GoPro HD underwater blur fix

[PursuitDiving]

Hello everyone. My name is Dan, I am the owner of Pursuit Diving. Some of you are already familiar with our popular Polycarbonate flat lens solution for the GoPro camera. I'd like to let you know about our new glass flat underwater lens.

The glass flat lens (patent pending USPTO 29387406) available from Pursuit Flat Glass Lens For GoPro - Pursuit Diving fixes the underwater focus/blurry problem caused by the original Gopro curved lens. With the flat lens the GoPro camera can take crisp high definition undewater video. The flat lens is a drop-in replacement for the original GoPro housing curved lens. It has a depth rating of up to 180ft, the same as the Gopro housing. The lens is made of glass set in an anodized aluminum frame.

Spearfishing video shot in high definition with the GoPro Hero HD and a flat lens. Courtesy of greekdiver.

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

Video demonstrating effect of the flat underwater lens at the 5 different available settings; R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5. R5 is the most suitable high definition setting for filming underwater and has no vignette effect.

[video=youtube;t6gOEIYBfog]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6gOEIYBfog[/video]

To install the flat lens undo the screws of the black plastic bezel with a precision Phillips screwdriver, remove the bezel and set it aside leaving the screws in it. Take out the curved lens, there's a black gasket that goes between the lens and housing that is usually stuck to the lens and will come out with it. Separate the gasket from the lens and place it back in the housing. Put the flat lens on top of the gasket, no sealant or glue is needed. There's only one way in which the lens can be positioned for the bezel to seat back and the screws align with the screw holes, so there's no worry of assembling incorrectly. When tightening the bezel screws do it in a crisscross pattern to tighten it down evenly. Do not over tighten the bezel screws. Over tightening may compress the rubber gasket too much, making it expand into the field of view of the camera.

Housing and lens disassembled, with the glass flat lens on top of the housing.

I often get asked if it's difficult to install the flat lens in the Gopro housing. What better way to demonstrate how easy it is than by doing it outdoors on a breezy day, on a small uneven work surface, and installing two lenses at once. Adding the risk factor of dropping something in the water for extra tension Total install time less than 5 minutes. Video was shot with a Gopro in R5 setting, mounted on a head strap.

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

 

[Adr1an]

Maybe you should post unedited videos for R1, R2, R4 and R4, so potential customers can figure out how big the vignetting is in these 4 modes.

 

[Adr1an]

Will sure do, but probably after getting back home. I have internet access (not bad actually, paid 50 euros for it lol) but don't have time to do video editing, uploads and so on.

Well, wife got sunburned while waiting for me to come out of the water at noon today , so right now I'm in the hotel with a cocktail in front of me and lot of time to spare. Therefore here goes:
[video=youtube;DG4MdXIOEiw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG4MdXIOEiw[/video]

Video shot at Sheep Dip diving point, some 25 kms east of Larnaca. Lots of garfish there and not much else, easy freediving spot (6-12m shore dive).

 

[Lenaxia]

Wow Adrian. That looks actually pretty good. There looks to be very little fish eye effect that we get on land. Is that true?

Also did you use a filter?

 

[blurryfix]

Adrain_ nice shot! What mode were you shooting in, I'm guessing R3? Did you do any editing to you video?

 

[PursuitDiving]

Maybe you should post unedited videos for R1, R2, R4 and R4, so potential customers can figure out how big the vignetting is in these 4 modes.

The video is not edited. The small vignette effect is clearly visible in the corners of the frame in R1, R2, & R3. There's a significant vignette effect in R4, and no vignetting in R5. There would be no point to misinform potential customers about the product, they would just return it, and we're not in business to deal with unsatisfied customers. Your post does draw attention to the fact that it's easy to crop out any vignetting when editing the video.

Here's another video from one of our customers shot with our lens.

[video=vimeo;25122406]http://vimeo.com/25122406[/video]

And a link to his post Poco pescado :-( - Freedive Spearfishing Forum

 

[Adr1an]

I used the stock filter provided with the blurryfix adapter. Video mode was R2, 720p in PAL setting (25 fps).
The only processing I did was cutting the video using direct stream method, other then that it's raw footage (plus the conversion done by youtube, of course).

Either that underwater the fisheye effect gets somehow lost, or we don't perceive it as bad because we don't have the horizon line as a visual guide.

P.S. I really hope to find better stuff then garfish here . Tho they are quite tasty when cooked right

 

[Adr1an]

The video is not edited. The small vignette effect is clearly visible in the corners of the frame in R1, R2, & R3. There's a significant vignette effect in R4, and no vignetting in R5. There would be no point to misinform potential customers about the product, they would just return it, and we're not in business to deal with unsatisfied customers. Your post does draw attention to the fact that it's easy to crop out any vignetting when editing the video.

Sorry, I had absolutelly no intention to accuse you of misinforming your customers, I appologize if it sounded like this (keep in mind that english is not my first language, so I might sometimes sound harsher then intended).
I just had the impression that the footage was cropped, which is what most people do when they have a vignetting effect.

 

[PursuitDiving]

Thanks Adrian. BTW nice shot on that needle fish, they're so thin it's amazing you hit it at that distance. Pneumatics are accurate spearguns.

 

[ozzydamo]

I can't believe you would bother! Ohhh my buddha!