Video/Pictures...Will I need a dive light?

[DannyBoy8]

Hello, I am going to Coz. in Jan. 2015 and will be diving for 3 days. I understand the visibility is phenomenal down there.

I always dive with my GoPro and was just wondering if I will need a dive light to capture better shots?

or will the visibility take care of itself?

Thank you!

 

[darook]

It depends on if you want to capture the color. The viz is excellent but that doesn't defeat the physics of all of the reds and yellows being gone at depth. You will be able to get some cool reef scape photos in a version of monochromatic blue. I would suggest a light to show the colors of the reef occasionally. It is also nice to have to poke around and see what is hiding in the crevices.

I will be on island in January too and I can't wait.

 

[Mike]

As Darook was hinting at, Cozumel's water clarity won't overcome the physics of light transmission in water. As your depths deepen the colors are lost unless you make up for them with lighting or a filter your video will still go blue no matter if it is in Cozumel. No light is powerful enough to light up the reef at a distance. Lights are only good for lighting what is close enough to the camera for them to illuminate until their light falls off. A filter will adjust all the light coming into your gopro and hitting the color chip. You can also color correct the footage, your go pro doesn't have a manual white balance so you can't correct as you're diving and shooting, but you can correct it afterwards. If you shoot a white card in your videos at the start of each segment you can color correct post dives a bit easier and more consistently as you have a reference to what white was supposed to be.

 

[tursiops]

You are not certified, according to your profile.
Don't even take the GoPro, get some dive experience first. New divers with cameras are seriously dangerous to themselves and to the reef.

 

[cvchief]

I don't have the gopro, but most people I see have AT LEAST a red filter.

Of course the guy last week had a light too. He lit up and showed us all a nice shark shadowed under a ledge.

 

[nodakdive]

Using the red filter makes a big difference. Make sure you have one, lights or not. Get the filter that snaps on the outside of the housing. You can get cheap filters that fit inside the housing, but then you're stuck with the filter until you get the camera out of the housing. I made the mistake of buying the cheap kind.

 

[cvchief]

Using the red filter makes a big difference. Make sure you have one, lights or not. Get the filter that snaps on the outside of the housing. You can get cheap filters that fit inside the housing, but then you're stuck with the filter until you get the camera out of the housing. I made the mistake of buying the cheap kind.

The guy with the light had a nice flippy filter he could swing in AND a wet macro lens to swing in as well. And the light. And a a-frame thing with a handle. Basically a regular big camera setup with this lil' cute tiny gopro in the middle.

 

[diver 85]

Get a red filter---from what I've seen with them(don't have one but have seen results without one)...

 

[drbill]

If you stay above 10-20 fsw you may not need a light, but if you go deeper I think you'll be glad you have one. I've dived some high visibility locations (heck, even Catalina has pretty high vis right now) but often need to use the highest power on my Sola 1200s and 2000s to bring out colors when shooting in daylight.

 

[dwellerbottom]

Here is a video I shot last month in Cozumel with a gopro hero3 black with a cheap red filter & no light.
I hope it helps your decision?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioYbbS_0_xw