Backscatter +10 Close Focus Lens and GoPro 7 Black

[Buadhai]

I have a Backscatter +10 close focus lens that I used with my GoPro 3. I found that the best distance for closeups with the 3 was about 25 cm or about ten inches.

But, after doing a bunch of tests, both under water and out of the water, I find that the best focus with the +10 and the 7 Black in the Super Suit is about 5 cm or about two inches.

Can that be right? Anyone else notice such a huge difference in optimal distance?

 

[Buadhai]

I've attached a couple of photos. Both were taken in wide mode; one with the +10 lens and one without.

Similar results using linear mode and under water.

 

[Divenut1959]

have you tried in the narrow mode? I believe using the +10 lense and narrow mode is what you want for macro...the wide mode stretches the picture...Also I learned on the 7 Go Pro is that you cannot change to narrow view if you have the camera in an underwater housing and cannot access the touch screen. I was hoping Go Pro was going to change this feature but I confirmed yesterday it has not so I will stay with my Go Pro 5 that I can adjust to any mode when using the underwater housing.

 

[Buadhai]

Thanks. I think GoPro now calls "narrow mode" "linear mode". I will give it a try.

 

[Divenut1959]

the gopro 7 no longer has the narrow FOV and from what I can see in the manuals for the 7 or the 5 camera the description for linear FOV is exactly the same. Based on that I would not consider linear mode the same as narrow. They are different with narrow focused on the center of the shot. I have never shot macro with the backscatter lense in anything but narrow FOV so I cannot tell you what difference there is for the focus length.

 

[Buadhai]

Here are some underwater test shots with the Backscatter +10 lens on a GoPro 7 Black.

To me, it appears that the best focus is at 10 or 15 cm.

When I ran the same test with my GoPro 3, the best focus was at 25cm.

Is the lens on the 7 that much different from the lens on the 3?

 

[Divenut1959]

yes I agree the 10cm looks the best and for macro this would look great...did you receive a "distance stick" with the backscatter lense? I didn't see a picture on their website but I received a stick for the macro lens and it was notched to help you get a feel for the proper focal length from the + lens to the subject. when I bought the filter and lens package from them bout 2 years ago the GP 5 was the most recent camera by GoPro... that said I dont know if backscatter has kept revising that tool. I will snap a picture of it tonite and post it later. The 10 cm equals just under 4 inches and that sounds very close to where I would be on the series 5 camera.

 

[Buadhai]

I did get a measuring stick when I bought the +10 At that time, the stick only had notches for the 3 and 4.

The Backscatter website says this about the +10:

The Flip +10 Close-Up works great for shooting subjects sized from soccer balls down to golf balls that are roughly 8-12 inches from the camera.

FLIP FILTERS 55mm +10 Close-Up Lens for GoPro 3, 3+, 4, 5, 6, 7
​

Clearly, they haven't revised that in some time.

 

[Divenut1959]

I did get a measuring stick when I bought the +10 At that time, the stick only had notches for the 3 and 4.

The Backscatter website says this about the +10:

The Flip +10 Close-Up works great for shooting subjects sized from soccer balls down to golf balls that are roughly 8-12 inches from the camera.

FLIP FILTERS 55mm +10 Close-Up Lens for GoPro 3, 3+, 4, 5, 6, 7
​

Clearly, they haven't revised that in some time.

I have the +15 lens sorry about that...the +15 put the focal length very close to like 3-4 inches.

 

[Buadhai]

I have the +15 lens sorry about that...the +15 put the focal length very close to like 3-4 inches.

That’s what I would expect from the +15.

I remain baffled by the +10.