Gopro 3D with the spider crabs in Melbourne

[Marty Cerven]

yeah ill be honest after seeing this footage, you solidified me wanting to buy one... I called my wife and had her pick me up one on her way home from work hahaha

Just remember that you will need to get a flat fix for the housing as the stock GoPro housing is blurry underwater due to the curved outer lens. There are a few options but the best 2 IMHO are the eyeofmine and the new blurfix as they allow you to shoot in 720P with no vignetting around the edge like the other fix that only works properly in 1080P.

I have the eyeofmine 3D housing which I used to film this and it is very good and the only real gopro 3D underwater solution that works in more then just 1080P atm, also I have an eyeofmine single housing that was my first flat lens and has worked great in all my videos so far. I have one of the other fixes that work only in 1080P mode but I got this mostly just to test and see how it works compared to the others.

I have just received my blurfix flat fix which will be my default 2D housing from now on as it produces video at the same or slightly better quality (has a slightly higher FOV as well as it uses the original gopro round lens) then the EOM from my initial testing but has a glass screw in filter that is an advantage over the EOM fixed plastic housing. This means that its much easier to clean the inside of the lens as you can simply unscrew it where as the EOM is fixed and has a large undercut, which is very hard to get anything out if it has somehow got into that section. Also being plastic its prone to scratching if not handled carefully, small scratches can be fixed with some plastic polish but any deep scratches would make the housing useless. The blurfix has the advantage that if you damaged the outer lens you can just get a replacement for around $10 not having to bin the entire housing, you can use screw in colour filters if needed easily with this setup for improved colours at certain depths.

The main reason I prefer 720P for underwater is the higher FOV you get compared to 1080P making it much easier to get your subject in the frame even without an lcd screen, also shooting in 720P60 makes video smoother if you move the camera around a little you can even slow this down to 30P which is a good way to reduce shakiness without effecting quality. Plus you can also shoot in 1080P if you want so it gives more options for you to work with and more likely to get the result your looking for.

Good luck with your gopro and I look forward to seeing your videos later on.

 

[samcraig]

Marty - is there a reason you shoot on 720p60 vs 1080?

 

[Marty Cerven]

Marty - is there a reason you shoot on 720p60 vs 1080?

1080P 1920x1080=2,073,600 pixels x30fps=62,208,000 pixels per second
720P60 1280x720=921,600 pixels x60fps=55,296,000 pixels per second

Data rates according to gopro
1080p = 1920×1080 pixels (16:9), 30 fps, 15 Mbit/s data rate
960p = 1280×960 pixels (4:3), 30 fps, 12 Mbit/s data rate
720p = 1280×720 pixels (16:9), 60 fps, 15 Mbit/s data rate
720p = 1280×720 pixels (16:9), 30 fps, 8 Mbit/s data rate

Angle of View: 170º ultra wide angle in WVGA, 720p, or 960p mode
Angle of View: 127º wide angle in 1080p mode

The data rate is higher per pixel in 720P then 1080P so more detail is kept and also the faster shutter speed in 60P helps reduce any rolling shutter issues associated with the cmos censor most visible in 1080P modes. In theory 30p slower shutter or even 25P may be better in low light situations as they allow more light into censor then 60p though but its always going to be a compromise somewhere. I haven't noticed much difference so far, and surprisingly some low light/vis dives seem to get more noisy in 1080p then 720p60 which I didnt expect.

720P has the higher FOV of 170 vs 1080P 127 which is reduced more by being underwater and also the flat lens fixes that don't use the gopro outer round lens reduce FOV a little more so as an estimate your looking around 100 in 1080p and 150 in 720P underwater.

I prefer A higher FOV underwater as it gets more close objects into the frame and the closer they are to the camera underwater the better they look. You can always get very close to the objects if you want them as the gopro has a good focus from only a distance of 3 inches underwater so you can get very close to things. This is a little different in 3D and you can see my youtube 3d distance tests to see how object distance effects the 3d effect.

I like 1080P if the camera is fixed in position and not moving as it provides a very good image but when the camera is in motion I prefer 720P60, also when viewing on the tv or my pc I like the 60p frame rate over the few extra pixels in 1080p but unfortunately no upload sites playback in 60p so it has to be converted to 30p for uploads. I do like to do some dives with the gopro head mounted and this seems to work much better in 60p then 30p due to the motion involved. The reason I prefer the fixes that allow 720p is it gives me the options to try other modes in certain situations as there's times when either setting produces better results.

I will be doing some testing underwater soon in all modes with all the flat fixes that I have to try and see how they all compare.