buddy, who was not really focusing on filming. I hope you can understand that kicking hard and filming do not produce the most stable shots, no matter what mount you are using. It does have a lot of good aspects: not having to hold on to your tray or hand grip for the whole dive. You can steady your self with your hands, while filming your subject,in shallow or areas where there is a current.

Here is a video from a scuba board member who used our extended BCD mount. We now call this mount the Long Arm BCD mount. It is a bit longer now than before and is made to be positioned in front of you so you can see your LCD screen, this is to ensure you capture your subject in the frame. This video was shot with a small extension but he was still able to get a good video. Tell us what you think of this example of our mount.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqKFC5e1XYk

 

[WildKid]

Ok wow, thanks for all the responses, I will go through all this thoroughly when I get a chance.

---------- Post added November 11th, 2014 at 06:11 AM ----------

Will you be using your hands for anything else? (i.e. other camera? speargun?)

If you're not using your hands for anything else, then mount your camera on a tray, handle or pole (in this order of preference due to stability of the video).

Body or head mounted footage is NOT pleasant to watch. Wanna turn your torso around to capture that fish passing by? You can't frame your shots and you get bubbles on the footage (head mounted).

A tray, handle or pole is the way to go if you want "watchable quality" video.

How's this for advanced?

I'm not even joking. It's an old painters brush handle if you couldn't tell, with a fresh sticky mount. I HAD about 4 zip ties on it, as I don't know how the sticky would hold up (FYI, I'm not going for the final prototype). Plus wrist tether. I'd be happy if she makes a single maiden voyage just to test a single hand grip (camera's got 2 fail safes, not worried about losing it).

Have NOT used it yet, however.

I have the GoPro Wrist mount, but I'm just thinking the hand held options seem optimal. I still need to go over everyone's video links. And @z gear, your setup looked similar to my original and your footage looked pretty rad, but I'm not a pro. So still testing out ideas. Good thing is I can try 2-3 in a day.

Not really using my hands, but would kind of like one free.

 

[WildKid]

I did notice on this video the sway motion on fining but this motion is still seen on any mount regardless. Because fining can not be avoided unless you focus on slowing down you kick or switch to a frog kick. I was trying to keep up with my dive buddy as quickly as possible, this is still a good video considering recently we have had poor visibility in our area for a while now. Learning to slow down is an essential part of filming it does not necessarily
mean that the mount will exaggerate a fining effect on your video. Why don't you try kicking hard while you filming with your tray I'm sure your going to get some fining/swaying motion on your video.

---------- Post added November 3rd, 2014 at 07:17 AM ----------



I stated in the above response I was kicking hard to catch up with a dive buddy, who was not really focusing on filming. I hope you can understand that kicking hard and filming do not produce the most stable shots, no matter what mount you are using. It does have a lot of good aspects: not having to hold on to your tray or hand grip for the whole dive. You can steady your self with your hands, while filming your subject,in shallow or areas where there is a current.

Here is a video from a scuba board member who used our extended BCD mount. We now call this mount the Long Arm BCD mount. It is a bit longer now than before and is made to be positioned in front of you so you can see your LCD screen, this is to ensure you capture your subject in the frame. This video was shot with a small extension but he was still able to get a good video. Tell us what you think of this example of our mount.

Looks good to me, but I'm a noob. I would think one advantage to the handheld is that the arm/arms can act as shock absorbers. The camera isn't bolted to you, it has some flex.

 

[haha49]

Here's something that actually works if you care about the stability of the video. I can almost always tell when someone is using a pole because it's not as stable. Anything body/head mounted is worse also. A gopro is no different than any other video setup except that it's more sensitive to motion due to the wide angle of the lens - and I believe they lack any sort of image stabilization.

So you want a solid platform for it. I suspect the body mount is better although it still suffers from side to side motion sway while finning.

What really surprises me is that no one has come out with any sort of mechanism to take advantage of water resistance - those beautiful flat pans you see on TV? Part of that is the resistance of the housing moving thru water. Most GoPro video I watch is too jerky to be useful for anything but the owner's YouTube account.

Dive Trays, Dive Lights, and Accessories for GoPro | Snake River Prototyping

Flip the stick upside down when the camera is down instead of up it's way more stable and allot less likely to roll around. You can also stabalzie the footage useing software that has filters that can do it some zoom in on the image so it can roll the image around as it shakes to keep it centered. Works well if you know how to edit it.

The cave footage is stabalized it was really bad with the shake everything else was left alone. It all was nothing more then a gopro on a stick.
[video=youtube_share;FJEEVNNxnDI]http://youtu.be/FJEEVNNxnDI?list=UUyH-n_Kc-6oRZWuqEyiz0GQ[/video]

 

[scubatoys]

My favorite set up is the GoPro camera and a tripod mount combined with the Light and Motion Gobe Action Camera Kit. It includes the Action Camera Tray with two Locline arms and two rechargeable Gobe 700 Lumen wide beam lights. To top it all off I like the PolarPro Red + Macro Switchblade lens kit. This whole kit is small, powerful and will allow for many options in the future. I am big on shooting the small things and with the macro lens I can switch it on, on the fly in conjunction with the red lens. The greatest part is that when you decide you want to record that awesome shark dive and need the full wide angle you can pop slide the macro out of the way and keep the red filter. If you are diving at night, just remove all lenses. The two 700 lumen lights are more than enough to cover your entire field of view through the camera. Another cool feature is that the Gobe lights are capable of switching out the light heads to a narrow beam light head or red photo focus light or even Ultra Violet light heads. That is my favorite part for sure. You haven't seen anything until you turn off all lights and see the ocean from through Ultra Violet lights and filters. All in all the Light and Motion Action Camera Kit is quick easy and a fairly inexpensive way to achieve high quality videos without having to break the bank. I have listed it all below for anyone that wants to take a look at it.


Light and Motion GoBe Action Camera Kit discounts on sale Light And Motion GoBe Action Camera Kit $679.00
GoPro Tripod Mount discounts on sale GoPro GoPro Tripod Mount $9.99
GoPro HERO4 Silver discounts on sale GoPro GoPro Hero 4 Silver $399.99
Switchblade2.0-GoPro Hero4 | Hero3+ Polar Pro Switchblade Filter $69.99

Additional options:
GoBe NightSea - Light & Motion GoBe NightSea Light Head $129.99
Focus Head - Light & Motion GoBe Photo Focus Light Head $99.99


If you like something more simple. There is the Sealife SeaDragon 600 Micro Kit. It is only $199.95 plus the camera. It is a smaller tray and only one light but everypart of it is upgradable at any time incase you decide you want to go further with it you wont have to start over again.

Sealife Sea Dragon 600 Micro Kit discounts on sale SeaLife Sealife SeaDragon Micro Kit $199.95

 

[Scubanoobi]

I vote for a pole - here is a video I just did from a trip to Mexico, all footage between 25 and 45 feet with a pole and polarpro red filter:https://vimeo.com/111948884

It turned out really well (I think).

I normally use a tray.

 

[haha49]

I vote for a pole - here is a video I just did from a trip to Mexico, all footage between 25 and 45 feet with a pole and polarpro red filter:https://vimeo.com/111948884

It turned out really well (I think).

I normally use a tray.

When you use a red filter be prepared to edit your footage as the camera can somtimes do it's own thing if you don't have lights.

here is a video showing edited vs non edited gopro hero3+ silver footage (on a stick with red filter)
[video=youtube_share;aEg_0WYezZQ]http://youtu.be/aEg_0WYezZQ[/video]