Questions about diopters / macro lenses

[technitai]

Hi all. I’m looking for some GoPro accessory advice. Would love some help with this!


I’m a casual diver (advanced cert, 50 dives so far) and heading to Thailand and Indonesia soon. (On the list are: Similan islands, sites near Koh Lanta, USS Liberty, Komodo). I’m a photography enthusiast and want to take some high quality underwater photos and videos.


I just bought a GoPro 4 Silver and I’m keen to buy a Backscatter Flip DIVE filter (or similar) as well. I’m not going to buy lights as that’s well beyond my budget, but I am looking at the +10 diopter and Micromate Mini and wondering if it’s worth the investment. I’ve done macro dives before but felt I was missing part of the fun by not having an appropriate camera/lens.


But... I can’t decide if buying one or both of these will be a costly mistake or a genius move.


These are some questions on my mind:

• Is macro stuff worth bothering with without lights? Can GoPro lock focus on a small subject given only natural light?
• How difficult is it to keep things steady for macro on just a grip handle (and not one of those 2 hand trays) and by someone with average diving skill?
• Would the +10 already get me enough of a boost for capturing anything smaller if I’m on a budget?
• Is it worth investing in macro lenses now considering my dives on this trip? I’ve heard that these dives in Thailand and Indonesia are mainly big stuff / pelagic species / etc. but will I be so overwhelmed by sharks et al that I should really just focus on that?

This post is already long enough… much obliged for any insights you might have.

 

[MB NZ]

here's my opinion after messing around with a gopro underwater for two years (and diving for 14 years with nearly 800 dives).

gopro macro without lights is going to be very difficult, if not impossible. in fact, macro with lights is difficult. impossible to keep steady with a grip handle. a tray is hard enough. the likes of backscatter recommend a tripod and i can understand why.

i hope you see some big animals, either way, there will be underwater scenery. i'd stick with what the gopro is good at. buy a red filter and concentrate on wide angle shots in the shallows.

i gave gopro macro a good go, there are some clips at the end of my video below. in the end, i decided it was just too much effort for too little return.

[video=vimeo;100580912]https://vimeo.com/100580912[/video]

---------- Post added March 26th, 2015 at 03:23 PM ----------

edit: if you want to take good stills, a gopro is not up to the job in my opinion.

 

[technitai]

Thanks for your comments Andrew. I feared macro might be one bridge too far for me and I think your post confirms this. Given the difficulties of underwater photography I will also probably focus on video and grab some stills from the GoPro if they're any good.

Do you think a +10 lens might still be a worthwhile investment for more generally shooting fish and marine life?

Phenomenal footage in that video by the way. Stunning!

 

[3D diver]

Just started tinkering with a close up lens...

Lights...yes.

Tray...yes.

Stability much trickier with a small field of view. Shooting at a higher frame rate will help (though I haven't tried tried this myself yet.)

Since you're new to GoPro video you might consider simply using the narrow mode for a while---you can get pretty close, or rather focus your attention to a fairly small area, that way.

 

[MB NZ]

technitai - skip the +10 lens, i don't think it's going to work for you at this point. 3D diver is spot on, you can do a lot with narrow FOV. it's a shame that this gopro setting seems to be ignored by most divers.

 

[3D diver]

With my Hero 2's the narrow setting had a noticeable loss of resolution. My 3+ black has much higher intrinsic resolution and seems fine in narrow mode.

FWIW: here is a video I shot with an H3+ black in medium, an H3+ black with a Polar Pro close up lens in narrow, and a Kodak SP360 ultra-wide angle camera, all mounted on the same tray:



After I shot it two of my friends got closeup lenses.

I shot this video entirely in narrow mode (by accident):

 

[rmrobbins]

No expert here as I'm just starting out w/ underwater video as well. I was pretty happy with results using PolarPro Switchblade 2.0 w/ red and macro lens. I can't say it's as well made as the flip, but it did the job.

Last few shots of girabaldi used the macro lens diopter. Whole video was shot w/ red filter. No lights.

[video=youtube;LuS14hz0FuE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuS14hz0FuE[/video]

 

[toozler]

No expert here as I'm just starting out w/ underwater video as well. I was pretty happy with results using PolarPro Switchblade 2.0 w/ red and macro lens. I can't say it's as well made as the flip, but it did the job.

Last few shots of girabaldi used the macro lens diopter. Whole video was shot w/ red filter. No lights.

The amount of distortion on the macro lens is surreal, feels like a time warp. Is it possible to unscrew/remove the lens provided and attach a +10 diopter from eBay?

Here is how a $6 diopter looks:

[video]https://youtu.be/SQIQtTxOcEA?t=28s[/video]