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A little bird dropped a nice package on my lap and asked me to review it since I own a GoPro HD and use it for underwater video. The package contained The Snake River BlurFix kit pre-mounted to a GoPro HD housing including the UV filter, the URPro Cyan, Green and Cyan Shallow Water filters, the Snake River Tray and GoPro tripod mount.
My initial impression upon inspecting the package was, wow this stuff is well made! SRP, truly mean it when they say, "If it isn't quality, we don't make it."
I have played with a few of the after-market blur-fix solutions for the GoPro, but none have felt as well produced as this one. Not only that, but it's also a totally different approach to fixing the underwater focus of the GoPro. Instead of replacing the stock curved lens port with a flat one, the SRP fix actually encases the original curved lens port with an adapter and a 55 mm filter, thus eliminating the problem the sensor has focusing underwater.
Why is this such a big deal? One, because the seal of the original port is never broken, two because once you modify your original case with a flat port, the case with the modified port can only be used underwater. You would need to either purchase a second case for use above water, replace the ports every time you want to use the camera above water, or not use a case above water which basically means you lose the ability to mount the camera to any surface imaginable! At $40 for a replacement it may not be a big deal to get a second case, but why when you don't have to?
And the third reason why I say this fix is a big deal is because this solution not only fixes the blur problem, but goes well beyond that. If you have played with underwater videography you are well aware that you need filters to bring back the colors lost at depth. The SRP BlurFix adds the ability to use standard 55 mm filters for color correction. While other fixes incorporate solutions for adding color filters, none are as easy as the SRP solution while giving you access to such a range of high quality filters.
The BlurFix kit comes with a clear UV filter, o-rings, desiccant balls and adhesive. My package came with the adapter already installed to a GoPro housing, but installation seems as simple as unscrewing the original port screws and putting on the new adapter and screwing it back in. They throw in some adhesive to seal the adapter to the housing and prevent any possible leaks. The only tricky part was dropping the desiccant balls in the grove. Maybe because I have rather large hands, but this is definitively something you do not want to do on a bouncing boat en route to a dive site.
The GoPro blur fix issue has been fixed with many different solutions, mostly relying on flat port replacements from $15 to around $80. If you add to that a second housing $40 you are now at $55 to $120. The SRP Kit comes right around $77 including a UV filter.
A very nice solution at a decent price point. I don't often see that in the dive world. The one thing I wish they included was a lens cap to protect the filter but I guess I can find a 55 mm lens cap almost anywhere.
The second part of the package is the SRP Tray and the SRP slogan holds true here as well. And while there's nothing as revolutionary as the BlurFix in this product, attention to detail alone is well worth the price of this product. I have tinkered with multiple ways of carrying my GoPro underwater and always comeback to holding it in my hand because it gives me the most flexibility, but the down side of that is that holding it in my hand leaves me with very shaky video which I have to stabilize later in post-production. The alternative, a fixed mount somewhere on me which leaves me with very poor framing and always guessing if I'm getting what I intended to get. I often end up not getting my subject with a fixed mount unless I use a telescoping arm but that has some drawbacks as well.
The added weight of the aluminum tray serves to stabilize a hand-held shot above or below the water. The rubber grips provide a firm grip and can be adjusted "on-the-fly" with a simple twist of the wrist. Although I'm not sure why you would want to do this. Once you determine the ideal position for your hands you will probably keep the grips there. But the ability to place them anywhere along the tray in such a simple way is very ingenious! The top of the rubber grips are threaded should you wish to add light arms to your setup.
This tray gives me the flexibility of a hand-held shot with the much increased stability of a fixed point mount. I can turn, angle or move the camera while in use without any tools. I can even set it on a sandy bottom as a platform and not worry about it moving.
The tray needs the GoPro tripod mount to attach to one of the 4 mounting points on the tray. The tripod mount is not included in the price of the tray which is surprising given the attention to detail SRP has on their products. But at $8 it's not a deal breaker, it just seems odd given the fact that you cannot mount the housing without having this piece. I guess it could be argued that you may already own a tripod mount? Who knows!
Finally, there are two holes on each end to tie a lanyard to your rig which was always my concern when I held the camera in hand. I always wrapped a lanyard to the GoPro in case I had to drop it and use my hands for something else, but it wasn't very elegant as I had to tread it on the base of the camera case. These holes provide a nice and secure place to secure your rig. One other neat thing I found out while playing with the tray is that it will mount to any camera that uses a standard tripod mount so you're not limited to just the GoPro with this little tray! Or you could also mount 2 or maybe 3 GoPro cameras along the rails of the tray, but I would have to borrow a couple of cameras to test if three would fit. One facing back and one facing forward would be neat!
