Wide angle lens options

[toozler]

Can anyone tell me why the port of the Hero2 Dive Housing is so much larger than the Hero3 standard housing and what effect this has (if any) on the U/W image quality?

The camera lens sits further away from the flat port on the HERO2 DH than it does on the HERO3. I believe that if the flat port was to be smaller, the corners would show up on the video as they would be covered by the wide field of view.

Now, the design criteria behind that (smaller flat port closer to lens vs. larger flat port away from lens) is unknown to me. Maybe it was easier for them to only modify the existing base housing and add the port rather than other major changes to accommodate a flush smaller port.

 

[flareside]

360heros in conjunction with snake river prototyping is introducing a wide angle lens for the hero3. Ref: 360Heros GoPro Camera Holder with Snake River Prototyping Technology - YouTube

 

[fbk]

So I guess that answers the OP... dome available soon for the SRP SO naked. $250 yada yada... I wasn't really paying attention to much that he said with Olivia standing there.

 

[Interceptor121]

Very interesting it says 360 but actually that rig should provide 720 degrees field of view as it has two cameras on top and bottom

Also when it says this is 170 on land but when I but it water it becomes 130 shows how much he knows about it

Anyway $250 for that little dome is expensive I wonder where they get that done. Fix makes mini dome in aluminium and two sealed glass with a 67 thread for the same price to

Could be well worth it as a POV camera in an aquarium or on a tripod to leave there and watch what the fish does, I doubt is of any use for real underwater video. The filter inside the dome is a good thing though as it gets closer to the lens in the sealed air space

 

[mkhilario]

Yes it seems like the perfect solution. Crucially, it allows attachment of a color filter which the swiss dome housing does not.

I expect a similar actual UW FOV of around 120-130 degrees.

Will be nice for semi-static shots where there is not a lot of swimming and panning to shoot ambient light reefscapes, large fish schools, and maybe some close focus wide angle shots using 2 lights where the foreground subject does not fill the majority of the frame.

 

[ronscuba]

Great little popular camera has created a very big market and business opportunity for accessories.

 

[toozler]

Very interesting it says 360 but actually that rig should provide 720 degrees field of view as it has two cameras on top and bottom

 

[Interceptor121]

it has 360 on both axis as it has 6 cameras so also looks up and down not sure how useful but it should be possible to do it

 

[tamas970]

I am less concerned about the FOV, more about corner IQ. My hero 4 black arrives next week and I want to fit it with something nice to produce perfect 4k while diving.

I am considering upgrading the stock lens to a 3.5-3.6mm unit (~125°FOV on land) and adding a wide wet lens like the BigEye to correct the corners. However, the BigEye is
practically a dome, messing up the close focus, thus I'd need a diopter as well. Is there a model, which combine the two? Inon seems to have a gopro dedicated wide lens
and a dry dome for its H100 wide wet lens. The latter solution would interest me more, because it can be used on cameras other than gopro (and mounted on 3rd party housings).

 

[tamas970]

Some additional info from the ROV guys: a strong diopter can bring back focus if the gopro sits behind a dome.
(Not much surprise, but haven't seen anyone trying...) However if a questionable piece of diopter lens + a dome
is optically superior to the stock flat port I am not so sure...

I'd really like to see a corner-resolution/CA test with an air lens (Nauticam wetmate, fantasea BigEye or something similar) +
a decent achromatic diopter lens.