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JamesBon92007
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I've can often be found in the Grumpy Old Divers forum 
Imitation GoPro Cameras from China. Any Good?
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WetCell
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Just a quick bump and update.
Got back from a 4-day out to the FGNMS on the Fling. Bought a GoPro hand-wrist-leg-arm strap at BB just before leaving ($19.99). My DBPower fit on it perfectly. Strapped to my hand, it survived jumps from the deck (seven or eight of them).
Camera worked perfectly, recorded everything, no leaks. 60'-90' dives. Best $40 I have ever spent. The guys with GoPros on the ship were über-paranoid about their $400+ toys.
Got back from a 4-day out to the FGNMS on the Fling. Bought a GoPro hand-wrist-leg-arm strap at BB just before leaving ($19.99). My DBPower fit on it perfectly. Strapped to my hand, it survived jumps from the deck (seven or eight of them).
Camera worked perfectly, recorded everything, no leaks. 60'-90' dives. Best $40 I have ever spent. The guys with GoPros on the ship were über-paranoid about their $400+ toys.
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JamesBon92007
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JamesBon92007
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I may have stumbled across another solution: I just bought two SJ7000 housings from eBay for $3.28 each with free shipping. I received them in nine days. From your pictures it looks like you have a housing very similar to my first camera (which didn't even rate a model number). The SJ7000 housing is a tiny bit larger with a little room around the camera which I suspect might prevent the housing from deforming at depth to the point where the buttons won't function. Hopefully I'll get to try it out in a couple of weeks but I have a problem with my damned ear and might not be doing any scuba. This is the usual four-button configuration. As I think I mentioned elsewhere I put my SJ7000 in the smaller housing because I found a red filter that fit but it got stuck at only 30 feet or so. Now that housing is going into my diving museum
Action Sport Camera Waterproof Housing Case Cover Underwater Housing for SJ7000
It says there are 7 still available.
I actually found one for only $2 but I have my minimum approval ratings for ordering from eBay.
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JamesBon92007
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I just got back from Playa del Carmen (Mexico) and had a chance to play with my SJ7000 with some decent conditions. You may notice that two of the divers lack experience One is my girlfriend who is on a Discover Scuba dive and the other is finishing her OW PADI course. I think they both did quite well.
The video is shot at 720 DPI/60 FPS with the white balance set to Auto. I used a standard GoPro 3 red filter.
One is my girlfriend who is on a Discover Scuba dive and the other is finishing her OW PADI course. I think they both did quite well.The video is shot at 720 DPI/60 FPS with the white balance set to Auto. I used a standard GoPro 3 red filter.
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JamesBon92007
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Well, I guess I need to find a different file format. That looks like crap on my screen but looks very, very good played from my computer. When I tried to "Publish" it from Movie Maker it kept giving me error messages. I didn't see a place to delete the post.
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JamesBon92007
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OK, so I got some pretty good videos in come clear water, used Movie Maker to put it together, put it on YouTube, and it looks like crap. It lost most of it's resolution and is all fuzzy. Is there some way to put it on YouTube in it's original format?
When I used Movie Maker and watched it on my TV it looked a little fuzzy but when I compared it to some videos taken with a GoPro Hero 3 I think the SJ7000 looked better. Both were done exactly the same way (put on a DVD) with the same computer.
Also, since I wrote my last post about the spare housings the $2 guy sold a bunch of stuff and now has 100% positive feedback so I got a housing from him/her too. It came to $2.03 from "bestdealhere." I got it in about 10 days, more or less. I doubt if you can buy a spare back seal for $2.
Waterproof Housing Case Cover Underwater Housing for SJ7000 Action Sport Camera
Hmmmm... when I posted this it also posted the other two that I thought I cancelled....
When I used Movie Maker and watched it on my TV it looked a little fuzzy but when I compared it to some videos taken with a GoPro Hero 3 I think the SJ7000 looked better. Both were done exactly the same way (put on a DVD) with the same computer.
Also, since I wrote my last post about the spare housings the $2 guy sold a bunch of stuff and now has 100% positive feedback so I got a housing from him/her too. It came to $2.03 from "bestdealhere." I got it in about 10 days, more or less. I doubt if you can buy a spare back seal for $2.
Waterproof Housing Case Cover Underwater Housing for SJ7000 Action Sport Camera
Hmmmm... when I posted this it also posted the other two that I thought I cancelled....
Last edited:
CT-Rich
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YouTube compresses the crap out of video. You started out at a low resolution to begin with, so I can see why you would take a beating on quality. Vimeo has better quality, but limits file size for free users. Others can give you good advise about maximizing quality on YouTube. I haven't done that much video this year.
I would start with recording in 1080 at 30 fps. 60 only helps if you want slow motion, and even then many of the cameras (not sure about the SJ 7000) are just making double copies of the 30 fps image. The maker of the camera is key not all SJs are made by SJCAM. Yes, forgeries of a knock-off are really common. And they will add to the number( some sj 5000s are poor imitations of the sj4000 by SJCAM) of the camera to make it look like it is the next generation.
I would start with recording in 1080 at 30 fps. 60 only helps if you want slow motion, and even then many of the cameras (not sure about the SJ 7000) are just making double copies of the 30 fps image. The maker of the camera is key not all SJs are made by SJCAM. Yes, forgeries of a knock-off are really common. And they will add to the number( some sj 5000s are poor imitations of the sj4000 by SJCAM) of the camera to make it look like it is the next generation.
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JamesBon92007
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I suppose it will look all right if the viewer keeps it at 2" X 3"
When I tried the higher resolutions the video looked jerky and was smoother at 720. I have not tried slow motion yet but that should smooth things out. It might also save me a lot of hard swimming, chasing fish just to get 10 seconds.
I'm pretty happy with the quality of the video when viewing it on my computer. I chose this particular camera because I was able to compare the image sensor to some others and it does have decent color saturation in low light. Some GoPro 3 videos I saw, taken under similar conditions and probably with the same filter were even fuzzier and the colors did not look as natural. I also have a bottom-of-the-line imitation and it's completely useless at all but the lowest resolution. Even it is still better than no video. I bring it along for backup.
Meanwhile, I know the buttons well enough now to be changing the video resolution while diving so we'll see what happens next. Unfortunately I don't have another trip planned until November
When I tried the higher resolutions the video looked jerky and was smoother at 720. I have not tried slow motion yet but that should smooth things out. It might also save me a lot of hard swimming, chasing fish just to get 10 seconds.
I'm pretty happy with the quality of the video when viewing it on my computer. I chose this particular camera because I was able to compare the image sensor to some others and it does have decent color saturation in low light. Some GoPro 3 videos I saw, taken under similar conditions and probably with the same filter were even fuzzier and the colors did not look as natural. I also have a bottom-of-the-line imitation and it's completely useless at all but the lowest resolution. Even it is still better than no video.
I bring it along for backup.Meanwhile, I know the buttons well enough now to be changing the video resolution while diving so we'll see what happens next. Unfortunately I don't have another trip planned until November
CT-Rich
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If the 1080 video was choppy at 30 fps, it is a pretty low end camera. If you are trying to play video through an editor on a laptop, it is more likely a limitation of computer. Don't stream the video off the camera, transfer it to your hard drive before you try to run it.
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