Now all I need is a nice set of light that won't break the bank! Nope, the little bird wasn't SRP and I did not get paid to write this review.
All pictures were taken with an iPhone 4 with available light sorry.
My initial impression upon inspecting the package was, wow this stuff is well made! SRP, truly mean it when they say, "If it isn't quality, we don't make it."
I have played with a few of the after-market blur-fix solutions for the GoPro, but none have felt as well produced as this one. Not only that, but it's also a totally different approach to fixing the underwater focus of the GoPro. Instead of replacing the stock curved lens port with a flat one, the SRP fix actually encases the original curved lens port with an adapter and a 55 mm filter, thus eliminating the problem the sensor has focusing underwater.
Why is this such a big deal? One, because the seal of the original port is never broken, two because once you modify your original case with a flat port, the case with the modified port can only be used underwater. You would need to either purchase a second case for use above water, replace the ports every time you want to use the camera above water, or not use a case above water which basically means you lose the ability to mount the camera to any surface imaginable! At $40 for a replacement it may not be a big deal to get a second case, but why when you don't have to?
And the third reason why I say this fix is a big deal is because this solution not only fixes the blur problem, but goes well beyond that. If you have played with underwater videography you are well aware that you need filters to bring back the colors lost at depth. The SRP BlurFix adds the ability to use standard 55 mm filters for color correction. While other fixes incorporate solutions for adding color filters, none are as easy as the SRP solution while giving you access to such a range of high quality filters.
The BlurFix kit comes with a clear UV filter, o-rings, desiccant balls and adhesive. My package came with the adapter already installed to a GoPro housing, but installation seems as simple as unscrewing the original port screws and putting on the new adapter and screwing it back in. They throw in some adhesive to seal the adapter to the housing and prevent any possible leaks. The only tricky part was dropping the desiccant balls in the grove. Maybe because I have rather large hands, but this is definitively something you do not want to do on a bouncing boat en route to a dive site.
The GoPro blur fix issue has been fixed with many different solutions, mostly relying on flat port replacements from $15 to around $80. If you add to that a second housing $40 you are now at $55 to $120. The SRP Kit comes right around $77 including a UV filter.
A very nice solution at a decent price point. I don't often see that in the dive world. The one thing I wish they included was a lens cap to protect the filter but I guess I can find a 55 mm lens cap almost anywhere.
The second part of the package is the SRP Tray and the SRP slogan holds true here as well. And while there's nothing as revolutionary as the BlurFix in this product, attention to detail alone is well worth the price of this product. I have tinkered with multiple ways of carrying my GoPro underwater and always comeback to holding it in my hand because it gives me the most flexibility, but the down side of that is that holding it in my hand leaves me with very shaky video which I have to stabilize later in post-production. The alternative, a fixed mount somewhere on me which leaves me with very poor framing and always guessing if I'm getting what I intended to get. I often end up not getting my subject with a fixed mount unless I use a telescoping arm but that has some drawbacks as well.
The added weight of the aluminum tray serves to stabilize a hand-held shot above or below the water. The rubber grips provide a firm grip and can be adjusted "on-the-fly" with a simple twist of the wrist. Although I'm not sure why you would want to do this. Once you determine the ideal position for your hands you will probably keep the grips there. But the ability to place them anywhere along the tray in such a simple way is very ingenious! The top of the rubber grips are threaded should you wish to add light arms to your setup.
This tray gives me the flexibility of a hand-held shot with the much increased stability of a fixed point mount. I can turn, angle or move the camera while in use without any tools. I can even set it on a sandy bottom as a platform and not worry about it moving.
The tray needs the GoPro tripod mount to attach to one of the 4 mounting points on the tray. The tripod mount is not included in the price of the tray which is surprising given the attention to detail SRP has on their products. But at $8 it's not a deal breaker, it just seems odd given the fact that you cannot mount the housing without having this piece. I guess it could be argued that you may already own a tripod mount? Who knows!
Finally, there are two holes on each end to tie a lanyard to your rig which was always my concern when I held the camera in hand. I always wrapped a lanyard to the GoPro in case I had to drop it and use my hands for something else, but it wasn't very elegant as I had to tread it on the base of the camera case. These holes provide a nice and secure place to secure your rig. One other neat thing I found out while playing with the tray is that it will mount to any camera that uses a standard tripod mount so you're not limited to just the GoPro with this little tray! Or you could also mount 2 or maybe 3 GoPro cameras along the rails of the tray, but I would have to borrow a couple of cameras to test if three would fit. One facing back and one facing forward would be neat!
Now all I need is a nice set of light that won't break the bank! Nope, the little bird wasn't SRP and I did not get paid to write this review.
All pictures were taken with an iPhone 4 with available light sorry.
