GoPro red filter - PolarPro vs SRP vs Backscatter

[bober02]

Hello All,

please forgive for any silly questions but this is the first time I am using this forum. I am an inexperienced diver (only about 20 dives) but I am keen on making some nice underwater videos while enjoying it.

I gather there are basically 3 red filters that one should consider to improve the quailty of the picture when recording underwater namely:

PolarPro
SRP
Backscatter flip

In terms of the videos, I have seen a dozen confirming each works magically, so that is a bit useless. PolarPro is the cheapest - for as little as 30 GBP I can get 3 filters, and they seem to be doing the job. The rest costs around 75 - 100 GBP for a set which is a lot... Considering I am not an expert, and I just want to enjoy a good looking, quality videos, do you think PolarPro will be enough?

Thanks!

 

[jboneng]

The last time I used a GoPro underwater is 2 years ago, so things might have changed.
I bought the PolarPro filter, it felt flimsy and sure enough the plastic flip arm broke on the first dive with it, sent them a e-mail and got a free replacement, great customer service.
The same thing happened after a couple of dives with the new filter. After that I didn't bother with filters anymore since a) the red filter is not suitable for the green water I usually dive (should have bought the magenta one) and b) The filter is a passive subtraction function that reduce the overall available light for the image chip, so I started to bring down more light which is a active additive function that adds more light, including red light.
I don't have any experience with SRP or Backscatter flip, so I can't give you any opinion on those.

 

[toozler]

The SRP certainly has the best color correction but is also usually the most expensive, I had one for a HERO2. I haven't had any experience with the Backscatter, so I'm impartial to it's quality but find the whole multiple flipping filters idea very unnecessary. As of the Polar Pro, just stay away, it's useless and in fact, makes your footage look worse (red, not color corrected). In terms of video quality, I do recommend the internal Eelvision filter, it's on Amazon UK. The drawback is that it stays inside the housing so you will have to open it if you want to film on the surface, but the colors are the best and it's also cheap.

 

[bober02]

Hmm, yet again I see some contrary comments. Polarpro videos on youtube, not the propaganda ones from PolarPro but from regular divers, looked quite cool. And I was attracted to the fact that you have three different filters you can install.

Eelvision is another thing I have not noticed before, seems quite cheap.

In general, ho do you think these filters will behave > 20 m ? Polarpro promises that it will work fine, SRP should as well, but the price is quite high for one filter...

 

[flareside]

@Toozler, you still running eelvision? If so, a bit of disclosure would be in order.....

 

[Ghosty]

Haven't used it yet, but both my dive shop (woman that teaches their video class) and several dive guides on my last trip have recommended the BackScatter Flip 3.1 combo pack. I also read a ton of reviews. Has three filters, for "shallow", "dive", and "deep". Scored a sweet deal new, $70 on eBay. I think the pack is $100 usually, not sure. I'll be using it in March and report back.

 

[timz]

I have polarpro snap on filter for my past dives until I lose it in a dive where i forgot to tie the small string to my gopro.

So, I bought the polarpro 3 in 1 and will try it out next weekend. Hopefully can try the macro as well.

But, any brand of filter will only help that much. Light is the ultimate solution to bring back all the colors.

This is what I have at the moment.

https://youtu.be/kv3jNOTVRm0

This is a video I've made during my November dive trip.

 

[Lakediving]

I have used a polar pro red snap on filter only. It felt really flimsy but I haven't had a problem with it. I never used a cord to secure it to the camera. I mostly dive in green water so the red filter is wrong for what I want to use it for.

 

[timz]

I have used a polar pro red snap on filter only. It felt really flimsy but I haven't had a problem with it. I never used a cord to secure it to the camera. I mostly dive in green water so the red filter is wrong for what I want to use it for.

Actually my mistake. Because i was trying to take the video of someone giant stride into the water amd I removed the filter and just let go.

 

[CuzzA]

Several months ago I ordered a generic flip style filter off EBay UK. It never showed up and I figured it was lost forever in customs. I then received the BackScatter Flip as a gift for Christmas. Of course a week later the generic one shows up in my mailbox out of the blue. I was shocked to learn the generic one was built better. The hinge on the generic one was a much tighter fit which would keep the door open or shut. The downside was the filters were slightly a different size. The BackScatter filters wouldn't fit on the generic one. Off by an 1/8 of an inch.

I haven't used either yet, but if you can source the correct acrylic filter material I would go for the generic one (may be more trouble than it's worth). I have the BackScatter Deep, Dive and Green water filters. I can't ever see using the deep one. The video would be too dark.

If you're serious about photography I would focus more on wide angle video lights rather than filters. If you just like to mount the GoPro to record your dive then the filters would be fine. The flip is nice because it's not permanent so you can film action above the water too without compromising the video.

I have no experience with the other brands mentioned. Hope this helps.